I don’t disagree with you. There are trade offs is the thing. I’m not getting a digital ID until I’m forced, but many people are fine with it.

The other commenter from Ukraine explained it well, and to add, the Diia app they use is open source. Other countries can use it if they pay a one time “licensing fee” that is basically a donation with the from line “we’re not shitbags.”

According to people super into digital IDs: In terms of trade offs, especially for Americans, interoperability means unifying state and Federal systems so that you can renew your driver’s license, register a car you just bought, file your taxes, and renew your passport online in the same portal. You would rarely set foot in a government office ever again. Your ID hash can be used online and IRL to validate only a part of you identification, like age, so a bouncer at a club can’t take a photo of a young woman’s ID and stalk her later. So there are some added privacy benefits…in theory.

Obviously, there are the same downsides to any consolidation of digital anything. A stolen phone, even a dead battery, means you have no identity anymore. Data leaks are inevitable. This likely opens the door for far less privacy online when LinkedIn or Reddit starts asking for an age or name check. But plenty of people are oblivious to that anyway. Andb the same argument was probably made in the 1950s and 1960s about paper ID cards. So once there’s utility and pressire applied to having a digital ID, adoption will follow.

I am from Ukraine, where we have a very large uptake of digital national IDs and even government service mobile applications (municipal, health, military etc.). These service were relatively popular when launched, but there was a massive increase in uptake after the full scale invasion.

One of the main strengths of the digital national ID/mobile government services is that they are so convenient. A bureaucratic process (that was actually very simple) could take 4-5 hours waiting in line in say 2012, now it can be done almost immediately. The government constantly adds different useful modules and systems. For example, during COVID up to date vaccination status was present in the app and you could use it while travelling (at least to the EU, no clue about US). I like the Kyiv municipal app as well. It’s relatively well designed and offers a bunch of services. Broad uptake also means that there are network effects; with companies and government services integrating these services (e.g. in situations where you need to confirm your identity).

I would also argue the notion of privacy isn’t as linear and simple as might seem at first glance. There are legitimate situations where the government needs access to data to find traitors and collaborators. This saves lives as it weakens the russians’ ability to target their air strikes. That being said, we already had a national ID system (legacy of russian occupation under the USSR) before, so you only benefit from digitization.

Polish ID’s are slready digital. The question is whether you want to have it in-app or not. Also the gov bent over backwards so we can essentially do 80% of stuff online - from taxes to forms, most things can easily get done online. And why gov likes it? It reduces amount of workers and headline, because a lot can be automated, and also ensures more people will bother with shit because it’s easier.