Re: Let's step back for a second
"By the way - as far as the shop owner asking for your identity - it takes half an hour to integrate chilli-spot into either FaceBook or Google or other large 3rd party auth (f.e. in Germany - T-systems). They do not need to take your passport, what the ruling obliges them to do is to ensure you have authenticated somehow in a way which ties you up to a traceable identity. That is technically trivial."
Provided you have the HARDWARE to do do. I know for a fact many places slapdash a solution just to attract customers, and more than a few have been caught using consumer-level equipment. TEN-YEAR-OLD consumer-level equipment at that.
As for the Internet itself, it's like with the wild west. In the end, people don't want anarchy even if it means ultimately and end to anonymity. The benefits of attestation tend to outweigh the drawbacks, as most levels of business require a level of trust that at least goes as far as exchanging verifiable identities (the First Contact problem) or you can't get anything done. Society requires trust to work.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
