"Before WWI there were no passports and no need for them." Passports are much older than that, but in pre-WWI Europe, most countries didn't require them for tr

"Before WWI there were no passports and no need for them." Passports are much older than that, but in pre-WWI Europe, most countries didn't require them for travel. (Russia and Turkey did.) Passports certainly do have a dystopian element to them, especially if they are demanded too frequently / aggressively. But on their own, they aren't particularly evil; they just identify you much like your face does.