There is a very basic principle in democracy that is called separation of powers. Law making, law enforcement and justice have to be independant. Having a single id is a bit like not having powers separation : it smells like dictature. Your taxman does not need to know your consumer habits, nor health information, and things should be made in such a way that crossing information is, if not impossible, very difficult. Having a single card that can be use for almost anything is a potential risk : yes, our governments may swear they will respect our privacy... until they decide that for exceptional reasons they absolutely need to cross information - and if you go against it your patriotism will be in question. The "separation of IDs" will maybe need years of fighting, but is certainly the next fight for democracy.
This decision is the result of an EU directive on e-commerce, and not a german initiative. The European Union is a confederation of 15 european states that has federal-like institutions : a government (the commission), a president (currently Mr. Aznar), a central bank and common currency, a common foreign, defense and economic policy, a parliament, etc. But as it is not officialy federal yet, i.e. it is not declared as a state (national pride, y'know), the parliament cannot make laws. In theory. In fact, the EU is a stealth federation, a non-official yet sovereign state, as all member states have the duty to turn EU directives into laws (France was recently condamned for being reluctant to apply a european directive). And there are many discussions today in the EU institutions about open source, Linux, e-commerce and so. I would expect a directive soon encouraging the use of open source software for administrations in the EU. Stay tuned!
Slashdot Mirror
There is a very basic principle in democracy that is called separation of powers. Law making, law enforcement and justice have to be independant. Having a single id is a bit like not having powers separation : it smells like dictature. Your taxman does not need to know your consumer habits, nor health information, and things should be made in such a way that crossing information is, if not impossible, very difficult. Having a single card that can be use for almost anything is a potential risk : yes, our governments may swear they will respect our privacy... until they decide that for exceptional reasons they absolutely need to cross information - and if you go against it your patriotism will be in question. The "separation of IDs" will maybe need years of fighting, but is certainly the next fight for democracy.
This decision is the result of an EU directive on e-commerce, and not a german initiative. The European Union is a confederation of 15 european states that has federal-like institutions : a government (the commission), a president (currently Mr. Aznar), a central bank and common currency, a common foreign, defense and economic policy, a parliament, etc. But as it is not officialy federal yet, i.e. it is not declared as a state (national pride, y'know), the parliament cannot make laws. In theory. In fact, the EU is a stealth federation, a non-official yet sovereign state, as all member states have the duty to turn EU directives into laws (France was recently condamned for being reluctant to apply a european directive). And there are many discussions today in the EU institutions about open source, Linux, e-commerce and so. I would expect a directive soon encouraging the use of open source software for administrations in the EU. Stay tuned!
English ist de internazionale idioma, point.