Comments on: Brussels wants e-identities for EU citizens

By: Mr.x

Mr.x — Thu, 31 May 2012 11:22:14 +0000

@Someone from europe: Yeah obviously.That’s why the underlining of the second picture says “EU over everything”. Maybe you should try not to jump to conclusions (your wording: “obvious reference”). By the way, this is an American website, therefore I think it unlikely to refer to European clichés.As everyone who has visited the USA can attest, it is a faily bureaucratic state itself, as are most bigger, relatively successfull states.Since you could not read the underlining, are from Europe and complain about bureaucracy in other countries I take it that you are probably from one of those European fringe states or non-eu states (e.g Norway,Swiss).In the first case your country has rather interesting stats in other fields, in the second it is not comparable because of size (small) and economic factors (Swiss banking, Norwigian oil).

If we love bureaucracy and surveillance that much, how can you explain this: http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,15988514,00.html.

By: someone from europe

someone from europe — Wed, 30 May 2012 22:07:03 +0000

The German text is an obvious reference is to Germany’s reputation as being an overly bureaucratic state, and not Nazi Germany. No papers, nothing happens… and there are a whole lot of papers at that!

By: Mr.x

Mr.x — Fri, 25 May 2012 18:23:20 +0000

Whats the use of the German under the pictures?Especially since it is taken out of context- the ‘über alles’ signified the wish of some of the German people to unify into common nation state.The song it belongs to was written in 1841!

Maybe you folks should take an honest look at your own countries (uk: video surveillence everywhere; usa: homeland security, patriot act, mandatory blackboxes in cars, abu ghraib, guantanamo, endless wars).If you do so you will find that English would be much more fitting.I guess my comment will be deleted soon.

@SingularityUtopia: The sooner the USA collapses the better. Thankfully the general situation indicates the USA could crumble sooner rather than later. US bigwigs are useless bureaucrats with no genuine desire to improve the world. They have become carried away with their overinflated self-importance.

You see how ridiculous that sounds? Every country/institution wants to improve the world as long as doing is aligned with their own (perceived) interest.

@Gaoptimize:Fortunately, the Constitution and the SCOTUS would protect Americans from this, for now. It is unnecessary anyway.

Sure. And who protects the rest of the world from the Americans?

By: Giulio Prisco

Giulio Prisco — Fri, 25 May 2012 15:41:54 +0000

@Peter Simmons – I wanted to add something, but you have said it very clearly.

I am euroskeptic but not a hardline anti-EU. I think the EU could have a useful role to play, but the problems you mention should be solved first. I have come to consider the (current) EU as one of the main problems of our continent.

By: Peter Simmons

Peter Simmons — Fri, 25 May 2012 15:01:15 +0000

The EU is the creation of the European political class, and serves that class. As with all government, it grows constantly, interfering in our lives in more and more ways, and then charging us for the costs of doing so! A giant bureacracy which now has a life of its own and a desire to constantly grow, just like capitalism. It serves no one but those who do very nicely out of it. It’s another robber barons setup, they call it democracy but it’s still robbery.

By: Tasha

Tasha — Fri, 25 May 2012 12:36:36 +0000

Well, eIDs are great. But haters will hate.

By: Tiago

Tiago — Fri, 25 May 2012 10:20:39 +0000

Portugal also has chipped id cards (since 2008)

By: EM

EM — Fri, 25 May 2012 03:49:17 +0000

This may soon come to pass in New York. Does anyone have any faith that the SCOTUS will do the right thing and overturn it?

By: gaoptimize

gaoptimize — Thu, 24 May 2012 12:43:19 +0000

Nigel Farage, is that you? In any case, a growing number of people agree with you and me about the EU. Fortunately, the Constitution and the SCOTUS would protect Americans from this, for now. It is unnecessary anyway. There are creative ways to use cryptography and trust networks to solve this problem without a potentially tyrannical central authority.

By: Singularity Utopia

Singularity Utopia — Thu, 24 May 2012 11:55:44 +0000

The sooner the EU collapses the better. Thankfully the Greece situation indicates the EU could crumble sooner rather than later. EU bigwigs are useless bureaucrats with no genuine desire to improve the world. They have become carried away with their overinflated self-importance. The world is bigger than the EU thus any EU enforced identity regime would be ineffectual in our global era because not everyone would be forced to comply. Furthermore criminals will easily subvert any safety/security measures (#LuzSec) thus safety/security measures merely inconvenience normal people via needless bureaucracy and diminished freedom.