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Ellison Wants National ID Card, Powered By Oracle
cplater writes: "This article discusses Larry Ellison's call for a U.S. national ID card, and his offer to provide the software for such an initiative." There's an advertising slogan to be proud of: 'Oracle, the Big Database behind Big Brother'. Or 'Oracle, the All-Seeing Eye'. Or 'If it's good enough for Orwell, it's good enough for your company'. Update: 09/23 23:22 GMT by M : Richard Jones writes "The British Home Secretary is considering compulsory identity cards, despite the fact that such
cards would not have made any difference in the recent
terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. The British
have generally opposed their reintroduction since the wartime
system of identity cards was abolished in 1952."
At least I'd know who I was. Anytime I forgot I could look proudly down at my chest and point to my ID.
Sounds like a fancy passport. Gee wiz, nobody will ever be able to forge that! What a complete waste of time. Why anybody listens to that Jack Ass is beyond me. He's just panicing because nobody wants to pay $8,000/cpu for his shitty database anymore.
Someone you trust is one of us.
We already have a national ID card, Social Security ones.
First the Social Security Number which when proposed to the people of the US was promised to not be used as a unique identifier, but just a way of tracking your payments into your social security account. Try doing anything in the US now without that Unique Identification Number. Get a job, get a phone, open a bank account, get a loan.
So now this, at least they seem to be a little more up front about the purpose.
Yes, I'm outraged by the loss off life and destruction of property. But I'll be more outraged by the sheep that allow things like this to pass.
It seems clear to me that Larry Ellison is still smarting from his failed attempt to best Bill Gates in the "World's Richest Guy" competition. So now he's attempting to one-up Bill's whole Passport/Hailstorm initiative by being the gatekeeper for a much more pervasive system than Microsoft's MSN/Hotmail.
There are two kinds of people: 1) those who start arrays with one and 1) those who start them with zero.
Well of course Ellison would shamelessly promote Oracle to create a National ID. If he doesn't make his money off selling the database software itself (which he claims he won't), he'll make it off consulting fees or upgrades.
So since we are already losing our privacy and our civil liberties, we should might as well give up the rest of them to Larry and Oracle.. good idea. This is just another prime example of how in this day and age people are willing to let their stand by as their rights vaporize before their eyes. Too many people are willing to simply succumb to the will of corporations like Oracle, that's how things like the DMCA get passed. Of course, the big corps know this and use it to their advantage.
Anyone mentioning the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon or the fourth crashed plane in an attempt to justify a change of law is not acting in the tradition of a free country. Using the terrorist attacks to finally get what Big Brothers always wanted should anger every free citizen.
If Larry Ellison were a lawyer, he'd be the epitome of ambulance chasers. I saw this guy on TV a day or two after the attack (or possibly even the very same day), on a news program no less, and what he had to say amounted to "I feel sorry for all those people, this is terrible, blah blah, ORACLE ROCKS!, this is such a national tragedy."
Now, I can understand that there's some unsavory individuals who, for example, looted stores near ground zero in the midst of all the chaos. But to have one of the richest men on earth hawking his warez under the guise of offering insightful commentary on how the WTC attacks affected the tech sector is just sick beyond belief.
Say what you will about evil corporate bosses, but at least Billy G had the good sense to keep his mouth shut.
And now, of course, he is further attempting to turn the situation to his advantage. The man has no shame.
...if it's optional.
One unique ID that can log me into my systems, allow people to contact me, allow me to make purchases and make the coffee machine brew exactly the way I like it? Sign me up!
This is no different than what we have now with Social Security Number, Driver's License, MasterCard, IP Address. The difference is that all these numbers aren't interchangable.
Security issues? Use PINs or biometrics. Big Brother issues? Allow users to control their database entried, or opt-out entirely.
I look forward to one card wallets.
- JoeShmoe
-- I wonder which will go down in history as the bigger failure: the War on Drugs or the War on Filesharing
Need i say more? We've already got E-Z Pass, Acme Rent-A-Car's GPS systems and every "CRM" system devised in the last 5 years tracking our movements and purchases. I used to think people who claimed the government had implanted a chip in their brains to monitor their movements were crazy; maybe they were just prescient. This would be an instant challenge to hack. We already live in a country where the Pres' teenage daughters can drink on a fake ID, so there would be a big demand for faking these IDs.
Here in .be(elgium we have national ID cards, from age 12, you have to have them always on you from age 16 i think.
It contains the usual stuff (name adress birthdate) and as an opt-out our version of what would be SSN#, only police and other officials can demand you to show it other people can ask it but you dont have to show it. I dont see the difference with having a driving licence on you or any other form of ID they use in the US
42
no thank you.
exactly what I say when the grocery stores ask if I want their little tracking device.
we don't need it, we don't want it. no.
National ID cards (in the US, replacing the mishmash of Social Security, Driver's License, Military ID, blah blah) are actually a privacy enhancing thing, if backed up by the proper regulations.
Right now, in the US, we (ie the individual) have virtually no way of tracking who is tracing us, and identity theft is difficult to trace. There are a thousand and one different places to steal access to, any one of which can be used to forge access to another. And furthermore, there is almost no way to keep track of who accesses what information.
Even if the US put in reasonable privacy laws for the current system, keeping track of all accesses to your information is problematic, at best.
I'd be all for a National ID card, should they pass reasonable privacy laws with it. And my definition of privacy laws is this: I get to control who has access to what information, I decide what information can go in the system, I decide the granularity of info given to people, I own my information, nobody can collect information about me (unless as an unidentifiable part of an aggregate) unless I explicitly permit it, and no one can share any information about me with anyone else. There would be exceptions for court-ordered disclosures for law-enforcement, but that's it.
That system would be great: it would prevent a person with a suspended driver's license in one state from getting a new one in another, while at the same time prevent company A from discovering I like Mary Typer Moore shows by my viewing habits, then selling this info to company B.
Having a properly monitored and regulated central database of personal info is far better than the completely insecure mishmash of crap we have today.
But unless they put in those restrictions, Hell No!
-Erik
There are always four sides to every story: your side, their side, the truth, and what really happened.
What this is:
A verifiable ID card.
It's just like any identification system (credit card, driver's licence, passport, etc.) except it has the ability to be instantly verified (scan bar code on ID card and you get a picture / name from the database). Yes, it has a great potential for abuse (it would be fairly simple to track usage of such a system and thus track a person's activities / whereabouts to some degree)). But this is not a NEW potential for a buse. And most heartening is that a government run system has ACCOUNTABILITY. Take out your wallet, now take a look at your credit / debit cards. Think about the fact that every purchase you've made with those is stored away in a database and accessable (and researchable!) by someone who is not directly accountable to you.
Now, think about other ways this could be used. Imagine being able to have a verifiable identification system for police, government agents and employees.
Let's not waste money on an expensive database system. Let's just find all the bad people and make them wear easily identified tags around their necks..
JET Program: see Japan, meet intere
To be perfectly honest, Oracle does not scale well into that range of database. We are talking about 300 million people now, and it will grow to 500 million soon enough. That's the minimum number of records (it'll be much higher when other tables and relations are formed). So there are billions of records (maybe trillions within a few years of use as we would need audit trails on something like this), and the number of transactions it would need to support per second would be astounding. How many people are pulled over for just traffic offenses every second? Let us not forget reports, data mining (why else would you use a database rather than just a set of cards?), and other quesries.
Sorry, I don't think Oracle is upto the task of being Big Brother's best clerk.
As a Canadian I only need some form of identification. Drivers license & birth certificate are adaquate.
(And that, as far as I can tell, is only to travel through the border, but I would never travel without some for of ID.).
I can see it now ....
Oracle Support: What seems to be the problem?
Joseph K: My ID card is not functioning and I've been arrested.
Oracle Support: Sounds like you need one of our consultants, the charge is $1,500 per diem, minimum 5 day consultancy, if you give me your credit card details I will debt your account now.
Joseph K: ARGHHHH!
Any sufficiently advanced man is indistinguishable from God
It boggles the mind how somebody so obtuse could become so wealthy. Larry, pull your head out of your nether orfice and think:
We already have many forms of identification. ID's which can easily be counterfited. How many fake driver's licenses, Passports, and credit cards are there in circulation now? How in your wildest dreams do you think you will be able to prevent counterfitting your new "Big brother" ID?
Everyone's vitals presumably will be stored in a giant database. What happens when the database is hacked and Abdul's fingerprints are matched with his newly counterfitted ID? That's right, he breezes right through security and we're right back to square one again! A cool hack would be to replace Dubya's prints with ohhh say...Ted Kazinski's...
Besides, in any case you dumb shit, all the terrorists have to do is keep their noses clean! That's right, come to the country and apply for one of these silly ID's..."got any priors?...No?...here you are Mr Atta!" Make their first offense the big one and what good will the silly ID do? Absolutely Jack Shit! What about foreign nationals? Are they going to be issued temporary cards for the duration of their stay? Based on what? What they disclose at the point of entry? This is a non-starter.
You really want to do your bit to help prevent terrorism Larry? Why don't you take a couple of your billions and endow a few schools in third-world countries? Maybe through education the worlds desperate will learn how to escape from their desperate situations and they will be less likely to commit desperate acts.
You're using her as bait, Master!
``Well, this privacy you're concerned about is largely an illusion,'' he said. ``All you have to give up is your illusions, not any of your privacy. Right now, you can go onto the Internet and get a credit report about your neighbor and find out where your neighbor works, how much they earn and if they had a late mortgage payment and tons of other information.''
Getting credit reports is a far cry from having a system in place to fingerprint every American and track all of their movements.
Yes, he's only talking about airports, but that would change VERY quickly once the system is in place.
It's not clear to me that it "would not have made any difference." It would be a lot harder for these people to purchase airline tickets if they had to show IDs that said their visas were expired. Two of them were, in fact, wanted for questioning by the FBI.
There is some potential for abuse with national ID cards, but we shouldn't exaggerate too much. I believe almost all western European countries already have them and they are not totalitarian regimes.
we get frothing at the mouth from unbathed hippies
Fuck you and your pompous self-importance. Your generalizations do wonders for civil discourse.
Personally, I'm against 24/7 surveillance and tracking. I don't really see how anyone could want the government to have this much power, but if you're willing to live with it, go ahead and volunteer.
...but I came up with this idea as well, after considering all the options. It's the only real way to insure security in America today. I considered it in the same light that ebay ranks sellers on their service. People get extra credit for being good merchants, and buyers are less reluctant to send a paypal check to them, relying on the credit to assure them they'll get their stuff.
In the same manner, we might be able to flash such a card in the airport and not have so much hassle getting on the plane. And someone who doesn't have one would be subject to more intense 'scrutiny'.
The downside, of course, is - as Ellison puts it - we would have to accept the limited measure of privacy we probably already have. But the positives might outweigh the negatives.
I would allow it if it were completely voluntary. I know, I know, it really wouldn't be voluntary if you couldn't get on a plane without one, but I don't know how to make this place safe, and there don't seem to be too many alternatives at this point.
We are truly being attacked from all sides, here, from within and without. If this tragedy has made hundreds more would-be martyrs and suicide bombers out of our enemy, then terrorism might become more commonplace in America. Is it not already a daily part of life in Israel, Northern Ireland, and England? It seems to me that we could see such mundane but equally terrifying events as maniacal suicidal guys in cars mowing down people at a park or a beach, running through shopping centers with guns, all sorts of exploitations of our complex and highly-technological society.
Of course, the concept of America as the shining beacon of Freedom, Justice, and Liberty would be gone. It would be a frank admission that such ideals can't work in this day and age.
I'm really torn on this subject, and I know that my 'devil's advocate' position supporting those cards is probably not popular, and certainly in opposition to the idealism I had in my younger days; but it's possible that I hadn't thought it out back then.
It's not so much fun being an American anymore...
I truly welcome your opposing viewpoint here, but please, if you do respond to this, tell me 1) are there viable alternatives to this that will stop the terrorist threat (um, beyond 'threat', really...), and 2) what, in combination with reduced surveillance, would reduce terrorism? Besides having a 'non-corporativist' government, of course. We suspect that might work, if we could only get ourselves to try that.
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Most Americans don't understand their rights with respect to their SSN. They freely give it when they don't have to. As for me, I almost always refuse to give it unless it's for a tax-related deal (like setting up a bank account that pays interest, brokerage account, etc.). I invariably get dumbfounded looks and a conversation with "the manager" who has to approve my opening an account / applying / whatever without giving it.
A separate system for ID (vs. tax) like you talk about the French having sounds more ideal, but the amount of education and administrative overhead would be high.
At least we could probably make it harder to forge than a Yemeni passport. But with our track record on currency...
Ok, help me out here. What's so bad about having a national ID card? As it stands now, there's no really good way to verify someone's identity. There are probably dozens of Aaron St.John's out there, and at least a couple Aaron Michael St.John's. Odds are that there is probably an Aaron St.John or two with my birthdate as well. If I had a unique ID number, it would be real easy to tell me apart from the other Aaron St.Johns, especially the criminals Aaron St.Johns, the Aaron St.Johns not elligible to work in America, and the wanted Aaron St.Johns.
Maybe I'm the only one who just doesn't see why having some sort of unique ID makes us into opressed citizens. Which freedom, exactly, would we be losing here?
Stupid like a fox!
Perhaps you missed the line in the article about having to carry said ID cards at all times and present them to police on demand? In other words, leaving the house without your card could very well be grounds for imprisonment. It isn't the number that disturbs people, it's the presenting on demand and tracking in a database part. This brings to mind images of SS officers demanding "Let me see your papers." Preventing facsism isn't whining, it's being a good citizen.
``We need a database behind that, so when you're walking into an airport and you say that you are Larry Ellison, you take that card and put it in a reader and you put your thumb down and that system confirms that this is Larry Ellison,'' he said.
Ok, Larry, and what happens when someone steals your card and your thumbprint?
This is reactionary and stupid. A national ID card will only promote a police state, and if that happens, the terrorists have already won.
---- I made the Kessel Run in under 11 parsecs.
"Hey, baby, what's your GUID?"
It's complacency that burned us once and as much as we want to go back to our complacent little sheep lifestyles, that is no longer an option! These gimmicks are trying to restore a happy illusion that we're safe again and can go back to our complacent little lives, but even if they succeed for a few years, they will ultimately guarantee another tragedy like this down the road, when someone figures out how to defeat the measures.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
If you're looking for more information, you can just go to aclu.org and search for "national id" you'll find plenty of information about why they are a very bad idea....
What?
The last thing I was is to give my valuable data to anyone else to hold. Put it on a RFI chip and inject it. It will hold more data than a tatto and look better to (I wonder what stretch makes wold do to a 3d barcode).
Then airlines would only need to install recievers in the seats (13a practices an unpopular faith, No plane ride for you).
If it's good enough for my dog its good enough for me. If you want the ultimate in security add DNA encoder so the chip wipes upon removal (dead or alive).
âoeWho knew something as harmless as willful ignorance could end up having real consequences?â
And this stops terrorism how? "Hi, I'm Joe Bob Terrorist". "Yep, he is, let him on the plane."
Oh well, I guess thinking is something that goes away after an incident like 9/11.
Greg Himowitz, analyst / talking head on CNBC, was livid with Oracle for announcing earnings while people were lying dead in the rubble. The other charlatan talking heads seemed to concur.
Larry Ellison is a dick.
If there were a national card required for all plane/train/bus/boat tickets, that wouldn't be much different than the current situation where if you don't pay be credit card (in which case they presumably have ID'd you), it's supposed to be suspicious enough for them to check you out (it wasn't for two of the hijackers - you can bet it is now).
Also, require the card for all car purchases and rentals. Once you have a car, you can go where you like without having to flash the card at checkpoints - but then they can already scan your license plates....
Of course, the card would have to contain a retinal scan or somesuch. And you'd have to have safeguards about a great many situations where it would be illegal to require it. So you could still go shopping in stores or clubs some consider politically or religiously incorrect without your identity being compromised at all. You just couldn't travel any great distance without leaving a clear record of who you are when you obtain that seat to travel in.
This targeted transport identity card wouldn't take any freedom I care about, but would really restrict the capabilities of any plots that require travelling without leaving traces. It would also mean that of the 7 million foreigners who have overstayed their temporary visas (according to 60 Minutes tonight) there'd be some much better clues on where to track them to to get their visa situations resolved.
"with their freedom lost all virtue lose" - Milton
Could the "A" stand for asshole? We've got alot of A-holes in my locale :)
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National identification cards have nothing to do with fighting terrorism or crime. Like all other legislation, a national identification system, if passed, would only affect honest people. Criminals and terrorists would find ways around the system, such as counterfeiting or hacking the database. Government clerks could be tricked--or bribed--into placing false information in the database. Criminals could even stay clean long enough to get into government offices, only to help other criminals get false IDs and database records. There are workarounds to every law, and so anytime a new law is created, an infinite amount of new troubles are created as well.
Now let's talk about the Social Security Number mentioned by several folks. Before I say this, I am not a lawyer, but this information is the result of a LOT of reading. Ask an expert in this complicated field before believing anything I'm saying here...
The SSN was originally a simple account number, yet it is now used as a national identification number by federal and state government agencies and corporations. (Example: I think every state requires your SSN before they issue a drivers license.)
By the way, the issues mentioned here about SSN and employment are a big misunderstanding: Your employer has no business knowing your SSN, as they are not required to act as a free agent to the IRS or to Social Security. Nearly all companies do because they don't know this, or wish to avoid possible troubles with the IRS. There are companies out there that don't withhold payments to you.(See Arrow Custom Plastics' "Withholding Statement.") Also, check out the Yahoo! group: legality-of-income-tax at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/legality-of-income-t ax/.)
Unbeknownst to most Americans, the IRS is a voluntary system--enforced only because of contract law! Nearly all Americans have no clue what their signature means on the social security form, or on the IRS forms they mail to the government every year. These forms are contracts, and by signing them, you are voluntarily agreeing to abide by various sections of government code which, as far as I understand are not positive law. (The constitutional amendment was never ratified!) The whole system operates on smoke and mirrors, as most Americans simply aren't aware of what's going on. Do you honestly want to give the government more power to track you around? My suggestion: the various government agencies should start doing their current jobs, before inventing new ways to bury themselves in work.
Don't misunderstand me: I love this country. I pay my taxes. I'm pissed off about what happened on the 11th and I certainly hope the government gets the "folks" who committed these atrocities, but when it comes to big-brother type things that won't help prevent another disaster, I say go back and reread 1984 before you take these matters so lightly.
Just my $.02.
Didn't IBM sell ID carding systems to the Nazis? It's one of the reasons the Nazi's were so effectuve at tracking down Jews, IIRC. I wonder how a National ID is any different.
There is no way that a National ID would have prevented 18 *foreigners* from boarding planes and whacking them into buildings. Sorry Larry.
Oohh yeah, can I have mine imprinted with 666 too? Maybe the end really is near?
pan
I said no... but I missed and it came out yes.
This is the system most likely to be expanded into a national identity check system. At the very least, we'll probably see that level of physical identification at all INS-controlled entry points.
Larry says
`Let me ask you. There are two different airlines. Airline A says before you board that airplane you prove you are who you say you are. Airline B, no problem. Anyone who wants the price of a ticket, they can go on that airline. Which airplane do you get on?''
I know Larry thinks this is a rhetorical question to which A is the obvious answer, but personally, if it would make things faster and less bureaucratic, I'd go with B myself. The simple fact is that hijacking is a really, really, really, infrequent occassion. There are far more probable ways to get yourself killed that merit more worry.
I for one think that this is a bad idea. I think that such a federally mandated ID card would really hurt the alcohol industry. After all, all the under age college students will no longer be able to purchase alcohol with horribly faked out of state ID's. Ellison is the devil.
If Murphy's Law can go wrong, it will.
it's a thumbprint scanner. it comes up on the display. no idea what they use it for.
-
Maybe someone should take that information which Larry thinks the government should have, and pretend to be Larry Ellison. Oh, wait, it's already been done...
Sure, we'll provide the server software. Oh? GMAC wants to jack into it? Guess you'll be client software, huh?
The truth about Scientology, Xenu, and you: Operation Clambake
Passport is an online service that makes it possible for you to use your e-mail address and a single password to sign in--securely--to any Passport participating Web site or service.
Welcome to the United Socialist States of America.
Bit I say in the electronic age, little security is left anyway. This security we're concerned about is largely an illusion. All we have to give up is the illusion of privacy to gain the illusion of security.
proof, n. A demonstration that a conclusion is implied by certain premises and axioms.
People who know me, know that I am a techie, who is very skeptical about what he reads. People also know me as a Christian, albeit one who is not very devout. However, after reading this article I think that's going to change. It's going to change completely. This is one step closer to having, verbatim, what Revelations predicted would happen. I never, ever thought I'd bring religion into a discussion like this. I've always kept my religious views to myself, but I cannot do so any longer. This is just too creepy. I never thought, that anytime soon this would occur. I wasn't even sure if it was symbolic or if it was literal, but now that it is being seriously considered I can no longer afford to assume that it is purely symbolic. I promise you this though. I will NEVER accept such a thing. Even if I die. My soul is worth far more to me than even my life, and as it is written in Revelations, those that accept the mark are numbered as one of the beast's and will be cast away. I'm sorry if this makes me appear ignorant, but I think the time has come for me to cease my total pursuit of worldly things and start looking at what is most certainly going to come, and soon.
Having the national Big Brother database running on Oracle would be a huge bee in Microsoft's bonnet. Perhaps they should go for it just on that basis.
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Nifty Pic
That pic had the caption:
'Police held two men at gun point in New Jersey after a bus driver reported they spoke, "little English," and seemed "suspicious."'
The read this quote from MSNBC
DAILY LIFE IS CHANGING
Daily life in America is likely to change as a result of the Sept. 11 attacks -- with the newly created Office of Homeland Security likely to play a role in those changes, current and former government officials said.
"I think in order to defend the homeland, we're going to need more information about virtually every citizen. So we're going to have more databanks and databases that have information about us,"
INCREASED SURVEILLANCE
Even as Americans returned to their normal pursuits, surveillance was increased. For example, there were car inspections at the Mets-Braves baseball game at Shea Stadium Friday night -- the first major outdoor sporting event in the New York area since the attacks.
Here is a copy of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001 second draft.
As well as the "Mobilization Against Terrorism Act".
All I can say is, be careful what you wish for and what saying "Oh whats a little ID card."
It won't stop there.
Incidentally, though, there's no reason that the "reference" system has to be entirely manual. A bank could just number its customers, and a customer could provide a future bank with (A) the name of the previous bank and (B) their customer ID at that bank. Second Bank connects to First Bank's database, feeds it A and B. First Bank contacts you with the name of Second Bank and asks for release authorization. You say 'go', First Bank tells Second Bank what they want to know, and it's all good. Not quite as snappy as an SSN lookup, but not far off and considerably more secure.
I'd imagine that if the banks didn't have credit-tracking companies to do all this for them (and without your control), they'd implement a very similar system.
The key points here are that you have a separate unique ID at every institution, and that no information is exchanged without your consent, and in theory no information can be exchanged without your first providing the means (prior lender and customer ID there).
The problem, of course, is that banks won't want to do this. They'd rather know about all the banks you've previously dealt with, not just the ones you feel comfortable telling them about. That's understandable, it's safer for them that way... but frankly, I don't care.
Don't you mean "as we peek!"?
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
Say what you will about evil corporate bosses, but at least Billy G had the good sense to keep his mouth shut.
Here's a survey. We're about to elect ruler of the world. The three candidates are 1) Bill Gates, 2) Larry Ellison, or 3) Scott McNealy. Who do you pick?
Personally, I would pick Gates. Microsoft notwithstanding, he seems like the most "down-to-earth" guy who seems like a genuine real guy and family man. Ellison is a known asshole who only cares about himself, although clearly a smart guy. Ellison looks like what I would expect Satan to look like. McNealy is too snide and I've never been impressed that he actually has a clue about anything. :)
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
When asked for your card, ask the person behind you in line if they would like to have the 'points' or whatever motivates people to give up their freedom. You get the discount, the other person loses their privacy.
It's a win-win situation.
:-)
Jim in Tokyo
-- My Weblog.
Oracle Chairman and CEO Larry Ellison is calling for the United States to create a national identification card system -- and cautioned, "Bill Gates is the Antichrist. I admonish you, my brothers and sisters, in JayEEzuhsizah NAYMAHhh, to let me into your life and so I can provide Oracular Salvation from his diabolical plans for your immortal soul. Amen! Let me hear you say AMEN! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!"
Seastead this.
Nationalize Oracle without paying a dime to Larryboy and give away Oracle for free
Want to eliminate griefers over-night from the Web?
All you need is a way for sites to recognize someone they've seen before so a boot becomes permenant. Note that thid does NOT mean knowing wh oyo uare in the real world or anything about your real world identity. What it DOES require is an ID which is permenantly boudn to a user and of whicha suer can never have mroe then one.
Soiund familair? You already have oit-- iuts called your SSN. But what is needed is a way to authenticate yourslef remotely as the one and onlky leigitimate holder of the SSN. A national SmartCard would sovle that.
It would ALSO make identity theaft impossible. Identity theaft is a quickly balooning real world problem that has stung thousands so far with bills for products they didn't purchase aand screwed up their credit reports in wast hat takle huge amounst of time and energy 9and ocassionally legal action to fix.
So it coems down to what do you want? A vauge undefiend "danger to your privacy" or a real and rpesent danger to your economic well being today?
Read any Federal United States form that is covered under the Privacy Act. Much of the information on those forms is considered "optional." Your social security number, address etc., can be left off many forms, and said forms would still be considered complete.
However, without said information, your eligibilty for aid, employment, etc., quickly becomes hard to prove or the government will refuse to process your request. Guess you should have filled out those "optional" fields.
Many stores ask for your ZIP Code or phone number. Just like many federal forms you don't have to provide this, but almost everyone does. While a ZIP code tends to provide semi-random demographics, your phone number provides stores with your address. Of course, you can be asked not to be listed in the phone book, if you pay the "optional" fee of $1.50 a month and ensure that businesses you deal with do not "optionally" tell your phone number to their partners as well...
Maybe Ellison is the Antichrist and he's a major proponent of the mark of the beast for all transactions. Oh wait, i'm not Christian...well in that case maybe it's time to move from the US, where there are so many people that act like sheep, to New Zealand where there are more sheep than people.
A different kind of animal
And yes, I consider anything which facilitates a police state to be harm. A true national ID will be used to tie you to EVERYTHING, just like other near national IDs are now. That level of tracking is simply not justifiable.
I think it usually happens on the weekends.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
These 'sleepers' that were planted lived ordinary lives, fitted in to their communities, and would have carried perfectly valid ID cards if national ID had existed. Don't get this siege mentality. There has been one massive devastating attack but this doesn't mean you have to permanently live under this fear. Take sensible measures to minimise the same thing happening again. US funded terrorists have been bombing British citizens for decades yet we haven't resorted yet to ID cards so I see no reason why it should be imposed on yourselves. Our current government is less democracy and more dictatorship but we will fight for our freedom. On the other hand, it will be useful to identify Jews so that we can round them up and ship them to concentration camps.. oh, isn't that the reason we got rid of these schemes in the first place?
Phillip.
Property for sale in Nice, France
/rant I whole heartedly belive that the vast majority of the people in this world would more than gladly give up bits pieces or all of their freedom in order to feel safe and protected. These are the types of people that will help facilitate the downfall of democracy. What is security if you aren't allowed to do as you please. I mean sure if I dug a giant hole and lived in a bunker with rations I'd be safe from the vast majority of threats but what type of life would I be living? I belive life is not just about surviving but experienceing and when the opportunity for experience and self exploration is removed that what do we really have left? /end rant
Every corporation (maby not S) is issued a Federal Tax ID - guess what, they have the same amount of digits as an SSN and they don't collide with any SSN number, it's just that the hyphens are placed differently. I just hand out my Federal Tax ID for places that expect a SSN but don't really need it - like video stores.
Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.
exactly. I intend to write that to my senators and suggest just that. Given that they are Fienstein and Boxer, the suggestion should hit home. I would urge everyone in California to send the same message:
"Why don't we just take this national identity thing to its logical conclusion and require all US citizens to have their national ID tatooed on their arms, with a microchip with all the relevant data imbedded under the skin. It should be a crime for anyone to cover thier arm in a fashion that would cover their tatoo. To avoid fraud, special custom inks should be used, just as is the case for currency."
Daschele, Elison, and Fienstein, and any other idiot that advocates this national id card idiocy should be reminded by whatever means are necessary that we will not tolerate their attempts to use our constitution as toilet paper. What you are seeing in the behaviour of these individuals is exactly why our founding fathers put the second amendment in the bill of rights. This is exactly the sort of tyranny that they wanted to prevent.
The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers. Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2, Act 4, Scene 2
They'd probably just consider Orwell to be a Left-wing Liberal Hippy. And an alarmist.
Everyone is an alarmist until it's to late. That's just the way life goes.
I wish that 90% of the people screaming "liberal" had the faintest clue of what "liberal" actually means in a political sense. It's not really a catch-all for everything the Dittoheads hate.
How is the validation of an individual's identity ensuring his sanity on a flight? If I carry this card, and prove that I am indeed the holder of the thumb and body which the card indicates, what is stopping me from running into the cabin of the plane with a fork, and declaring the plane in the name of Homer Simpson? Nothing.
Stop trying to fill your pockets, Larry, at the expense of the very same freedoms which made you rich.
We have Microsoft trying to pull everyone's personal credit information into Passport and .NET, so they can control where you go, when, and how you get there, and we have Oracle, trying to capture and store and "manage" your
very identity. I don't think so.
We also have the DMCA, the SSSCA, backdoored "encryption" (anything with more than one keyholder is not encryption), the RIAA, MPAA, gps tracking devices in rental cars, cameras at every intersection, Dmitry Sklyarov vs. US/Adobe, and traffic tickets being sent in the mail for infractions you were never stopped for.
How is this giving me liberty again?
What people in our government fail to see is that the collection of these events, coupled with those who are trying to restrict stem cell research, our encryption, our liberties, and now, in a very delicate potential time of war, issuing lethal foreign policies. People are leaving this country, and taking off for other places where the opportunities may not be as vast, but the freedoms certainly are.
I'm very close to taking off as well, before the borders are closed, and I have to show my passport, fingerprint, and biometric validation, along with government approval to leave this country, and I'm taking all of my loved ones with me.
lower case a for minor assholes, uper case A for "Capital Assholes" :)
Free Techno/Jazz/DNB/MI Music by guys obsessed with monkeys!
Well, guess what? Mohammed Atta and his gang were NOT traveling under aliases.
The JBT's keep pushing this asinine idea that nobody will commit a crime if they've been positively identified.
What this ID shell game is for, is just another pretext for training people to be docile and do whatever they're told, and if we learned anything at all last week, we learned that you don't increase your safety on iota by following orders.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
I'm for a national id system because I value my privacy; the current situation is worse than any reasonable national id system could be. Rather than having legislation that clearly defines what can and cannot be done, together with a decent, rational, and secure id system, the US muddles through with social security numbers and drivers license numbers. The result? People who merely need a unique identifier get a hold of all sorts of personal information, like phone numbers, retirement information, and driving records. Insecure identifications that are easy to forge, widespread identity theft, and a lack of reliable at locations where it is in everybody's interest that people identify themselves.
Germany has had ID cards for decades, and it's accepted as normal by most everyone. Germany has also had some of the worst problems with terrorists of any european nation, and these two things are connected.
In Germany, you can buy an ID very easily, one's identification is all based on one or two pieces of paper (or plastic rather) that are easily forged or stolen.
In the UK, on the other hand, there is no ID card and creating a fake ID is (paradoxically) more difficult. There are no cultural or social reasons to assume that someone is what the piece of paper says they are, and therefore other, less obvious, forms of identification are expected. Letters to your address, bank references, signature of a local professional person and so on.
When Blunkett (in the UK) talks about imposing ID cards, its not because he believes it achieves anything, but because he gets some political mileage out of it.
People here in Germany are amazed when I tell them that in UK to change your name involves nothing more than deciding what name you want to be called. And then telling all your banks etc.... In Germany it is close to impossible to legally change your name.
My 0.2c
.sig available on 'Need To Know' basis only!
The thumbprints are sent to the alien mother ship where they're decoded (fingerprints are actually an alien encryption device) and correlated against your vehicle VIN transponder (VIN plates are also alien technology) for possible future abduction and thorough anal probing. If you match a certain batch that they're working with at the moment, you get an anal probe. Colorado has the same system. Quite a lot of the probing that goes on happens in these two states, which have been on the forefront of this technology.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Having a national id card that allows for one to say you're you through a picture on a card and fingerprints is not a bad thing at all. At least it can make everyone certain you're who you pretend to be.
I've been living with an ID card for my whole life now (in belgium), there are no fingerprints on it, but there are my pictures, address, etc... and I don't have any problem with that. I have to show my ID card only to governement people, I can show it to anyone though, but am not legally bound to do so. tons of people have already seen my id card, address etc, do you think I get a pizza van in accross the street with 15 cops xraying my house? There are few things I need to use my ID card for: dealing with the administration, banking, crossing boundaries of Europe, when a cop wants to verify that I have everything all right with my car (taxes paid, car passed the yearly security test, ...) among others. What's bad with that? Do you think they enter everything I do in a database?
To go on with the privacy stuff, if you guys (and ladies) don't trust your goverment with your personal information then ELECT PEOPLE YOU TRUST. If you're tired of corrupted congressman/president/parties then vote for someone else!.
I don't see a single reason you'd want to hide things from your government, if you're a lawful citizen, then the cops/fbi/cia/nsa/whatever have absolutely no reason to get [extra] data about you, right? If that's not the case, then it's a sign you don't have the right people in the key positions in your governement.
I'm not saying there's no corrupted people in my country government, far from that, but if they decided to go for an electronic version of my ID card with more data on it that allows for tracking things I do with that card, then I say "no problem, go ahead", if it can simplify things when dealing with day-to-day matters, then they get a high five from me.
I think that those who want to hide things are those who should not be allowed to hide them. Yuo want to hide you have an affair with your secretary, fine with me, the governement is not interested in that anyway. You want to hide you're growing marijuana in your garden then you have a problem... If you want to be allowed to smoke pot, then make it lawful to do so instead of hide it. it seems like you're doing thinks backward. Make things legal instead of hiding the fact you're doing these things. If the people you have elected don't want to vote these laws, then vote for other people.
Big companies give money to politicians to get the laws they want, that's called 'corruption' and is illegal. Corruption has always been there but it seems to me that USA got it to a point where people have absolutely no control over how things work now. Politicians will vote laws that favour big companies anyway, because having flourishing businesses in your country is good for the people, but with corruption/bribes/lobbies as they are, politicians don't vote these laws for the people but for THEM. Solution: make parties open their finance books, enforce anti-corruption laws, ban lobbying, make politicians have to say what they own when they enter a function and have they declare what they own when the leave that function and create something to control that. Sue the corrupted guys, ....
So next time you have to vote again, vote for people you trust, I think it's high time the USA have a decent uncorrupted government and remember also that whatever government is in place in your country also has an influence on my country, whether I want it or not.
One shall speak only if what one has to say is more beautiful than silence
This is a big topic for me...I specialize in driver's license privacy...one thing that always fascinated me was, how did it come to pass that driver's licenses got to have pictures (mandatory in all states except NJ and VT)--if people were always so against mandatory photo identification documents.
My home state of Ohio added the mandatory photograph in legislation passed in September 1967 (at the same time requiring collection of SSN's as well.) On both issues, Ohio was a little early, but a lot of states did it in the same time period (new licenses issued after Jan 1 1969 had the photo.)
In the Ohio House and Senate, the legislation for collection of SSN's passed unanimously. In the Senate, the photo requirement passed unanimously, and passed 96-4 in the House. I was intrigued--only 22 years earlier, people were booing in theatres when Nazi's would demand "the papers" of some innocent European. What changed?
Furthermore, when I looked at the committee hearing records, the state highway patrol and the department of public safety had no opinion on the legislation--it has been said over and over again, the photo was not added for any reason related to operating a motor vehicle. The non-photo license is fine as a document simply to drive a car (and NJ and VT continue to confirm that.)
The best answer is the Vietnam war--somehow there is some relation between the draft and the photo driver's license. It appears that no state had a photo license prior to Gulf of Tomkin resolution, and at least 25 did after 1972 (in fact, legislation to repeal the photo requirement in Ohio appeared only after 1973.)
So, if history can be a lesson on this issue, there is a need to be concerned. A biometrically based national photo ID will be disastrous. It has been a bad solution which may have finally found a problem.
I think a national ID card system is a good idea.
I consider myself a staunch libertarian when it comes to the Bill of Rights, and to personal freedoms in general. So I can hardly believe I'm saying this! But hear me out. I propose a few rules for a national identity card system that would provide us with all the benefits of nearly unforgeable proof-of-identity without compromising our right to privacy or any other right which we currently enjoy.
1) Central to the identity card system is a suite of protocols for digital signature operations; key signing, verification and exchange; and key revocation. The principals of public-key cryptography form the basis of the system and can be used to implement rest of the features, which I outline below. The system is designed to facilitate cryptographically secure communication between private citizens, thereby giving us rights that we practically don't have today!
2) Nobody can ever be compelled (forced) to show his card. Similarly to the right of a business to refuse service if you don't wish to furnish your social security number, organizations may choose not to talk to you if you won't furnish some proof of identity, but proof of identity can never be required by a government agency, or in relation to the fulfillment of certain human needs (food, water, air, clothing, shelter, communication).
3) Every individual can create new, anonymous identities at will. These pseudonyms can be nothing more than a keypair and a globally unique identifier (and perhaps some optional contact information). The private key of each pseudonym is only stored in encrypted form, having been encrypted with the public key of the person who uses the pseudonym. Thus, the owner of the pseudonym can prove that he "is" the pseudonym, but only with his consent, and only under circumstances that he controls.
4) When a citizen's keypair is created, the private key is split using a keysharing algorithm into a large number of shares (~10,000 should do, or fewer for pseudonymous keypairs). The keyshares are distributed (in secret) to randomly chosen individuals. We perform the keyshare operation such that 60% of the shares must be recovered in order to recover the key. In a situation where some person, organization or government needs to crack the identity, he can appeal to these 10,000 people as a sort of "jury of peers" to see if he can convince them to divulge their keyshares. Once an identity has been cracked, private communications to that identity can be decrypted.
5) In order to protect against algorithmic attacks, a number of various symmetric and asymmetric cryptographic algorithms are supported by the system. Communications between agents in the system take place using algorithms and keylengths agreed upon by the participants.
One caveat: This all assumes that the identity cards are perfectly secure automomous computer systems. That is: the identity card is solely responsible for performing all the cryptographic operations, and information can never be read from an identity card without the consent of its owner. This daydream is probably the biggest flaw in my plan.
The UK in fact are not simply considering introducing a mandatory National ID card, but are in fact considering weakening the Human Rights Act to allow them to do it. It took the UK many years to implement the European Statute of Human Rights (against lots of petty minded protest) and now it seems like at the first scapegoat opportunity they are going to destroy it! I am extremely happy that I no longer live in the UK with their Big Brother attitudes (CCTV, encryption key hand-over laws etc.) and I sincerely hope that if they do ruin the Human Rights Act the EU finally tells them where to go and gets rid of it's rubbish.
Never underestimate the dark side of the Source
Umm, as far as I knew, most of the people involved with that little mess on the 11th were here legally. So again, this wouldn't stop this from happening in the future.
I have not seen very many solutions yet that defeat the very low tech terrorism that was used. So many solutions are these high tech gizmos. A database here for everyone, a $300,000 security scanner there, and neither adding a bit of real security to keep the events of the 11th from happening again. A suicide terrorist cannot be stopped completly without developing an AI, and letting it cage the entire human race. Even then, he could at least pose a mental threat to anyone else near his cage.
Remember, most of the airport security in place before the 11th was there to make the normal people feel better. Thats all thats going to happen this time as well. Several more checks, several more hours wait, and no additional actual security.
Such a card would simply be too convenient for way to many tasks, so everybody would require it.
Nonetheless, I want it in my country. Fuck privacy, I want convenience.
In Ellison's case, his hammer is Oracle. Is he opportunistic? Sure, but he's probably trying to help. No doubt, he too knew some of the people working in the WTC or the Pentagon. Eric Raymond also suggested a preventive measure to deter hijackers: arming the citizenry. Unfortunately, threatening to kill suicide bombers won't stop them, but firing guns in a highly pressurized tube is very likely to stop the plane.
Of course, the problem with ID cards, FAA regulations and crypto laws is that criminals aren't bounded by law. I don't know why this is a hard concept for our leaders to understand, but apparently it's a real coconut-scratcher.
I haven't heard of a solution that will prevent a future attack like the one that happened on 9/11. This problem has a lot more to do with human nature than technology or politics.
Not to mention the credibility you get if you are (successfully) running the National ID Card system. That's better than any commercial you could ever run on the Superbowl.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
... i have to say it's very usefull.
Even more now that i'm living outside my country of birth - instead carrying a big cluncky passport, i carry my ID card (somewhat bigger than a credit card, fits neatly in my wallet) which i use anywhere i need to prove my identity (banks, airports, picking up packages in the post office).
Beter yet, it works anywhere in the EU (i've even used it in Ireland and England which are outside the Shengen Area) so i can travel all over europe without a passport.
On the other hand, and since i come from a smallish european country, i had to insist with the bank people to "check their little book of valid ID cards" before the would accept my ID card (now they don't even blink an eye when they see it)
>The British Home Secretary is considering
> compulsory identity cards, despite the fact
> that such cards would not have made any
> difference in the recent terrorist attacks
> on New York and Washington. The British have
> generally opposed their reintroduction since
> the wartime system of identity cards was
> abolished in 1952."
I'm British are there is *no way* that I will carry an ID card. Compulsory cards reverse the burden of guilt. If we allow this incident to remove our freedoms the terrorist have scored a victory, I urge all other [Brits] to oppose them.
Robert Heinlein had something to say about national ID cards: "When the local governments expect you to start carrying identification,it's time to get off the planet."
Unfortunately, getting off the planet doesn't seem to be an option for the forseeable future.
First, we already have the Right To Travel
:)
Secondly, there are other options, such as an International Driver's Permit. (Remember it's not valid in the place of issue, but there is nothing stopping a person from getting one in a foreign country
Cheers
~~
"The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite." - Thomas Jefferson
"shoppers have to disclose more information at malls to buy a watch than they do to get on an airplane."
Where the #@!! does this guy shop? If I want to buy a watch, the only information a HAVE to give the store is "I want to buy this watch" and that I have enough cash to pay for it. Sure, some people choose to use a credit card and give more information, but they don't "have to." Just because privacy is a little more inconvinient these days, doesn't mean it is impossible or illegal.
I have not seen very many solutions yet that defeat the very low tech terrorism that was used.
:)
***********
I have a simple idea - arm everyone who gets on planes
In all honesty though, allowing people who have concealed handgun licenses and special training in pressurized cabins and who carry special bullets to carry their guns on the plane would probably do more to prevent terrorism than any amount of security. Then, the terrorists wouldn't know if they were the only ones on the plane that were armed. They also whouldn't know who they were.
Engineering and the Ultimate
In any case, you really have no privacy right now. Bitching about it isn't going to get it back.
I consider myself a staunch libertarian when it comes to the Bill of Rights, and to personal freedoms in general. So I can hardly believe I'm saying this! But hear me out.
Famous last words - of the sellout!
I propose a few rules for a national identity card system that would provide us with all the benefits of nearly unforgeable proof-of-identity without compromising our right to privacy or any other right which we currently enjoy.
Why not first explain what these benefits are? How will a national ID card prevent what happened on 9/11? How will it make us more secure? Explain that before you go off on a tangent about how to make it less objectionable.
Edith Keeler Must Die
Wouldn't that be
ultimate_answer_t deep_thought( int ) { sleep( years2secs( 7500000 ) ); return 42; }
Howdoya return 42 if it's declared void?
The most commonly used form of ID in this country seems to be the driver's license. People ask to see it at a lot of places that have nothing to do with driving. My local video store won't rent you a movie unless you have one. What is the connection between being able to drive a car and operate a VCR? The reason it is used like that is that most people already have one, and so they are a convenient form of ID that also has your photograph to allow the clerk to verify that it is actually you. I know people who have a driver's license even though they don't drive, just to use as an ID. A lot of states (maybe all) offer the option of getting a generic driver's license style ID that is only valid for identification purposes. That way people who cannot pass the requirements to get a driver's license can still conveniently purchase beer, cash checks, rent a rug cleaner, etc. Still, I have known a few adults that don't have either a driver's license or a state photo ID. They weren't anarchists, they just didn't need it. They used public transportation to get to work and they paid for almost everything in cash, so they never felt motivated to spend an afternoon standing in line at the DMV to get something they didn't need. Such people very much are the exception these days, but it isn't illegal to not have a photo ID. The driver's license seems to be an excellent example of an optional license that is nonetheless almost universal because of its usefulness.
What can we learn from this that could be applied to a Federal ID? Perhaps the ID could be purely optional. People could get one if they wanted a secure ID. To make it popular, the government should also make it so that the ID grants the user permission to do something useful or fun, so that way a lot of people would sign up for one. Even combining all current Federal IDs (like pilot's licenses) into one would probably not have enough users to make the ID popular for identification. Another permit (or permits) need to be invented and added in to increase the IDs popularity further. A federal driver's license wouldn't work unless it was easier to get than a state one, and I don't like that idea because we have enough people who can't drive on the roads already. Making it so you need an ID to do anything that you currently don't need an ID for (like air travel) is going to meet political resistance (perhaps deservedly) from whatever lobbying group engages in that activity, so for the Federal ID to make it into law the activity should be something that you can't do now, but that a large enough group of people might want to do to kick start the use of the ID as a form of identification.
But the whole point of doing this exercise is to reduce terrorism (isn't it?). And many people here have rightly pointed out that a better ID system would not have prevented this recent act of terrorism. The passengers were not wanted felons. The FBI was suspicious of some of them, but we don't restrict people's air travel whenever they are under suspicion by some federal agency of maybe being associated nefarious activities. Even the knives they used on the plane were, from all accounts, small enough that they were not restricted items, and could have been carried onto the plane in plain sight of the security guards (I used to legally fly with my pocket knife all the time, I would just put it in the little tray as I went through the detector and no security guard even hesitated to hand it back to me on the other side because it was small enough to be permitted on the plane). Is it possible to have a federal ID that is optional, provides the user with permission to engage in some new activity, and would also somehow reduce the likelihood of terrorism? Yes. Make it a federal concealed carry weapons permit. I still wouldn't let anyone carry a gun on a plane unless they had taken the FAA's (supposedly very difficult) course on the use of firearms in an aircraft, but that could be an option like having a commercial or motorcycle rating on your driver's license. Who would want to go through the time and expense of training for and passing the FAA course just so they could carry a pistol* on an airliner? Well, after recent events, I think a lot of pilots and commercial aircrew would like to have that option. Don't forget the first thing the terrorists did was apparently to slit a stewardess's throat, so a lot of flight attendants are no doubt feeling very nervous and unlike the rest of us aircrews spend a lot of time in the air so their chances of being hijacked are much better. A lot of people would still get the regular (non airplane rated) version of the permit to allow them to carry a pistol in any state. Body guards (or "executive protection specialists") are an example of a profession that could greatly benefit from such a permit (so much so that it is amazing that one does not exist already) and whose presence deters terrorism. Salesmen or other business travelers who have to travel between multiple states, and may have to travel through dangerous neighborhoods or carry valuable items would likely flock to such a permit. Former police officers**, DA's, and other people who may make dangerous enemies would want one, as would people who have been victims of violent crimes and/or rape before and now feel the need to be able to protect themselves, and a lot of the normal everyday citizens who now get state carry permits because for whatever reason they want to be able to defend themselves from attack. Of course the permit would be in addition to, not in replacement of, the current state concealed carry licenses, otherwise the proposal would be plagued by state vs. federal jurisdiction turf wars (and rightly so) and would never get out of the courts.
Of course the permit should require a thorough FBI background check in order to limit the chances of a terrorist or criminal being able to get one. As long as the FBI had the attention of such a proactive chunk of the population, they could even take that opportunity to provide a little education on what unusual or suspicious behavior might indicate a terrorist cell or impending terrorist activity, give them the appropriate contact information (maybe a federal crime hotline printed on the card somewhere?), and ask people to give the Bureau a call if they notice anything. Sure that doesn't technically have a lot to do with carrying a gun, but that would be a good opportunity for the FBI to increase its chances of getting a useful tip; and, hey, what does donating organs have to do with driving a car? Even if a terrorist did get a federal carry permit, it is likely that a LOT more upstanding citizens would have one as well. Without such a license, the terrorist would still carry his weapon (a terrorist who won't break the law is not very effective), but the odds of a law abiding citizen that could offer resistance to the terrorist having one is much smaller.
Before anyone starts a gun-control argument over this, I would like to point out that this is not something that most states don't already have. The problem is that different states have different reciprocosity agreements with other states so that most state concealed carry permits are valid in some, but not all, other states and will accept some, but not all, permits form other states... resulting in a confusing hodge-podge of conditions. A federal permit would clear up the red tape by providing a universal standard simplifying the bureaucratic mess that currently exists. Also, the background check and qualifications could be made more difficult (at the risk of making the ID less universal) to further reduce the chances of criminals or irresponsible people from getting one. Surely only the most extreme gun control proponent would want to prevent even someone like a bodyguard, or an ex-DA who has prosecuted organized criminals, or the administrator of a medical facility that has received death threats from anti-abortion groups from being permitted to carry a weapon for self defense. The gun control politicking could be saved for when it came time to figure out how tough the standards should be for getting one. If you can think of a different optional federal permit or license that a Federal ID could be based on (espeically if it would actually reduce terrorism), then by all means suggest away. I admit, after all, that even if you combine a federal carry permit, pilot's license, and other federal ID's together, it still may not have the "critical mass" of users to replace the ubiquitous driver's license.
* Before this restarts the "what does a bullet do to a pressurized aircraft?" argument, the FAA obviously covers what type of ammunition can be used in an aircraft and what areas of the plane are vulnerable to gunfire.
** I'm sure that the police in a lot of areas would show turn a blind eye to an ex-cop who was illegally carrying a weapon because he was worried about being recognized by criminals but a such favoritism might not be universal, like the license would be.
Why not combine the Universal ID with a cell phone, radio, credit card and PDA. It would be incredibly useful. You could even put one of those Personal Area Networks into it so that you could exchange business cards with people when you shook hands, every car you sat in could know exactly how to adjust your seat, and advertisers could know whether to show you beer commercials with scantily clad women or advertisements for feminine hygiene products.
The only problem I see is that we would likely have another intelligence failure like the recent attacks, which were made easier by an over reliance by the intel community on spy satellites and not having enough on human agents who can do traditional spying. The gov't would get so used to just tracking people's activities, communications, and money trail from the little spy chips built into the Universal ID that any terrorist who thought to communicate through snail mail or dead drops, aquire critical items through barter or theft, and write his "to do list" on a pad of paper could build up a considerable network and still remain "under the radar" of a Law Enforcement/Intelligence community that got too lazy to do traditional detective and intelligence work.
I have a simple idea - arm everyone who gets on planes.
Archie Bunker had this idea about 25 years ago. Something like "Put a gun underneath every seat...".
Remember, You are unique...just like everyone else.
No, that's not it either. The return value of the function is type ultimate_answer_t, which from the context of the story, turns out to be typedef'ed to an integer (although technically they didn't know that when they created Deep Thought). Since Deep Thought was created for one sole purpose, there is no input needed to the function.
The function is "correct" as stated.
If think we all need to get out and talk to normal people more.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.