Germans are so scared of surveillance they microwave their ID cards

Ahh, the ID card debate.

In an ideal world, a secure and well-integrated ID system would only be beneficial.

In the real world, it opens you up to a host of abuses by both criminals and the government. That is actually my primary objection to them.

A while ago, a friend and I bandied about a few concepts for an integrated ID system that allowed them to be used for, among other things, common identification/confirmation purposes (ie confirmed age when buying alcohol) but without leaving a data trail that could be effectively mined (ie seeing how many times you've bought alcohol). No matter what idea we had, they all came back to the need to trust some ultimate authority to keep a secret. Unfortunately, there is no authority that I actually trust to do that. Not even in a "malicious/evil goverment" way, but in a "mission-creep/corporate interest/nanny state" way. After all, surely it would be better for your doctor to be told if you're buying two packets of cigarettes a day, or for your car insurance company to know that you like to drink a pint of beer at lunchtime, etc, etc.