December 23, 2007 9:51AM # Australian National ID Card Abandoned By [Jim Harper](https://www.cato.org/people/jim-harper) --- SHARE [This somewhat cryptic blog post](http://blog.wired.com/sterling/2007/12/australia-priva.html) at *Wired* reflects the delight of Roger Clarke that the Australian national ID card [has been dropped](http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22885847-15306,00.html) by the incoming government. Clarke wrote [an article](http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/DV/HumanID.html) in 1994 that is probably fairly regarded as the foundation of identification theory. I expanded on his thinking in my book, *[Identity Crisis](http://www.catostore.org/index.asp?fa=ProductDetails&pid=1441306&method=search&t=&a=harper&k=&aeid=128&adv=&pg=)*. In related news, Montana Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester put language [prohibiting the expenditure of federal funds](http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/global/story.asp?s=7521229) for development of a national ID card in the [omnibus spending bill](http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_2764.html) Congress passed last week. Because the Department of Homeland Security [denies that REAL ID is a national ID](http://www.techliberation.com/archives/043144.php), this language is probably hortatory during the current administration. ##### Related Tags [Defense and Foreign Policy](https://www.cato.org/defense-foreign-policy), [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Technology and Privacy](https://www.cato.org/technology-privacy), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).