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> If done right, it is not incompatible with a system where identities can be reconstructed by the authorities for legal actions.

Doing it right is exactly the thing that makes this impossible. If instead you give everyone a unique barcode that every other pseudonym can be tied back to, do you really think that database will never be breached? It would become the prime target for all attackers in the world.

Meanwhile reconstructing "identities" is the least valuable thing to doing law enforcement well, because the first thing criminals will do is use someone else's identity, and then tying something to the wrong identity isn't just useless, it's actively counterproductive. The thing you need is not centralized identity but proper investigations that can tie some activity to the person pulling the strings regardless of whose name they're using.

The thing centralized identity does is precisely the opposite -- it leads you to person associated with a name, often the wrong person. You want to get the person offering to do murder for hire to think they have a contract and show up somewhere you can arrest them regardless of whether you know their name, not to convict the person whose identity they stole.

> Doing it right is exactly the thing that makes this impossible. [...] do you really think that database will never be breached? It would become the prime target for all attackers in the world.

Critical data is always better in the hand of a few (trustable) than in the hands of many.

That is currently the exact reason why you are using Paypal instead of giving your credit card number to everybody.

That is the exact reason why you are using a password manager.

A lot about security is about who you trust, and for how long.

I don't use Paypal. My credit cards protect me from fraud. And it rarely happens. In fact it's been well over a decade since I had a fraudulent charge on any of my payment cards. Funny how when there's motivation, protection happens.
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