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You are absolutely not required to get an ID or passport at the age of 16.

You can walk on the streets without carrying ID, unlike many European countries.

Because of the driving culture in the USA not driving / having a DL means you need to take other steps to get an ID.

But the law does not require you to have an ID.

In general I do like the idea of having to prove ID when voting / for work, however I am weary of the government collecting so much data. The less they know about me the better.

Same goes with DLs. I give my address, DMV sells it and I get car warranty spam. Should be illegal.




i was talking about the country where i am from, and here you absolutely are required to have a government issued ID.

i got my first personal ID i think at 16, but since i was traveling a lot i also had a passport and decided that i didn't need to bother with having a personal ID too. the personal ID displays my home address, while the passport doesn't. a tiny win for my privacy whenever i need to show an ID.

even without an ID here everyone needs to have their address registered for tax purposes (because you pay taxes where you live) so the government already has that information. the ID doesn't give them any data they don't already have.




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