BY 1975, nine years ahead of Orwellian projections, every West German citizen may be officially known to his government by a twelve-digit number. The government has sent the Bundesrat (upper house of parliament) a proposal that would identify each person by six digits indicating his birth date, a seventh his sex and the century of his birth, the next four to distinguish him from others born on the same day, and the last a "control" number—which would make Chancellor Willy Brandt Number 181213 3 1234 5 or something very close to that. The...
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