[AnthonyMouse]

> A national ID system would only be useful if one system was widely used, but free markets only function well with competition and choice.

Isn't this also a problem with having the government do it? E.g. it's supposed to prevent you from correlating a certification that the user is over 18 with their full identity, but it's insecure and fails to do so, meanwhile the government won't fix it because the administrative bureaucracy is a monopoly with limited accountability or the corporations abusing it for mass surveillance lobby them to keep the vulnerability.

[jprete]

The government at least doesn't have a direct incentive to screw it up and can be pressured by a lot more groups than just industry lobbyists.

[AnthonyMouse]

Don't they? If they promise privacy and then don't deliver it, there are a lot of government agencies and politicians that would be championing the new tool for rooting out crimethink.

[throwaway48476]

The government would never create a national ID system because it would break the current economic model.