I always thought the term smart card was a bit..Oh I don't know, unfounded? It has a digital signature, great, what happens when it's stolen? And used against the owner? I'd like to see a card that had an image of your retina so they could tell if it was you, the eye has so many patterns, its almost impossible to fake. Cosmetics can already make someone look like someone else, but they havent figured out to replicate the eye yet...
What does java actuall add to an id card?
by
yintercept
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
I am actually confused by the article. An "ID card" pretty much just carries data...not a full programming environment. Sounds more like business name branding.
The important part of an id card is the interface and how you access and change the information. Such an interface is first and foremost a hardware interface. Trying to say that the card belongs to computer language x doesn't make any sense.
As for functionality, would you as a business really want to record important information on a card that is easily lost, physically compromisable, and carried by a person? What businesses want is simply a verifiable id for customers. The simpler the id the better.
What's all this noise about antiquities? Try pumping an antiquity in your Surburban and see where it gets you.
Actually, I think you *do* get it - and unfortunately, many folks seem to be overlooking the obvious in their quest for a higher-tech and more convenient lifestyle.
There simply won't be any more guarantee that any of us are really who we claim to be, just because we hold a "smartcard" that identifies us as being a certain person.
In fact, most banks/lenders currently require 3 forms of I.D. to do such things as open a new checking account. That's because the closest thing to a guarantee of identity they have is forcing you to provide multiple proofs. Putting all the proverbial eggs in one basket, as a smartcard does, doesn't make much sense to me.
Re:Can it be updated with GJC?
by
robslimo
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Say... by my reckoning and based on your sig, you oughta be posting AC. Freakin' troll. - - - - - - on a more serious note - - - - -
Having Read The Fine Article and a few earlier posts, I'd have to say:
(a) National ID's are bad (good) (b) Java is bad (good) (c) how the bloody hell is anyone going to make 'smart cards' smart enough to prevent [ID] theft?
If, after all these years, Hughes (DirecTV) and others have not been able to prevent signal theft using 'smart card' technology, how safe should we feel entrusting our personal identification to this tech?
"Ohh!," say some, "this is safer yet than the old methods of identifying us to our government. This is much safer than an easily forged picture ID."
But this technology *is* assumed to be 'safer'. It is assumed to be (and marketed as) 'secure'. That also means that our govn'ts may assume that it is *true*. If a transaction, waypoint in your vacation journey, or an arrest is logged in your 'Nat'l ID' account, it will be assumed to be true... because it's safe and secure technology, right? They may be much less likely to doubt any misinformation in you recored, so think again about DTV and how secure their system is. Please think.
Why is national id cards / numbers bad ?
by
Simon+Lyngshede
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Being Danish I was given a social security number when I was born, works just like a national id. My social security card work pretty much like an national id card, you sometimes need some sort of picture id in combination with the social security card.
The only thing I hate is that it doesn't include more "features". I what to use it as a credit card, drives license, access card to the university and so on. Having an all purpose id card would make my life a lot easier. Why is national id cards a bad idea? Are people afraid that the government will track them. Who really gives a fuck if it allows the government to track you with it? They could do that anyway if they really cared enough. I simply don't get it.
Please tell me why national ids are bad. Who are you people afraid of ? Im tired of hearing that national ids are bad, without being given a good reason. So fare I just heared "National id, bad" and it's every time Slashdot brings it up. Only once have I hear of misuse in Denmark and that was due of lack of security at the post office, not really something you can blame the system for.
Why is the gut reaction "bad"?
by
claes
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
In Sweden, id cards needs to conform to certain standards, that are set by the same authority that standardizes many other things (www.sis.se). I do not know the details of this, but I think it is good that it is under control of a government authority. There is nothing mandatory with carrying them around, or even having them. We don't call them national id cards either, but they are accepted as id-cards everywhere. In Sweden that is... since they don't have the nationality of the owner on them, they are no good for travelling within Schengen yet.
It all comes down in what ways you trust your government of course. In this regard I trust it. For example, the nationality thing was hotly debated, since the reason we don't have nationality is that it would be discriminating for non-swedish citizens to have their nationality on them. Or so it was argued. But the government had to change for public opinion because of this, being part of Schengen is not really good if you still need passport when travelling...
Re:I'm in conflict...
by
nutshell42
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Well, let's take a short look at my ID (German), it contains:
photograph
name
date and location of birth
nationality
date of expiry
signature
address
height
eye-color
the authority which validated it
and the date when it was printed
So, which thing exactly is so much worse about that than about your driver's license?
-- Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
Re:Good or bad?
by
Saib0t
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
but I'm not sure if making it a national ID card is the best idea.
As a belgian citizen, I can tell you that we already have a mandatory national ID card, so it's not much of a point.
My national ID card has this on it:
a picture
Name
Given Names
Sex
Date of Birth
Place of Birth
Signing authority
My signature
Address
ID Card Number (2 of them)
Spouse
Children names
It bears several things on it that make its counterfeiting difficult (like a nice color changing hologram-like shape of the country)
The government can easily use this against the people and the privacy concerns are enormous.
All these concerns are very legit in the USA, but from the people I have talked to, this is the "only" country where people are so afraid of being bigbrothered. I have a national ID card and I use it very seldom, and I really don't have the feeling that it is being used as a way to track my habbits down.
On the other hand, my bank uses that ID number in their files, so does my social security company (social security is built in into the belgian system, but you have to have a "company" paying your stuff), and if I could, I'd actually encourage all these government bodies who require identification at one point or another to create that database, and give access to information about me on a need basis.
The problem does not come from the traceability, these problem are a minor concern compared to the advantages.
The real problem comes from trusting your government. The belgian political landscape (if I may speak of it thus) consists in dozens of parties, with 5 or 6 big players. This ensures that the same person don't stay in power very long if they don't do a good job, and there ARE alternatives to what is in place at the moment, and it's always a coalition of several parties that is running the country. This is one of the reasons I trust my government (to a large extent).
Trust is the real problem...
--
One shall speak only if what one has to say is more beautiful than silence
Slashdot Mirror
I always thought the term smart card was a bit..Oh I don't know, unfounded? It has a digital signature, great, what happens when it's stolen? And used against the owner? I'd like to see a card that had an image of your retina so they could tell if it was you, the eye has so many patterns, its almost impossible to fake. Cosmetics can already make someone look like someone else, but they havent figured out to replicate the eye yet...
I am actually confused by the article. An "ID card" pretty much just carries data...not a full programming environment. Sounds more like business name branding.
The important part of an id card is the interface and how you access and change the information. Such an interface is first and foremost a hardware interface. Trying to say that the card belongs to computer language x doesn't make any sense.
As for functionality, would you as a business really want to record important information on a card that is easily lost, physically compromisable, and carried by a person? What businesses want is simply a verifiable id for customers. The simpler the id the better.
What's all this noise about antiquities? Try pumping an antiquity in your Surburban and see where it gets you.
Actually, I think you *do* get it - and unfortunately, many folks seem to be overlooking the obvious in their quest for a higher-tech and more convenient lifestyle.
There simply won't be any more guarantee that any of us are really who we claim to be, just because we hold a "smartcard" that identifies us as being a certain person.
In fact, most banks/lenders currently require 3 forms of I.D. to do such things as open a new checking account. That's because the closest thing to a guarantee of identity they have is forcing you to provide multiple proofs. Putting all the proverbial eggs in one basket, as a smartcard does, doesn't make much sense to me.
Say... by my reckoning and based on your sig, you oughta be posting AC. Freakin' troll.
- - - - - - on a more serious note - - - - -
Having Read The Fine Article and a few earlier posts, I'd have to say:
(a) National ID's are bad (good)
(b) Java is bad (good)
(c) how the bloody hell is anyone going to make 'smart cards' smart enough to prevent [ID] theft?
If, after all these years, Hughes (DirecTV) and others have not been able to prevent signal theft using 'smart card' technology, how safe should we feel entrusting our personal identification to this tech?
"Ohh!," say some, "this is safer yet than the old methods of identifying us to our government. This is much safer than an easily forged picture ID."
But this technology *is* assumed to be 'safer'. It is assumed to be (and marketed as) 'secure'. That also means that our govn'ts may assume that it is *true*. If a transaction, waypoint in your vacation journey, or an arrest is logged in your 'Nat'l ID' account, it will be assumed to be true... because it's safe and secure technology, right? They may be much less likely to doubt any misinformation in you recored, so think again about DTV and how secure their system is. Please think.
Being Danish I was given a social security number when I was born, works just like a national id. My social security card work pretty much like an national id card, you sometimes need some sort of picture id in combination with the social security card.
The only thing I hate is that it doesn't include more "features". I what to use it as a credit card, drives license, access card to the university and so on. Having an all purpose id card would make my life a lot easier. Why is national id cards a bad idea? Are people afraid that the government will track them. Who really gives a fuck if it allows the government to track you with it? They could do that anyway if they really cared enough. I simply don't get it.
Please tell me why national ids are bad. Who are you people afraid of ? Im tired of hearing that national ids are bad, without being given a good reason. So fare I just heared "National id, bad" and it's every time Slashdot brings it up. Only once have I hear of misuse in Denmark and that was due of lack of security at the post office, not really something you can blame the system for.
In Sweden, id cards needs to conform to certain standards, that are set by the same authority that standardizes many other things (www.sis.se). I do not know the details of this, but I think it is good that it is under control of a government authority. There is nothing mandatory with carrying them around, or even having them. We don't call them national id cards either, but they are accepted as id-cards everywhere. In Sweden that is... since they don't have the nationality of the owner on them, they are no good for travelling within Schengen yet.
It all comes down in what ways you trust your government of course. In this regard I trust it. For example, the nationality thing was hotly debated, since the reason we don't have nationality is that it would be discriminating for non-swedish citizens to have their nationality on them. Or so it was argued. But the government had to change for public opinion because of this, being part of Schengen is not really good if you still need passport when travelling...
photograph
name
date and location of birth
nationality
date of expiry
signature
address
height
eye-color
the authority which validated it
and the date when it was printed
So, which thing exactly is so much worse about that than about your driver's license?
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
My national ID card has this on it:
a picture
Name
Given Names
Sex
Date of Birth
Place of Birth
Signing authority
My signature
Address
ID Card Number (2 of them)
Spouse
Children names
It bears several things on it that make its counterfeiting difficult (like a nice color changing hologram-like shape of the country)
All these concerns are very legit in the USA, but from the people I have talked to, this is the "only" country where people are so afraid of being bigbrothered. I have a national ID card and I use it very seldom, and I really don't have the feeling that it is being used as a way to track my habbits down. On the other hand, my bank uses that ID number in their files, so does my social security company (social security is built in into the belgian system, but you have to have a "company" paying your stuff), and if I could, I'd actually encourage all these government bodies who require identification at one point or another to create that database, and give access to information about me on a need basis.The problem does not come from the traceability, these problem are a minor concern compared to the advantages.
The real problem comes from trusting your government. The belgian political landscape (if I may speak of it thus) consists in dozens of parties, with 5 or 6 big players. This ensures that the same person don't stay in power very long if they don't do a good job, and there ARE alternatives to what is in place at the moment, and it's always a coalition of several parties that is running the country. This is one of the reasons I trust my government (to a large extent).
Trust is the real problem...
One shall speak only if what one has to say is more beautiful than silence