Attaching numbers to people is unbelievably creepy. My identity is not a number. We recoil at the idea of having assigned and tattooed numbers on our bodies and I don't feel it's okay to do it, just so you could maybe avoid misidentification.
The one conflating the two isn't the author, but the state. A fixation on the state sanctioned representation of someone's identity instead of the actual, living person himself is exactly what caused TFA's author troubles.
You could ask every company to have a specialized department to handle investigations for these nuanced cases... or you could rely on the state/nation to give you some actual assuranced. National ID solves this. Does Apple have the budget? Yes, but then are smaller companies justified for fucking up? Wouldn't a more objective, verifiable, and automatable procedure be preferred to level the playing field?
The problem seems to be that the state has no other way to really identify them differently, also as one of them doesn't exist. An actual identity identifier would have solved this from ever occurring.
Very few countries require you to carry an ID. Many countries require you to own one and keep it up to date, but don't care whether you carry it outside.
Also, I find the point kind of moot for the US where a driving license is essentially an ID card, you have to carry it to drive, and you have to drive to go anywhere in most places.
So, your name is also this sort of identifier. But an “identifier” is not an “identity” in the way you mean it. Sometimes words are used in multiple ways.
