I wonder what repercussions this may have regarding EU countries' compliance with FATCA?

Maybe you do not have a US pilot certificate but US ones do not have photographs. http://www.aopa.org/Advocacy/Regulatory-,-a-,-Certification-Policy/Regulatory-Brief-Photo-Pilot-Certificates.aspx "The terrorist acts in 2001 prompted passage of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA), enacted on Nov. 19, 2001, which called for the under secretary of Transportation to consider a requirement for a photo ID pilot certificate. In order to provide a simple, inexpensive, timely means to positively identify pilots, AOPA asked the FAA to change the rules to require pilots to carry a government-issued photo ID along with their pilot certificate. As a result, the FAA changed 14 CFR 61.3(a): Requirement for Certificates, Ratings, and Authorizations, which requires all flight crewmembers of an aircraft to carry a pilot certificate and government-issued photo identification."

Effectively we do have "national ID cards" even though we don't call them that. Our state issued driver licenses (or non-driver's ID) are linked to our federally issued social security numbers which serves the same purpose. Try getting a driver license or non-driver's ID without a social security number.

It used to be that every time news like this came out I would think that things couldn't get much worse, but recently I have come to the conclusion that things can and will continue to get a lot worse. I now wonder just how much worse will it get? What's going to be next and when will the madness stop?

How long might it be before "trusted hardware" renders even [semi]-trusted operating systems such as Linux untrustworthy? Is this even an issue?

Ja, wirklich....

Unfortunately the SCOTUS would in all likelihood agree with federal appeals court decision, ripping open the already gaping hole in the Constitution even further. The concept of checks and balances cannot work as intended in the current US system where the legislative executive and judicial branches of government are all serving the same greedy corporate interests. The current system is rotten at every level all the way to the core and there is nothing that anyone can do about it until it's too late. In the meanwhile it's probably best to just sit back and enjoy the partisan bickering.

True. It doesn't matter whether one is a communist liberal leaning leftwing moonbat pro-choice Democrat or a right wing neo-con facist Tea Party gun toting pro-life Republican: Both are circling the same drain, yet neither side seems to recognise what's happening.

Three 64 bit DWORD values should be enough for anyone

State administrators must come up with an equivalent equivalency test.

It would be beneficial to force these politicians to actually use the technology, of which so many of them are so proudly ignorant. Most of them know less (and that's no exaggeration) about computers and the Internet than an average 8 year old child, yet in their hubris they feel that they are qualified to enact legislation to regulate it.

We would all benefit if they understood what the Internet is and actually used it in the course of their jobs. On Youtube I watched (or rather listened to) the entire congressional SOPA Hearing from 12/15/11 and was shocked at the general profound level ignorance of technology in general. It reminded me of a bunch of drunk blind people discussing a photograph of an elephant.

These people flat out dismiss any expert opinion regarding technology as "technical Jargon" and feel that there is no need for them to understand any of it, but they are nevertheless hell-bent on trying to control it. I think having them work virtually as well as maintain their own computers would be an excellent start.

In France such tweets are considered a criminal offence. Anything can be criminalized.

Why can't FOR ONCE a "real scientist" stand before Parliament/Congress to help them get the facts straight by making it clear what a "scientific theory" really is and how it is not a "hunch' and cannot nor will not ever become a "law" etc...? Yeah - we Slashdotters mostly know better, but in my opinion articles like this are merely well targeted geek troll-bait.

Mod me to hell.

I feel safer already. But seriously I do think we need more such laws. If we are boiling a frog then perhaps turning up the heat may be the best course of action at this point.

Perhaps things would improve if the BBC actually had to EARN their money rather than sucking the population dry through the abuse of stoneage "laws". For the Americans here, in many European countries, people are forcedd to pay for a "license" for simply owning a TV. Here In Germany people have to pay even for owning a smartphone or computer simply because they *might* visit their website and view their crappy content.