On 5/7/2011 14:08, Warp wrote:
>    I lived many years without any unexpired official identification document.

In the USA it's kind of interesting. Most places that need ID need "a 
government-issued ID."  Most people use a driver's license; but remember 
that we have at least 50 different kinds of drivers licenses, because 
driving rules are state rules, not federal rules. People in the military 
often use their military ID. And there's passports, but surprisingly few 
people actually have a passport. (I heard that less than half the people in 
*Congress* have a passport.)  Of course, you need a passport to get back 
into the country if you leave(*), so that means most people making our laws 
have never even vacationed in a different country.

"Social security" is basically a federal tax. It started out being *just* 
government guaranteed retirement benefits. Now, of course, the ID number is 
used for pretty much every financial identification, in spite of originally 
being guaranteed to only be used for social security.

But, basically, "social security number" means the ID number that associates 
the payer of taxes with the payments. So to work, you have to pay income 
taxes, and to prove you're allowed to work, you have to provide a social 
security number. So, you have to prove you're allowed to work, which 
involves proving you have a social security number (and hence a SSN card 
plus a photo ID) or proving you're a citizen (hence a passport or birth 
certificate).  Since it's possible to get a driver's license without having 
permission to work, just having ID isn't enough to work.

Other than that, there's very little need to have an "ID" as such. We don't 
even require IDs for voting. (Primarily because we had slaves for much 
longer than most modern civilized countries, and when the slaves got freed, 
none of them had IDs. We also don't have any sorts of tests (history, 
literacy, etc) for voting, for pretty much the same reasons.)

You need a driver's license to drive. You need a passport to pass ports. Of 
course, you also need a credit card to charge something, a prescription to 
get controlled drugs, etc. But you don't really need ID on a normal basis.

(*) Other than, in the past, Mexico and Canada. You'd still need ID, but not 
a passport.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "Coding without comments is like
    driving without turn signals."

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