This would be fine if it was optional for people who wanted to be included in a national ID system. As an American living under the ever-growing surveillance network being constructed and expanded by corporate and government agencies of every type, a national ID number is not something that appeals to me in any way, even if it slightly reduces the small chance that I'll be a victim of some sort of fraud.
How would this possibly increase the already-complete surveillance of everything you do? They already know who you are, where you live, every cent you spend and where, every site you visit, every email/call/sms you do, and it's all tied back to you.
I'm genuinely curious how Americans think a national ID number would practically increase any surveillance?
To me it sounds like a win for consumers. You no longer give your home address out to every single website that requires an address, or every time you buy something online. You can update your address in 1 place when you move, and don't have to fuss around with redirects and missed mail/packages.
I'm very open to being shown what I'm missing though, as it's a hot debate lately and I just don't get it.
>How would this possibly increase the already-complete surveillance of everything you do? They already know who you are, where you live, every cent you spend and where, every site you visit, every email/call/sms you do, and it's all tied back to you.
This is simply false. I choose not to carry a smartphone, I pay with cash for virtually everything, no "social media", I often use a VPN. There are many people who voluntarily give away all of their personal data to corporations - and there are many (though far fewer) of us who don't.
Let's be realistic here, in terms of surveillance and privacy we already have a national ID system for everyone who is an American citizen. People already use SSNs for an ID, your credit card transactions, bank records, and phone calls are already linked to you. If it's opt-in only then it'll never see significant adoption. You can't require e.g. banks to use some secure identification system without also requiring citizens to use that secure identification system.
