The National ID Card DOES NOT STOP TERRORISTS.
They are happy if people know who they are. Jihad means holy war. They are dying for the cause of their religion. And you can't stop someone making a bomb in their basement by giving them and everyone in the country a card that tells you the statistical data on them.
It is 5 years in the future. I have a national ID card. I am walking down the street. I have to use my national ID card to pass a checkpoint. The scanner emits a satisfied beep. It's only $1.50 to get around in a small town like this, rather than the huge tollways over in Sydney. You have to pay something like $7.00 to cross the bridge now, and getting from suburb to suburb is at least $4.00. As my card is scanned, the data of my comings and goings is sent to a large central database. This data is accessible by companies who need to know who I am, where I go and what I buy. The government needs their information because they've been data warehousing information about the public for years, and already know who I am and the places that I go.
As I pass through the checkpoint, I stop to retie my shoe.
Ahead of me, a series of
projected holograms travel up the street at my calculated average walking speed, all specifically targeted at the product categories I am most likely to buy. Soothing music cooes from the buildings and tells me how the technovision 3000 will bring me inner peace, a little bit of relief from the daily grind.
I pop my card under the ATM next to me and notice that my annual fee has been paid for the National ID. It's only $50 a to keep the card, just like my drivers' license, I suppose. A small price to pay to ensure national security. A few of my friends got
fined for refusing one, too...
Maybe I'll step in next door for a cheeseburger. They always make me feel less confused about things.