> A national ID system would only be useful if one system was widely used, but free markets only function well with competition and choice.
Isn't this also a problem with having the government do it? E.g. it's supposed to prevent you from correlating a certification that the user is over 18 with their full identity, but it's insecure and fails to do so, meanwhile the government won't fix it because the administrative bureaucracy is a monopoly with limited accountability or the corporations abusing it for mass surveillance lobby them to keep the vulnerability.
Don't they? If they promise privacy and then don't deliver it, there are a lot of government agencies and politicians that would be championing the new tool for rooting out crimethink.
Isn't this also a problem with having the government do it? E.g. it's supposed to prevent you from correlating a certification that the user is over 18 with their full identity, but it's insecure and fails to do so, meanwhile the government won't fix it because the administrative bureaucracy is a monopoly with limited accountability or the corporations abusing it for mass surveillance lobby them to keep the vulnerability.