Comment by 63stack
While the question of "is it actually possible to do this in a privacy preserving way?" is certainly interesting, was there ever a _single_ occasion where a government had the option of doing something in a privacy preserving way, when a non-privacy preserving way was also possible? Politicians would absolutely kill for the idea of unmasking dissenters on internet forums. Even if the option is a possibility, they are deliberately not going to implement it.
> was there ever a _single_ occasion
I don't know where you live, but in my case, many. Beginning with the fact that I can buy groceries with cash.