Re:I'm giving up on PGP
by narrowrail on Tuesday December 06, 2016 @06:06PM
(#13119061)
Being distrustful of your government is completely "American." Having the U.S. federal government issuing an ID that is mandatory would make many in the U.S. raise a huge stink.
Good thing that social security number thing never took off I suppose.
It's a bit of a Continental European view that "they [the national government] already handle ID for everyone". Universal government ID isn't historically the case in countries descended from the UK.
Re:I'm giving up on PGP
by drivingmenuts on Wednesday December 07, 2016 @01:02PM
(#13124596)
Go read up on the whole Number-Of-The-Beast thing and mix that with a heavily Christian-influenced view of politics (which is there, even in the politics of not-particularly Christian people). We are talking about a country where some people view having a Social Security Number as a Very Bad Thing. Don't even get me started on the Hillbama-gunna-take-er-gerns crowd. They'll be blaming Obama for whatever well into the next decade.
We are a majorly paranoid society, for no particular good specific reason that I can see.
The government is just an example because they already handle ID for everyone, and they need it to provide their services. It makes sense for them to go digital at some point and to guarantee the ID.
I didn't know that Americans were so anti-American ^^