> The Commission says it needs a new identification system because it wants EU residents to retain control of their data, rather than share it with tech giants like Google and Facebook.

> "Every time an app or website asks us to create a new digital identity or to easily log on via a big platform, we have no idea what happens to our data in reality," said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a speech last September. Instead of using your Facebook profile to log in to other apps, say, the Commission is proposing "a secure European e-identity ... A technology where we can control ourselves what data and how data is used."

Why do I have a feeling that these politicos don't know that data transmission means... the copying of data? So what if the source of the data is some EU server or me typing them in, if Google (or some other data broker) has received them, they can technically do anything with the data.

Voluntary first, but after a while it will become compulsory - like night follows day. Count on it.