I agree with you, but you have to realise that Brad is at the extreme end of
the political spectrum, i.e. he is an extreme libertarian. I live in a country
where personal ID cards are mandatory. Brad fights these like they would signal
the end of the world. My point of view: no innocent person ever has a need to
conceal his identity.

There are countries where every citizen gets a number at birth which is used on
ALL public records, making cross-correlation very easy. In those same countries,
every citizen can see the tax return of every other citizen---there doesn't even
have to be a reason given.

And how do these countries fare in terms of things which really matter, like
personal freedom, human rights, low crime, avoiding wars? MUCH, MUCH better
than more libertarian countries like the US or Canada.

Basically, if one has to enact laws to prevent the government from misusing power,
then one has already lost in that a government which would want to misuse its power
is the wrong government.