The Government Internet ID Proposal

An anonymous reader writes "Is it the beginning of government tracking? An expert on electronic privacy walks through the possibilities and perils of a national online security system run, in part, by the US Department of Homeland Security."

Comments

Re:The government can't do anything right?

[englishknnigits]

Except that old post forgot to mention the US post office is operating way into the red, public schools are terrible, the FDA approves drugs that are harmful and makes unprofitable remedies illegal to issue as medicine, the USDA let countless salmonella, ecoli, etc. contaminated foods hit the shelves that killed people, the weather service is never right, NASA wastes money hand over fist and produces surprisingly few results for the cost, the FCC allows decapitation but not boobs, the military is spread out across the globe to police the world (which we can't afford to do), the Federal Reserve Bank (with help from Congress) caused/allowed the housing bubble to form and is now debasing our currency, forests were just fine before the US National Park Service (could they really survive without our help?!?!?!), but I have to say that the internet is pretty neat. Did I miss anything?

Re:Not apples to apples

[Mr. Slippery]

A private business doesn't have the special right to employ coercion (meaning physical force) as a business model.

Of course it does. A private business requires property, and property is force: the right to call upon government force to control someone else's access to or use of space or resources or even information. (Or, if you like a more rough-and-tumble model, the right to be immune to government prosecution after initiating one's own use of force to control someone else's access.)

In a sane, functioning democracy, that force is used only to protect and promote the fulfillment of human needs, the "natural rights". In a plutocracy, it is used to protect the privilege of the ruling class.

Where government exists, that force exists. The only question is whether that force is directed for the mutual good, or towards the privilege of a few.

(If you want to talk about anarchy, fine, but we have to start with the understanding that all property, as the concept currently exists, is rooted in government -- "anarcho-capitalism" or right-Libertarianism is an inherent contradiction. In an anarchy, there is neither government power nor private power.)