Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999 03:11:46 +0700
Subject: Re: Information


In Australia there is no general ID card, although there are photo
drivers licenses that fulfill this function in most cases. There is a
Medicare card too but this has no photo and often the members of one
family are listed on one card.  The most universal form of ID is
probably the tax file number, issued when you get your first job.
Opposition to mechanisms of state control and invasions of privacy is
very strong in Australia.  Plans to introduce an ID card were abandoned
several years back and the tax file number was introduced as a "soft
option".

I lived for a few years in Germany.  There, photo identity cards exist
and it is required by law to carry them whenever in public.  Foreigners
are supposed to carry their passports at all times. Anyone may be
stopped anytime by police and required to produce their identity but in
practice is is usually only those who don't look like 'Germans', Turks,
Africans or Eastern Europeans, that are subjected to this (Blut ist ein
sehr besonderer Saft). This often occurs at railway stations and is
especially prevalent in Bavarian cities like Munich or Nuremburg. This
has been my observation anyway.

Regards,
Jovan Whyte