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Crime Expert Backs Call For "License To Compute"
The Cable Guy writes to mention that Russel Smith, one of Australia's principal criminologists, is pushing for first-time computer users to be required to earn a license to browse the web. "The Australian Computer Society launched computer driver's licenses in 1999. It aimed to give users a basic level of competency before they started using PCs. But the growth in cybercrime has led to IT security experts such as Eugene Kaspersky to call for more formalized recognition of a user's identity so they can travel the net safely. Last week Dr. Smith sat in front of a Federal Government Inquiry into cybercrime and advised Australia's senior politicians on initiatives in train to fight cybercrime. He said that education was secondary to better technology solutions."
Hmmm. This requirement that you need a license/ID to "travel the net" is roughly equivalent to saying I need a license to walk down the sidewalk. "Papiere bitte." "I don't have any papers." "Papiere schnell!" "I told you I don't have any papers. Hey! Let go!" And then you get arrested for walking without ID.
You shouldn't need "permission" to travel freely either IRL or online.
Something like this happened on my Alma Mater. My old professor invited me to come visit for a student presentation day, which I did, and then I had dinner with some of the students, and watched a little MTV in the *public* lounge. Suddenly a security guard came-up and demanded my ID. I said it's in my car. Then she tried to escort me to the security office, and I refused. I told her I'll just leave and did so, even though she tried to stop me (I run faster).
To say I was angry is an understatement. Can you imagine the same thing happening everywhere you go in real life, or on the net???
Oh:
And yes the president of the college got an angry phonecall. I told him that he won't be getting any more donations from me. If my presence as a graduate is not welcome, then neither is my money.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
Most people forget that a passport is a relatively recent "invention" of governments. Prior to the 20th Century, and even throughout most of the 20th Century, most ordinary citizens did not have a passport when traveling between countries. This was originally a device to indicate some sort of diplomatic status and to certify that status on an official basis.
Countries, even modern industrialized countries with large and very mobile populations with access to cheap transportation methods affordable by ordinary laborers, had citizens that were able to and indeed did travel between other countries... including as mere "tourists". You were pretty much who you claimed to be, and if you packed up and moved elsewhere establishing a new identify, nobody really cared as long as you were law-abiding and generally neighborly.
This said, telling somebody from a law-enforcement agency that they don't need to see your identification is generally frowned upon as those in law enforcement love to be in charge and in control. A lack of ID puts the officer at a distinct disadvantage as they simply don't know how to react to a perfect stranger with no background as to who that person might be. Getting the ID (including passport) implies that the law enforcement agencies and officers can get a database on who you are, how harmless or otherwise you might be, and to track your actions and movements. Information, any information in this case, is power. This data can and will be used against you for any of their purposes... which is why liberty-seeking individuals bristle at the thought of giving ID information for nearly any reason, and then only reluctantly.