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The UK and Ireland are uniquely countries in Europe that don’t have any form of national ID card. The UK was going to get (continental) EU style ID cards in 200

The UK and Ireland are uniquely countries in Europe that don’t have any form of national ID card. The UK was going to get (continental) EU style ID cards in 2008-2010 but this proved to be rather controversial at the time due to perceptions of government overreach and dragnet biometrics. Instead of just doing a simple ID card with just facial biometrics (like a passport), the whole project was scrapped. I don’t know why Ireland doesn’t have them but they have derogations from all the EU laws about it, though their passport card is essentially an EU ID card complete with chip.

ljm 3y ago
Yep, from the UK and remember all the fearmongering about ID cards being like a step back towards Nazi Germany and being asked to show your papers on the streets and all that. I think the real reason was that it sounded like it’d cost £60 (or close to that) per ID, which is pretty damn expensive when it’s mandatory. Most of that money would have been sunk into the black hole that is the IT consultancy industry in the UK, with literally no guarantee of a working solution being built.
- AlecSchueler 3y ago
  I mean, a friend of mine was recently travelling through the Netherlands and asked some police officers for directions, but because he didn't have ID with him he was arrested and put in a cell overnight.
  - ljm 3y ago
    But this story lacks detail so either you can immediately jump to the conclusion that the police in the Netherlands are asking people for ID on the streets when they ask for directions, or you can maybe assume that your friend wasn’t being honest with you and was trying to save face, or something else entirely was going on. Usually when you travel you keep at least one form of ID on you - probably not your passport but a local ID or driving license or something.
    - AlecSchueler 3y ago
      The salient detail is that he was arrested for not presenting his ID, which was in his where he was staying for the night. He didn't know that the NL requires it to always be carried. You may assume anything you like indeed.
janosdebugs 3y ago
Austria has them, but almost nobody has one in practice since AFAIK there is no requirement to carry an ID. Everyone has a social security card though, which has a cryptographic chip. Digital signatures are also possible via a web platform called "Handysignatur", which is pretty good.
Macha 3y ago
> I don’t know why Ireland doesn’t have them but they have derogations from all the EU laws about it, though their passport card is essentially an EU ID card complete with chip. Due to the track record of the RIC, the British police prior to independence (and something that continued in NI until the 90s with the RUCs to keep the idea fresh), there is decently strong opposition to ID cards on the idea that police could demand them to harass people. It's also why most Gardai (Irish police officers) are unarmed, though I think the rising perception of petty crime in Dublin has swung the pendulum somewhat on that topic.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

ljm 3y ago

Yep, from the UK and remember all the fearmongering about ID cards being like a step back towards Nazi Germany and being asked to show your papers on the streets and all that. I think the real reason was that it sounded like it’d cost £60 (or close to that) per ID, which is pretty damn expensive when it’s mandatory. Most of that money would have been sunk into the black hole that is the IT consultancy industry in the UK, with literally no guarantee of a working solution being built.

AlecSchueler 3y ago
I mean, a friend of mine was recently travelling through the Netherlands and asked some police officers for directions, but because he didn't have ID with him he was arrested and put in a cell overnight.
- ljm 3y ago
  But this story lacks detail so either you can immediately jump to the conclusion that the police in the Netherlands are asking people for ID on the streets when they ask for directions, or you can maybe assume that your friend wasn’t being honest with you and was trying to save face, or something else entirely was going on. Usually when you travel you keep at least one form of ID on you - probably not your passport but a local ID or driving license or something.
  - AlecSchueler 3y ago
    The salient detail is that he was arrested for not presenting his ID, which was in his where he was staying for the night. He didn't know that the NL requires it to always be carried. You may assume anything you like indeed.

janosdebugs 3y ago

Austria has them, but almost nobody has one in practice since AFAIK there is no requirement to carry an ID. Everyone has a social security card though, which has a cryptographic chip. Digital signatures are also possible via a web platform called "Handysignatur", which is pretty good.

Macha 3y ago

> I don’t know why Ireland doesn’t have them but they have derogations from all the EU laws about it, though their passport card is essentially an EU ID card complete with chip. Due to the track record of the RIC, the British police prior to independence (and something that continued in NI until the 90s with the RUCs to keep the idea fresh), there is decently strong opposition to ID cards on the idea that police could demand them to harass people. It's also why most Gardai (Irish police officers) are unarmed, though I think the rising perception of petty crime in Dublin has swung the pendulum somewhat on that topic.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]