Coding Horror: Your Internet Driver's License

Re:Coding Horror: Your Internet Driver's License by arethuza on Wednesday November 24, 2010 @10:37AM (#1937619)

But not everyone had a drivers license or a passport - so they wanted everyone to have a separate ID card. Generally, having a formal ID has only been required in the UK during dire emergencies (i.e. World Wars) and contrary to what the government of the time thought we are not in the middle of such a crisis.

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Re:Coding Horror: Your Internet Driver's License by kleiba on Wednesday November 24, 2010 @03:48PM (#1938500)

Every German older than 16 is required by law to have an ID card or passport. As of November 2010, ID cards carry RFID chips with the same data that's written on the card plus an optional fingerprint. Passports have had the chip for a while already, but the fingerprint is mandatory there. Driver's licenses are not considered a valid means of identification outside traffic.

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Re:Coding Horror: Your Internet Driver's License by masklinn on Wednesday November 24, 2010 @04:38PM (#1938619)

Likewise in France, except as far as I know there are no rfid chips in the national id card (yet anyway). And in belgium (where the ID card is the size of a credit card and has a small chip, I don't know if it has an RFID chip)

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Re:Coding Horror: Your Internet Driver's License by rbanffy on Wednesday November 24, 2010 @01:56PM (#1938203)

The point is not the government issuing you an ID. The problem comes when it require you to carry it at all times.

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Re:Coding Horror: Your Internet Driver's License by robryan on Wednesday November 24, 2010 @06:04PM (#1938790)

In Australia it would be a major hassle to not carry around a drivers license, not all the time but things always come up where you need ID and a drivers license usually covers that.

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