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Comment by neuronic | Hacker News Reader

> The German Personalausweis is basically a stateless ID-1 passport.

And as property it belongs to the state, not the citizen. You are required and expected to have it on you at all times. You are also required to report it missing.

When I moved to the US, I was baffled that IDs are basically just driving licenses and you only have them if you... well have a driving license.

I guess it's about where you draw the line in the end. I understand that many US Americans feel threatened by the federal government as it is perceived autocratic to be forced to carry a government issued identification card at all times.

For me, it just guarantees that it is harder for someone else to walk around and impersonate me with some shitty fake ID.

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> And as property it belongs to the state, not the citizen.

That's a myth. It is the property of the citizen.

You may be thinking of the passport, though.

> You are required and expected to have it on you at all times.

Again a myth.

You don't even have to own an ID card (if you have a passport).

In any case there is no law or regulation forcing you to carry it. There is no fine for not carrying it.

It's still a good idea to carry it, because a police stop (which I encountered thrice in my life) is much quicker when you can show your ID card, instead of being taken to the police station for identity verification.

> You are also required to report it missing.

I'm not certain about this point, but I doubt that. Still, it's obviously a good idea, in order to nip identity theft and the hassle that comes with it in the bud.

> You are required and expected to have it on you at all times.

I'd be very surprised about that. That's a law most of formerly communist Europe has cancelled immediately after the revolutions

Prepare to be surprised then as optional IDs are pretty much only a thing western countries.

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

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

Bad reference. Again Germany: it's colored red, but the table clearly states that you don't need to carry it.

Which is the statement you tried to counter with your link.

Yeah, you need to have it, but you don't need to carry it, nor show it to anyone (including the police - they're supposed to use other method of identification if you refuse).

You need to have one, not take it with you,

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