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Comment by Fnoord | Hacker News Reader

Why, we got something similar in other countries. Here in NL it is called BSN; Burger Service Number (burger means civilian).

I believe the civilian should be able to create identities based on their private key (which only the government knows) and these should have different details. Like for example, a nickname, a realname, a telephone number, and address, or multiple of these. But then, also the civilian should be able to revoke the licenses. Or, rather: they should be valid for a short amount of time.

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> burger means civilian

Nice try, so you tell me that the burger hospital I passed by is not in fact a place where they patch up burgers until they’re back on their feet?

A lot of countries have a unique ID for their citizens which is used for routine identification. On websites, at the bank, etc. nothing special about SSNs in this regard, except that they were leaked more times than you can count.

> On websites, at the bank, etc. nothing special about SSNs in this regard, except that they were leaked more times than you can count.

That's not that special either. Plenty of countries make their numbers de jure public information.

The most special thing about the SSN is that the cards say (or said) not for identification, and then they're used for exactly that.

> Plenty of countries make their numbers de jure public information.

That's the difference. A lot of people and processes in the US make the assumption that the SSN is a well kept secret despite them being publicly leaked so many times. This assumption is a weakness for any process that relies on "secret" SSNs.

> burger means civilian

I just realised this is probably the German etymological branch of "burgoise".

Sorry to ruin your fun but in German it's actually just Bürger (capitalized because all nouns are). Though the true etymology might be entirely different.

Bourgeoisie or Burgher in English, Bourgeois in French or in German Bürger, all from old Frankish burg, for town. English has both words, but they now have different meanings, and the term Burgher is mostly obsolete.

The divide (or perception of a divide) between city dwellers and the country is not something the US invented, these divisions predate the colonisation of America.

> on their private key (which only the government knows)

What? Why?

How is a key private if the government (which belongs to the public) can read/edit/use it?

Because the responsibility of the proof that you are you lies, ultimately, at the proper authorities.

You could prove that through the government signing your public key...

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