It wasn't the public pressure, it was the money... (Score 1)

I really believe that it was the not the pressure of "little" public interest groups (the good guys) but the fact that the IDs would create a real problem with the EU that could hamper trade - i.e. "big" money flow:

The Fed "must assure Europeans that the United States has adequate privacy protections or risk a prohibition against businesses in those 15 countries [of the European Union] from disclosing personal information about citizens there to U.S. companies."
Follow the money...