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Comment by _emacsomancer_ | Hacker News Reader

> Whatever you think the West is doing is not even close to this.

But I worry the West will be watching this closely to see how they might implement something similar.

How could they? Americans are too paranoid to allow an ID card, much less a centrally tracked loyalty-points number to use at party-owned shopping, transit, utility, housing....

Are we not getting a national ID card soon? (State drivers' licenses that meet certain requirements.)

You're thinking of the REAL ID. It's controversial if it counts as "national ID" or not but it's mostly linking state databases and settings a standard for security.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REAL_ID_Act

In the US there are mandatory Social Security numbers; one needs photo ID to do much of anything; and there certainly are credit scores.

The large population of undocumented immigrants begs to differ.

And homeless people who have lost IDs etc yet fail to promptly die and find ways to even get online.

How many have a bank account?

This population has a shit life of pariahs, getting ripped off at the work place, avoiding check points on the road, worrying of being Anne Franked by ICE, never leaving the country, and generally avoiding airports and train stations.

Ok, as a regular citizen, in order to go to school, university, hold a regular job, etc. the things I mentioned are unavoidable.

I'm worried that paranoia is a thing of the past. I somewhat concerned that a (free) national ID scheme will be the result of the "Voter ID" push from the GOP in recent years.

I think if you saw a similar system implemented in the US it would happen mostly with private companies doing it. The obvious place to start is some combination of social media and your credit card records. Crawling through your e-mails, search history, and Internet activity is another likely avenue.

Heard of the no fly list?

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