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Kaspersky CEO Wants End To Online Anonymity
Andorin writes "Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of well-known computer security company Kaspersky Labs, is calling for an end to the anonymity of the Internet, and for the creation of mandatory 'Internet passports' for anyone who wishes to browse the Web. Says Kaspersky, 'Everyone should and must have an identification, or internet passport ... the internet was designed not for public use, but for American scientists and the US military. Then it was introduced to the public, and it was wrong ... to introduce it in the same way.' He calls anonymity 'the Internet's biggest security vulnerability' and thinks any country that doesn't follow this regime should be 'cut off.' The EFF objects, and it's likely that they won't be the only ones."
I actually agree with the sentiment, but requiring ID is moronic. I think that OpenID and similar services should and will become more pervasive, attaching a unique ID to everything public that you on the internet. As for everything private, just don't attach your OpenID to it. News site comment boards could reject non-authenticated comments, file transfer sites could require authentication for upload and torrent clients could refuse connections from untrusted sources and, most importantly, e-mail accounts themselves could get flagged as not worth listening to and be forwarded directly to a spam folder.
Essentially, attach a karma number to OpenID accounts and extend the tracking of it to more services. It would, in the lingo of /., increase the signal to noise ratio of the internet just a little.
The trick would be to hit the balance of what data is stored and by whom. Undoubtedly there would be significant privacy concerns and the threat of targeted advertising but I think that it would be possible to address that. The problem of multiple accounts would self regulate as people just stopped paying attention to spam accounts (like how we all ignore Anonymous Coward).
So if this is the future...where's my jet pack?
No, it's not as bad as Microsoft Palladium, later renamed "Trusted Computing". Not only was every box supposed to be hardware identified by the CPU, but the keys and the central key-signing keys would be held by Microsoft, with no clear legal procedure for their release to the government or even the janitor, and with direct control over the features of your software and hardware. It was designed primarily for DRM, and could be used to block the BIOS from being able to load other operating systems.
The list of built-in, abusible aspects of this is stunning. Check out http://epic.org/privacy/consumer/microsoft/palladium.html for details.
Speaking of "fucktards" who "live near you"...
Around here, it's mostly gays, married, with children. People who say, "He can't be gay, he's married," I give a hearty laugh to that. Come stand in my driveway for an afternoon.
My town is a gay magnet disguised as a nice suburb. I've met plenty of gays who want to live here, besides the ones who already do. So if you are wondering who is the 0.1%, they tend to cluster.