Slashdot Mirror
British Telecom Pushes Universal ID Check System
miladus writes "URU (You Are You) is a new ID verification scheme from BT designed to
allow government and businesses to confirm identities on the net. The BBC has a full report on how, according to BT officials, 'URU will be a major ingredient in transforming and joining up government... and how it will
become ubiquitous for citizens, businesses, etc.'. Apparently, URU complies with European privacy laws."
Additionally, I would like to propose that the US (of which you are a citizen, Michael) already has a system in which you and every US citizen has a unique ID. This unique national ID is required to gain access to all sorts of things like employment, credit, loans and in most cases state driver's permits.
Yup, you and I both have Social Security Numbers... Now, they started as an honest (I hope) component of "The New Deal" and started being assigned in the mid-1930's. The problems arose during the cold war.. that is when the US govt started using the SSN as a type of national ID number... so, have you ever applied for a credit card without a SSN? Have you ever used a credit card online? (Can you even make purchases/transactions online without a credit/debit card?)
Just my $.02 on the matter...
Why do you label this "reactionary bible-thumping?"
For the subset of Slashdot readers who are Christians, this is a relevant comment. For two-thousand years, Christians have had a prophecy regarding the identification of every man, woman and child on this planet. For a Christian, the Mark of the Beast IS intelligent discourse because it is a very real concern.
Personally, I think your slight is more of a reactionary, knee-jerk response showing your anti-Christian bias than the Biblical quote being discussed.
"We're sorry, but the website you're trying to reach has been disconnected."
Actually your USA SSN is not guaranteed to be unique. Not only that but, unlike most modern numeric IDs, it can't be validated.
Most modern numeric IDs are generated with a built in hash (using extra digits in the number itself) So while you may only need 1000 IDs for you might make your id field much larger, say 1 - 1000000. This would allow you to use some of the digits for a "checksum"
This would make it more difficult to falsly create IDs, but more usefull, it makes it unlikely that you'd fat-finger them when transcribing.
All in all your SSN is a poor identifier. That's one reason (of many) why it should not be used the way it is today i.e. Everywhere!
=Shreak
You are right, an M-PAN is a universal number which identifies an electricity board meter. There is nothing to prevent a landlord installing additional meters.
(This is not entirely accurate, the M-PAN identifies a unique connection onto the electricity company's network. One of a number of operators can install a meter there. I coordinated these connections a couple of years back, hence the lame nick. And yes, the job sucked).