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Bill Gates Talks about Belgian eID Card

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the lotta-gates-stories-lately dept.

Brainsur writes "Today Bill Gates visited Belgium to talk about the Electronic ID card introduced last year in Belgium as experiment. Microsoft announced that they will integrate the electronic identification into the Windows Software so they can deliver more security and privacy on the internet. The register has more news."

7 of 331 comments (clear)

  1. Privacy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How should I expect privacy when my computer has my ID card? I want my ID card in my pocket, so i know when it is readable by anyone.

    vajk

    1. Re:Privacy? by lucabrasi999 · · Score: 4, Insightful
      ow should I expect privacy when my computer has my ID card?

      Take it a step further: I would consider the terms "ID Card" and "Privacy" to be contradictory.

    2. Re:Privacy? by PornMaster · · Score: 4, Insightful

      In this sense, yes, the ID card and privacy may very well be contradictory. But you could theoretically have an ID card which was anonymous, but presented to you as some sort of credential.

      Think of it as a standard door lock. The lock provides security, they key provides access, with the assumption that anyone presented with a key should have access. Unlike a scheme which requires biometric or identifiable authentication - non-anonymous keycard/biometrics/doorman - a metal key, in a sense, protects your privacy.

      If you were given an ID card which identified you based upon some other kind of characteristic, such as having completed some form of task, separate from your name, age, DNA, etc... you could have an ID card which protected your anonymity. I guess it's all about how you think of ID as identifying you.

      If you don't think of the passbook of a Swiss numbered bank account as being a form of ID, then I'm sure you'll disagree with me.

      --
      500GB of disk, 5TB of transfer, $5.95/mo
  2. trusted computing by necrognome · · Score: 3, Insightful

    $5 says this kind of thing (computer credentials linked to your "papers") finds its way into the various trusted computing initiatives...

    --


    Let's get drunk and delete production data!
  3. What About When... by SpottedKuh · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...you don't want all that information following you? From TFA:

    Just like the classical ID, the eID contains your photo, surname and first names, sex, nationality, place and date of birth, signature, national number as well as the validity period of the card.

    Quite frankly, there are times I would like to use the Internet without all of that information following me around. There are sometimes online I just don't want to be identified! Even when I do want to be identified (using Canada as an example) the idea of even giving my SIN number to Microsoft sounds insane! I ccertainly wouldn't want that sort of sensitive information identifying me online. I'll stick to using my name...

  4. The new phishing schemes by Ironsides · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Today I recieved an e-mail from my bank saying that they wanted to verify my new government ID with my bank acount information. All I had to do was to go to this site and have my reader scan my ID card. Gee, I'm sure glad my bank is tough on security.

    --
    Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
  5. Re:Belgium Population Explains eID by mmkkbb · · Score: 4, Insightful

    xenophobia moderated insightful and informative. NICE.

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    -mkb