Japanese Cry Foul on New ID System

Gudlyf writes: "As an update to the previous story on Japan's governmental ID system, the AP is reporting that many Japanese have organized into protest groups that have popped up and are planning a rally at which demonstrators will show their outrage by ripping up the papers being sent out by the government to assign every citizen an 11-digit number."

Comments

Re:I wonder...

[Copperhead]

Well, the government in the US tried a different tactic (perhaps unintentional). It's call incrementalism...

When the Social Security system, everyone received a social security number that we were assured that it would not be used as a personal ID number. But, there was never a law passed to keep it from being an ID number.

Then, of course, we got used to it... everyone has a social security number. It became a defacto ID number. At my school, each student is given an id number, but rarely does anyone know it, because you can use your SS# anywhere you need your id#.

Now, with the war on terrorism, I'm sure someone will get the bright idea of changing the SS# into an identification number, and across the country, millions of people will scratch their heads and say, "What was it before?"