Slashdot Mirror
An ID Number for Everything
jon323456 writes "Put this in your privacy pipe and smoke it. According to news.com, MIT researchers have cooked up a new barcode that has enough dataspace to include a unique serial number for everything. And in combination with RFID tags...."
Damn man, MIT must be slipping. I could give you uniqueness using only 64-bits.
So could any coder who cut his teeth on machine language.
We need to stop teaching Perl/Python/Java as a first language. Make the uber-generation deal with opcodes and registers. Assembler will put hair on your chest boy!
The point is, bits aren't cheap. If we're going to set standards for their allocation, let's let somebody who knows what they're doing do it. Yes?
Is this truly the only Earth I can live on?
Why call this a barcode? It's an ID tag. Kinda like a DSL 'modem' I guess.
It takes all those PhDs to figure out that a really, really big number can hold lots of information.
So basically.. they're using a 96 digit bar code instead of a 12 or 14..
wow stop the presses.. thatis revolutionary..
oh wait I got an idea.. lets use 128.. or better yet 1024!!! we'll never need to make a new standard for thousands of years!
woooo!(ric-flair like woooo)
Now I can start tagging my subatomic particle collection!
So, my tinfoil hat will now have a unique code as well. What's a paranoid /. geek to do?
that's 2^96 = 79,228,162,514,264,337,593,543,950,336
hosts... minus 2 for the broadcast and the network address. Um...No thats not right.. damn cisco.
To start with, let's give each of those ID chips a number! Oh wait... now there are no numbers left for all my other stuff!
Maybe, at this rate, MIT will rename themselves to MOT - Ministry of Truth
Thus with 80 digit barcode you should able to label every particle in the universe :)
Take a felt tipped marker. Make one of the lines thicker.
Problem Solved!
Did I just violate DMCA?
0110100100100000011000010110110100100000011000100
This barcode tatoo on the back of my neck is going to seem So Dated.
Everyone knows how much street cred you get with a low /. ID..
Hmm. If everything can have a unique ID, and an RFID tag to go with it, then my cunning solution is to insist that each RFID tag has its own unique ID (and tag) as well. Privacy intrusion defeated by the power of recursion!
++ Say to Elrond "Hello.".
Elrond says "No.". Elrond gives you some lunch.
OK... You are now number 675474! Congratulations!
Happiness is like peeing yourself. Everybody can see it but only you can feel its warmth.
Put this in your privacy pipe and smoke it.
Maybe the things that I smoke in my privacy pipe is my own freakin' business- that never occurred to you now, did it?
pi = 3.141592653589793helpimtrappedinauniversefactory7
"79228162514264337593543950336 bar codes ought to be enough for anyone."
--MIT, 2003
That green slime had it coming.
These people looked deep within my soul and assign me a number based on the order in which I joined.
-- Homer J. Simpson.
Maybe it'll be like vanity phone numbers... I got dibs on 1337!!!
Business \Busi"ness\, n.;
A scam in which all people involved perceive as beneficial...
Wow! This needs some kind of cool name, like... like...
MIT Everyware, perhaps?
Tweet, tweet.
Brilliant. I've still got cancer though.
I hearby claim first bar
|
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
So where are they gonna put this barcode, oops, ID Tag on people? If it's on the ass no one will be able to scan mine through all the hair.
"Sheep just follow the easiest path and run from scary noises and intimidating creatures." - Me
6^66
No, no, no, you'd label each _molecule_ within the paint can and query that silly ;)
No Comment.
Well, the raw tag number is unique within any given state, but looked at nationally, each number could have up to 50 duplicates, ignoring the state of origin. Besides, what can you tell from a license plate itself? There's a much more serious issue in the automotive industry; the VIN.
The VIN is truly unique; no two cars have the same number. They are unique amongst a common manufacturer, and unique amongst all automotive manufacturers. Every car, truck, minivan, SUV, etc. has one of these numbers, often written in multiple places, and oftentimes PHYSICALLY STAMPED in the material of the car so as to prevent fraud (it's illegal to remove this privacy-infringing device!)
These numbers are not protected at all; they're prominently displayed on the dash of all vehicles equipped with them, so that anyone simply walking past your car can look in and record the number. From it, they'll know what manufacturer produced your car, the car's series, its body style, engine type, emissions, what model year it is, what factory it was produced in, and on top of that, A SIX-DIGIT UNIQUE IDENTIFIER!
This problem has existed for decades, and few people actually know the evils that lurk inside! This must be stopped! Stand up to your car manufacturers, tell them you WILL NOT BUY another vehicle from them until this travesty is corrected!
(Peace out, yo.)
Unless, of course, that your whole business is the warehousing and distribution of RFID tags. If that's the case, you're probably just about set.
Indeed. IPv6 will not be complete until people can run a traceroute on their underwear to make sure they remembered to put it on.
Morally
Indifferent
Technologists
There are no karma whores, only moderation johns
Bad situation:
mom and dad walk by little jimmy's room, pull out the scanner, and find jimmy has:
2 packs of cigs
5 porno videos, including the tommy lee video
a 50 pack of condoms
and a "3 foot long tobacco enhacement product (tm)"
dad says to mom "thats my boy!"
Linux: Helping nerds look smarter since the late 90s.
Now every SCO lawsuit and every RIAA subpoena can have its unique idenitifier.
...
Their products can also have an unique ID. for SCO I suggest 2 and RIAA 3
MIT Researcher 1: so , should we make it 96 bits or 128? MIT Researcher 2: "96 bits should be enough for anybody."