Bill Gates Talks about Belgian eID Card

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."

Comments

Privacy?

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Re:Privacy?

[lucabrasi999]

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.

Re:Privacy?

[PornMaster]

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.

Sorry sir...

[JakeisBland]

"You must first open your passport .net account for us to verify your ID."

Re:hmmm

[superpulpsicle]

Yeah, on top of that security, it comes with a retina scan. It should not blow out your eye socket by beta 2 or release candidate 6.

Unanswered Questions

[Staplerh]

Hmm. There's a BIG question unanswered in this article.

Microsoft believes that combined with the eID Card MSN Messenger chatrooms will be much safer. Users would have a trustworthy way of identifying themselves online. The Belgian Federal Computer Crime Unit (FCCU) could even refuse young children access to certain chatrooms based on their electronic identity.

Now.. is the ID card REQUIRED to use the MSN service, or is it just another level of idenitifcation? One model, such as what Amazon.com uses for reviews, is to accredit reviews with a 'Real Name' sticker if it is indeed the poster's real name (as verified by their credit card). But it isn't required to actually post a review, only to get that extra level of verification.

Anybody else have a different take on it, did I miss this important point?

The new phishing schemes

[Ironsides]

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.

Funniest thing I've read in weeks

[Anonymous Coward]

Almost spit my diet soda:

the Commission balked at ``Windows XP Reduced Media Edition ... the company is working with the EU on a suitable alternative.''

You have to admit, it takes some serious nerve to suggest "Reduced Media Edition." I wonder what the less inflammatory proposals will be. Some ideas:

• "Windows XP Eunuch Edition"
  
• "Windows XP Mute Edition"
  
• "Windows XP Shhhhh!"
  
• "Windows XP Barely Functioning Version,"
  
• "Windows XP's European Vacation,"
  
• "Windows XP Eurotrash"
  
• "Windows XPwerk"
  

Re:Does it matter?

[Odin's Raven]

Distributing a card with a chip with a unique ID? I didn't think Borg cared about uniqueness when it came to assimilation?

Of course they care! Post-assimilation is when you need a unique ID. Otherwise, how would you know if you're "Seven of Nine", "Six of One", or "Half Dozen of the Other"?

Re:Belgium Population Explains eID

[mmkkbb]

xenophobia moderated insightful and informative. NICE.

Re:Belgium Population Explains eID

[Xaer0cool]

I am a Belgian citizen, studying in the US... so I guess I can reply to both angles of your post. It is true that Belgian has a large, mostly northern African, immigrant population. We allow foreigners with five years of residency to vote. So they do wield significant political power, but this is not necessarily a bad thing as you seem to insinuate. I have no idea what you mean by, "accelerating destruction of Western values and Western society", because values are not something the government should be involved with in the first place. However, there are a bunch of people who think along your lines, and they have formed the 'Vlaams blok' (http://vlaamsblok.be/site_engels_index.shtml if you want the English site). It is an anti-immigration party. It was recently declared illegal due to anti-racism laws. Immigration does cause many problems, and even though I don't support vlaams blok type thinking, I'm reasonably sure they will win an election in the near future. And it will be a good thing, because they will mess things up so badly that they wont gain support in the future, and in the meantime things will finally be fixed without going to either extreme. If you are really that worried about high (US-) educated foreigners staying in the US and destroying your precious western civilization... don't worry too much, we already have much stricter controls on us than the Belgian citizens in the article do. We have to pay for the government to track us (SEVIS), we get fingerprinted and photographed upon arrival in the US, we have to check in at the start of every year, and to do any work at all we need more approval than Michael Moore has here in Berkeley.