You're right, of course. We already have a good portion of our lives recorded out there in virtual space, and we seem to accept it. My bank card shows where I am when I'm traveling. My gasoline credit card even more so. American Express and others could show what I buy and when. Amazon credit purchases show the kind of things I read. So does my library card. I use a Safeway card that they swipe when I buy groceries to get money off of things. Obviously, they are also collecting information on my purchasing habits for reasons of their own. All of this, surprisingly, bothers me a lot less than it probably should.

It's like the IRS. We learn to live with it as long as it doesn't do anything really nasty to us. But I know people who have gotten on the bad side of the IRS who have been through hell. Same could happen with national IDs too.