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On Fri, Nov 14, 2025 at 08:45:55AM +0000, Simon Waters wrote: > The other problem with something like ID cards is it is poorly thought > out, it isn't clear what list of tasks it is addressing, it will scale > to everyone, and like "Brexit" will solve whatever ails each party > involved as long as you don't look too closely. This is a disaster, > whereas if they really wanted to identify people better they could > build on driving licenses, passports, bank cards, or look at > legislation to enable unifying government databases further. > > The disaster that was electronic passports I think captures it nicely, > but the point is identity is hard (since there is usually an incentive > to defraud, at least on some use cases), the use of cryptography at > scale is hard, and the use of electronics at scale is tricky (as things > move on, devices break). > +1 National ID can work if everyone gains from it. Examples include Estonia (I gather driven off fear of Russia) and India (removing red tape) Interestingly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_identity_card_policies_by_country indicates that there are only 8 countries with no national IDs. A better list would be https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_identification Speaking professionally I would love National ID, it would remove a lot of headaches of taking photocopies of passports, retaking copies of driving licenses, collecting copies of tax letters and council tax etc etc. It should also remove some of the headaches of remitting money. Does the name on the account match the ID reference no, if no bank account is blocked. But what will make individuals want an ID card: it will have to make peoples' life easier and it will have to be reliable and hard to fake. -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG FAQ: https://www.dcglug.org.uk/faq/