Craig Mundie Wants "Internet Driver's Licenses"

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Craig Mundie, Microsoft's Chief Research and Strategy Officer, called for the creation of an 'Internet Driver's License' at the World Economic Forum in Davos, saying, 'If you want to drive a car you have to have a license to say that you are capable of driving a car, the car has to pass a test to say it is fit to drive and you have to have insurance.' Of course, there are quite a few problems with this. For starters, internet use cannot yet cause death or dismemberment like car accidents can; and this would get rid of most of the good of internet anonymity while retaining all of the bad parts, especially in terms of expanding the market for stolen identities. Even though telephone networks have long been used by scammers and spammers/telemarketers, we've never needed a 'Telephone Driver's License.'"

Comments

Just what I always wanted

[Droce]

Now I can tell someone they fail at the internet!

Re:Just what I always wanted

[Philip K Dickhead]

In the past, the Internet consisted, mostly, of smart people in front of dumb terminals.
Now, the converse situation dominates.

Proof

[Some.Net(Guy)]

that MS is just inviting crazy homeless people to come in and run their operations.

Great segue

[thethibs]

Craig Mundie is making Dick Brass' point about Microsoft losing its competent people.

Translation

[Bill_the_Engineer]

Craig Mundie, Microsoft's Chief Research and Strategy Officer, called for the creation of an 'Internet Driver's License' at the World Economic Forum in Davos, saying, 'If you want to drive a car you have to have a license to say that you are capable of driving a car, the car has to pass a test to say it is fit to drive and you have to have insurance.'

In other words, Windows doesn't suck - The users do.

The drivers license analogy is being used to shift some of the blame from the OS to its users.

I Don't See That Anyone Has Yet "Godwinned"

[Philip K Dickhead]

On a thread that so richly deserves it. Here. Without undue prejudice:

HITLER!

HITLER!
HITLER!
HITLER!
HITLER!
HITLER!
HITLER!

Re:I Don't See That Anyone Has Yet "Godwinned"

[Anonymous Coward]

How did you get that past the filter??

The Führer can get past any filter...

Re:we need a law?

[GreatBunzinni]

More importantly, this measure is not targeted at "bad guys". When some idiot such as this Craig Mundie speaks about this concept of the "internet driver's license", what he is campaigning for is the ability to not only identify everyone who uses the internet but also the convenience of having any state's repressive power to ban anyone from the internet who disrespected any arbitrary rule these fools are trying to impose on the rest of the world. And the thing is, we aren't talking about criminal acts, as these are already punished by imprisonment. This sort of measure is intended to open the door for the ability to inflict arbitrary punishment on those who do not follow rules set forth by righteous idiots who believe they know better than the stupid masses.

But hey, let's call it "driver's license", as it's a very convenient term to associate with this oppressive measure as it's widely regarded by society as banal government grant. This sort of totalitarian measure desperately needs a cuddly face to be able to fly. Let's not mention what it really is: a corporate-tailored totalitarian attack on individual freedom intended to punish non-criminal acts which are frowned upon corporate execs such as mr Craig Mundie.

Re:Slashdot is getting out of hand

[Miseph]

Actually, the final boss is easy. The second to last boss, Anonymous, is a bitch and a half to beat, but all it takes to kill the kitten is masturbating.