AltInst: IDs and privacy

Every time you want to buy alcohol, enter a dance club, etc.,
you have to produce an "id" that supposed identifies you and
certifies that you are eligible for whatever it is you are trying to get.
But the IDs seem to contain a lot of unnecessary information.
Why is it necessary for the alcohol merchant to know my exact
date of birth, or my name, or the fact that I drive a car and don't
see well without glasses?
  An ID with a picture (of some identifiable body part) and an inscription
"this person is allowed to buy alcohol" should be sufficient for the cause,
shouldn't it?

  I wonder if anybody issues such "minimal IDs", and whether they can
be actually used.

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Alexander Chislenko <http://www.lucifer.com/~sasha/home.html>
<sasha1@netcom.com> <sasha@media.mit.edu>
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Received on Tue Dec 29 11:35:29 1998