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China Creates Massive Online ID Database
schwaang writes that while the US continues to hash out concerns over the Real ID Act, which aims to create a national ID by standardizing state driver's licenses, China has already implemented a massive online ID database, which they say will help prevent fraud. From the Xinhua English-language site: "Anyone can now send a text message or visit the country's population information center's website, to check if the name and the ID number of a person's identity card match. If they do match the ID card-holder's picture also appears, said the Ministry, adding that no other information is available to ensure a citizen's privacy is protected. Completed at the end of 2006, China's population information database, the world's largest, contains personal information on 1.3 billion citizens. Giving public accessing to the database is also designed to correct mistakes if an individual discovers that their name, number and picture don't match."
This is a great way to do it, you have to admit. I wonder if they list all of us expats as well...
So China develops a national ID that ties a name and a number to a photo, can be corrected if its incorrect, and can't be used by the bouncer at the bar to get that hot girl's address and phone number, and we're still stuck on our useless social security cards and drivers' licenses? Clearly China has become the new overlords of freedom.
Who am I kidding? We all know that internally, China will use this database to track every citizens' whereabouts, who they are talking to, what they read at the library and most importantly whether you've bought milk recently or not.
And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
I too have felt the cold finger of injustice.
Some parts of Harvard such as the libraries call up one's picture as one enters. Harder to forge or distract the guards.
Actually, this is not all that far off from an "identity clearinghouse" idea I had a while back.
You voluntarily register in person with a government agency your name, address, and certain other personally-identifiable information of the sort that is required for a bank or other lender to grant you credit. When you apply for a new credit account somewhere, that lender sends a request to the government agency containing the PII that you provided to the lender. The government agency then contacts you to verify whether the credit request is valid. Then, the government agency responds to the lender, either stating that (1) the person is not in their records, (2) the person is in their records and has confirmed verification, or (3) the person is in their records and has denied verification. It would then be illegal for the lender to open an account for which the #3 response was given by the government, and the lender would be responsible for clearing up all the resultant credit problems.
In order to modify your data with the agency, you must show up in person at the agency's office with photo ID. If such a system were implemented in coordination with local DMVs, they could use the photos on file for your driver's license.
The government already has access to this data anyway, so allowing people to voluntarily put it to good use to stop identity theft is a good thing. The banks won't do it because the losses they suffer haven't reached the amount of money they think they'll lose if they start being more vigilant about credit applications.
When I've lived in a new place, including China, you are first hit by the sameness of people and places. Soon that fades into the background and you start seeing the differences among people and places.
It was a little harder the first time was there beacuse everyone wore those blue work clothes called Mao suits (some were green or gray!).
Then some Chinese say Europeans all look alike- European have yellow(*), curly hair and big noses. (* stereotype any hair color not black) Eye shape is a not a standard stereotype to them.
If that includes the actions of those at the top. i.e. if I can monitor the actions of the Prime Minister and various top members of military and "intelligence" services; I'm not sure how much I'd mind, as in a population of 60mn how likely is it that I'm being monitored compared with those who are in the public eye (in other words those with power)? That would be real accountability.
If I have nothing to hide, you have no reason to search me
Things can be very convenient when your government has a centralized database of all of its citizens, and isn't hampered by things like:
Human rights
Privacy rights
Civil rights
I feel like death on a soda cracker.
This is precisely what we should be shooting for.
Privacy is more about safety from prejudice than anything else. The important thing is that everyone loses it at once, no one has to go first, and everyone gets equal access.
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
A couple of quick observations from someone married to a Chinese national and has been to China five times. There are far fewer unique names in China both first and last and generally no middle name. Being able to uniquely identify people in China is a huge problem for private industry and government alike.
I am all for national ID cards and a central database for all citizen info. You provide this info over and over and over to various local, state, and federal agencies. How about just one yearly form you update at tax time? Want to live off the grid? Tough, get over it. We are long past the point where armed insurrection is going to change the American government. The only people that NEED to live off the grid are criminals (I know I'll get some angry replies to that). Lets get rid of black markets, gray markets, and illegal immigration. Need jobs filled? Then either give a decent wage or issue enough citizenships to fill them. Guest Worker program? Just an excuse the screw the working class by artificially keeping wages low, not to mention creating a whole new officially sanctioned underclass.
There are potentials for abuse to be sure, especially if third parties are allowed access (a practice I would like to see barred by law). But the gains to out society probably outweigh any theoretical down side. We're not talking papers you have to carry around or be arrested. We talking about a card you use when applying for jobs or bank accounts. I really don't understand all the hysteria surrounding the resistance to national databases or national IDs, though I'm sure some here will be all to anxious to enlighten me.
Letter To Iran
And by "fraud", they mean "democracy".
Maybe, if by "democracy" you mean "power to the people", and not just a representative voting system. The term American democracy is pretty much an oxymoron now.
The worry is not that there is a Chinese government doing this, since our own governments are doing this to us - perhaps not as overtly. The worry is the database itself, what a powerful tool it is, and how effective it could be in stopping organised dissent by removing anonymity.
It really is an extension to pre-existing centralized telephone exchange records which have existed for a long time. These are analysed to form social networks which can be used for all sorts of frightening big brother things.
So what if it's the Chinese government? It is just as worrying that the UK and USA have the same thing. It only takes a few months for a democracy to turn into a dictatorship in the event of a big war.
Do it yourself, because no one else will do it yourself. [beta blockade 10-17 Feb]
I haven't yet seen people make the connection between such a database and a proposed US one meant to let employers confirm that their employees are citizens or legal residents. Right now our enforcement of immigration law is a joke because these people can find jobs with employers who look the other way when they use fake Social Security numbers, right? For once I'm going to say this database policy is a reasonable move. Of course China wants it for more than keeping out illegal immigrants from North Korea, but there really is a legitimate use for it in the US.
Revive the Constitution.