What the parent is trying to say is that it was not public. This can mean that they just weren't aware of it too, or thought it was something else. I know when I heard about the RealID act there wasn't much discussion about it among my peers. It just seemed like an update into how licenses were done, and one that would make them more secure (and let's be honest, identification in the US is atrocious. We even use SSNs for identification!)
Yeah there was a little privacy debate when it was proposed, and a little states' rights debate. Now it's really just a formality, but back then there wasn't this level of integrated and aggregated data about individuals.
Some states listened and intentionally dragged their feet. Mine is one - we needed an extension in order to fly -- but we're rolling it out here now too.
Funny you should mention that in your call for caution against black pilling. When SS was proposed there was massive popular outcry against serializing citizens with a federally assigned number. The USG assured everybody that SSNs would only ever be used for the distribution of benefits...
