[caymanjim]

The only thing this thief exploited is the idiocy of the victim, who carried around a backpack full of expensive items, his passport (leave it at home or in the hotel), and his wallet (put it in your pocket), and then left it piled in the corner. Of a bar.

We should all be glad that the police don't waste their time on petty crime like this. This guy didn't deserve this, but the rest of us shouldn't have to pay for his naivety.

[sleavey]

Don't blame the victim. While it's true they could have been smarter with the reality of crime in the modern world, this crime is still 100% the fault of the robber.

[thaumasiotes]

> his passport (leave it at home or in the hotel)

You may be legally required to carry it with you. In China this is the case. (Or at least, China publishes a lot of documentation for foreigners claiming it is the case. I don't see why they'd be wrong about that.)

I don't carry my passport with me anyway, because that is crazy, but I don't like being placed in the wrong like that either.

[noir_lord]

Not in any way victim blaming but there is zero requirement to carry ID in the UK (except if you are young and want to get served for alcohol).

They tried to introduce national ID cards a few times and it got voted down each time.

FWIW I have no issue with a national ID card if it's purely that, Identification but the government couldn't leave it at that and wanted to tie the card to everything.

Turning a reasonable idea into a terrible idea.

Given the way they expand everything to compromise peoples privacy I don't trust them not to do it after the fact either so generally I'm on the no to national ID side.

Because I don't trust my government at all.

[ownagefool]

Hooking it up to other Government systems such as tax, health, immigration, etc could be pretty useful. Currently each of the departments have to figure this out itself, and it is pretty messy from my understanding.

With an ID card, I probably shouldn't need a drivers license or a passport ( ignoring that some contries still stamp your passport, so this might not be achievable ). But I also probably shouldn't be required to carry on unless I'm trying to do something that requires one.

Once we've paid to solve the issue once, we shouldn't be paying over and over again. Next, once you have an identity, do you really want your bank or equifax to pay and build for the exact same thing? Sure they're private entities, but they're private entities that you can't avoid who pass the cost back to you, so why pay again?

On the other hand, this would likely make things like the porn pass easier to implement, so maybe we need to sort out the fact we're living in a nanny state first.

[scruffyherder]

having been stopped by immigration people in several countries always have your papers on hand.

There is nothing less fun than being arrested, and going through processing (which takes FOREVER) to then talk to someone much later that'll take down details arrange cops to either pick it up for you (by ramsacking your room) or escort you there to pick it up (by ramsacking your room first).

If you are an immigrant in another country, also keep your papers on your person 24x7x365. All it takes is one jerk and bamm your how day or week just got ruined.

[IshKebab]

Would you suggest that he posts his laptop home every day?