Germany is a bit touchy when it comes to measures like this. After the experiences of the Nazi regime, even things like a census or introduction of a TIN met massive, years long resistance.

One election gone wrong is all it takes and all those data will be used for genocide. Again.

I like to believe we are a bit further away from genocide than one election gone awry. 71 years passed, you know.

It hasn't happened in one of the big powers in awhile, but 71 years isn't that long. It wouldn't be paradise the day before an election and hell the day after, but you never know what event will be pivotal. Until armchair time.

People look up to Germany. Germany setting themselves up for disaster will make other people think they're somehow safe.

I gather they object as I do, to Merkel's arrogant 2015 invitation to migrants which impinges on every person in the EU and particularly in the UK which is a honeypot for EU citizens (which migrants will be in a few years) earning less than the minimum wage.

In Portugal usually you always need to present you ID card and Tax ID together when some form of identification is required.

To the point that the actual ID cards (Ausweis) have the citizen ID, tax ID and social security ID all together.

Identity is a right that government must warrant, not something dirty that should be buried.

I literally just explained how it's not.

> There are no practical negative consecuences

Assuming an ideal, benevolent government.

(Presumably residing on an infinite frictionless plane, feasting on spherical cows.)

While IDs do have negative consequences, I see zero downside in replacing VATIN, passport number (linked list of "previous document" in worst case, down to birth certificate), army id number, employment record book number and "$surname $name $patronymic, born $birth_date at $birth_place, registered $registration_place" official title with single citizen ID.

I am not arguing for using government-issued IDs for non-government services (as in original post), and consider enforcement of such use a direct attack on citizen freedom, but only for having single ID for use in state-person relations.

Not in all countries. Germany used to have explicit laws against combining state and federal record bases, they were only recently eroded to "fight terrorism".

BTW, shame on Chrome for allowing it without a warning :-/ Firefox totally refused to connect.

Rather because of the experience with the Stasi in the former GDR.

Because first they'll come for the contractless?

Why is it some people are incapable of discussing Germany without tiresomely invoking the Nazis?

No, but census data were extremely useful in organizing the holocaust.

> Why is it some people are incapable of discussing Germany without tiresomely invoking the Nazis?

Because in these cases that's how the political discussion in Germany in the 1980s/2000s went when the above-mentioned measures were discussed. It's simply the benchmark our governments are judged by. The Nazis are not some boogeymen that you use whenever you need a politically correct movie villain, they were the democratically elected government of a first world nation, and should be treated as such.

More generally: Governments should not operate as efficiently as possible. They should be easy to keep in check by the population.

So, sticking to what it is about, if you think your invoking of the Nazis and the Holocaust was even remotely appropriate in this thread, explain how banning anonymous SIM cards aids a future genocide.

I know, right? You'd think slaughtering a few million people in half a decade or so was some kind of big deal, or something.

As for your invidious attempt to distract from said comparison by slinging mud, I'll just point out that you're severely underplaying your hand here - a goodly fraction of what went into Hitlerism, not least the theory and practice of eugenics, originated with Progressive Era luminaries of the United States. Indeed, our nation might've gone much the same way as yours, were it not for the benefit of Germany's salutary, if horrible, example.

Between collecting data on SIM card ownership and the Holocaust? No, I can't see how any level-headed person can draw such a comparison.

> As for your invidious attempt to distract from said comparison by slinging mud

WTH are you talking about?

I'll let you work out the rest yourself.

What will happen then? Starbuck will need to ask for your ID when you connect to their wifi? Russia is doing pretty much that with internet cafes.

These control freaks need to get over the idea that they will achieve electronically a level of government control which would be absolutely unacceptable in the physical world (the "I want you to report to the police who you talked to during the day and you also need to check their ID to ensure that your reports to the police are accurate", even the Soviet Union - or the Stasi - didn't go that far).

The largest such network that I know of anywhere.

Not where I was going in Australia! The Optus network only worked when it felt like it, and that was just 350km from Sydney.

While visiting Mozambique a month back, I used a passport to buy a SIM card. Seems like Germany is just catching up with the rest of the world.