4 ms·

Man, I know why it's a thorny topic but sometimes I really wish we had a single identity system in the states, just one card that had all your licenses on it, d

Man, I know why it's a thorny topic but sometimes I really wish we had a single identity system in the states, just one card that had all your licenses on it, driving/boating/hunting/ccw, and one API to pull all that info. Our county is too cheap/lazy to reissue pistol/sar permits if you buy, sell, or transfer a restricted weapon, instead opts to give you a piece of printer paper to go with it. You have to have that paper addendum with you whenever you're handling a restricted weapon, and you're fucked if anything happens to it, and you get caught.

ie9rifikr 3y ago
I'm not American, why is it a thorny topic?
- hervature 3y ago
  For the same reason the UN telling every country they need a global ID for every citizen is a thorny topic. In the United States, the states are provided with fairly strong protections under the 10th amendment. This is the principle of federalism.
- cookie_monsta 3y ago
  Not the person you are replying to, but... National ID cards tend to feel icky to people who live in countries that don't have them. People who already have them don't even seem to notice. I think added to that is that Americans have a historical tendency not to trust any kind of federal govt oversight/information collection
  - diydsp 3y ago
    The U.S. is rooted in freedom from overreaching governments. (Slavery, equality is a separate dimension). That's how we were formed. For a while we were nearly tribal and free. We got screwed over when we allowed a federal governemnt to "protect" us. The Bill of Rights was supposed to ensure we didn't lose our freedom. It should have kept us free but instead allowed key points of control like real estate tax incentives to enrich an oligarch class and now we have "corporotacracy." The recent/present leaders can not protect us without violating our rights to privacy... ...or won't. Electric fences and RF food collars feel icky to cows in pastures that don't have them. Cows who already have them don't seem to notice.
    - diydsp 3y ago
      Now im really curious what parts of this people disagree with?
- nindalf 3y ago
  They have a pathological fear of government overreach. An identity card issued by the government would lead to a slippery slope of something, not sure what. HN is fertile ground for such paranoia, so no doubt someone will explain exactly what will happen if all US residents received a free identification card. Anyway, they get around this by using their Social Security Numbers everywhere. All residents have one. They use this in a novel way, where it’s both a username and a password, that you share with every corporation who asks. You’re supposed to keep it very secret because people can open financial accounts in your name with this number. But not that secret. Your utility company may ask for it and won’t provide service without it. Since it’s both a username and password, it’s stored very securely. Except when it isn’t, breaches happen, and people have no recourse. It’s immutable, so they can’t do anything other than say “don’t process any credit checks for me” and hope that works. Anyway, that’s the short version of why Americans are terrified of being assigned an ID, actually have an ID (SSN), but can’t use that ID because it’s super secret, but then use it everywhere anyway because they have no choice.
  - criddell 3y ago
    > Both Republicans and Democrats have opposed a National ID system. President Reagan likened a 1981 proposal to the biblical “mark of the beast,” and President Clinton dismissed a similar plan because it smacked of Big Brother. A National ID would not only violate privacy by helping to consolidate data and facilitate tracking of individuals, it would bring government into the very center of our lives by serving as a government permission slip needed by everyone in order to work. As happened with Social Security cards decades ago, use of such ID cards would quickly spread and be used for other purposes – from travel to voting to gun ownership. https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/broad-coalition-urges-president-obama-and-congress-oppose-biometric-national-id https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/broad-coalition-urges-pr...
  - ethanbond 3y ago
    As an American, this is an excellent rundown. A national ID would indeed have us quickly slipping toward… something… and of course it’s unsavory if it has “federal” or “national” anywhere in it. I leave my identity management to the private credit bureaus, who are guided by the infallible hand of the free market, thank you very much.
- callalex 3y ago
  In many very important fundamental aspects, the USA is 50 different countries standing on top of each other wearing a long trench coat and pretending to be one country.

ie9rifikr 3y ago

I'm not American, why is it a thorny topic?

hervature 3y ago
For the same reason the UN telling every country they need a global ID for every citizen is a thorny topic. In the United States, the states are provided with fairly strong protections under the 10th amendment. This is the principle of federalism.
cookie_monsta 3y ago
Not the person you are replying to, but... National ID cards tend to feel icky to people who live in countries that don't have them. People who already have them don't even seem to notice. I think added to that is that Americans have a historical tendency not to trust any kind of federal govt oversight/information collection
- diydsp 3y ago
  The U.S. is rooted in freedom from overreaching governments. (Slavery, equality is a separate dimension). That's how we were formed. For a while we were nearly tribal and free. We got screwed over when we allowed a federal governemnt to "protect" us. The Bill of Rights was supposed to ensure we didn't lose our freedom. It should have kept us free but instead allowed key points of control like real estate tax incentives to enrich an oligarch class and now we have "corporotacracy." The recent/present leaders can not protect us without violating our rights to privacy... ...or won't. Electric fences and RF food collars feel icky to cows in pastures that don't have them. Cows who already have them don't seem to notice.
  - diydsp 3y ago
    Now im really curious what parts of this people disagree with?
nindalf 3y ago
They have a pathological fear of government overreach. An identity card issued by the government would lead to a slippery slope of something, not sure what. HN is fertile ground for such paranoia, so no doubt someone will explain exactly what will happen if all US residents received a free identification card. Anyway, they get around this by using their Social Security Numbers everywhere. All residents have one. They use this in a novel way, where it’s both a username and a password, that you share with every corporation who asks. You’re supposed to keep it very secret because people can open financial accounts in your name with this number. But not that secret. Your utility company may ask for it and won’t provide service without it. Since it’s both a username and password, it’s stored very securely. Except when it isn’t, breaches happen, and people have no recourse. It’s immutable, so they can’t do anything other than say “don’t process any credit checks for me” and hope that works. Anyway, that’s the short version of why Americans are terrified of being assigned an ID, actually have an ID (SSN), but can’t use that ID because it’s super secret, but then use it everywhere anyway because they have no choice.
- criddell 3y ago
  > Both Republicans and Democrats have opposed a National ID system. President Reagan likened a 1981 proposal to the biblical “mark of the beast,” and President Clinton dismissed a similar plan because it smacked of Big Brother. A National ID would not only violate privacy by helping to consolidate data and facilitate tracking of individuals, it would bring government into the very center of our lives by serving as a government permission slip needed by everyone in order to work. As happened with Social Security cards decades ago, use of such ID cards would quickly spread and be used for other purposes – from travel to voting to gun ownership. https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/broad-coalition-urges-president-obama-and-congress-oppose-biometric-national-id https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/broad-coalition-urges-pr...
- ethanbond 3y ago
  As an American, this is an excellent rundown. A national ID would indeed have us quickly slipping toward… something… and of course it’s unsavory if it has “federal” or “national” anywhere in it. I leave my identity management to the private credit bureaus, who are guided by the infallible hand of the free market, thank you very much.
callalex 3y ago
In many very important fundamental aspects, the USA is 50 different countries standing on top of each other wearing a long trench coat and pretending to be one country.