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Google's 'ID Validation' Is a Joke, But Not Funny

An anonymous reader writes "I was curious about the whole profile reporting and ID validation process on Google+ so I decided to do a little experimental work to find out just what is involved. Answer: very little which could be called rigor." Tease: this story involves a form of I.D. only slightly less funny than the 409-eater with a passport in the name of James Tiberius Kirk.

211 comments

  1. 409 += 10 by Aardpig · · Score: 1

    ...fixed that for you.

    --
    Tubal-Cain smokes the white owl.
    1. Re:409 += 10 by bugs2squash · · Score: 1

      Maybe he meant a 409 drinker. It has to taste better than Mountain Dew.

      --
      Nullius in verba
    2. Re:409 += 10 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Error: integer constant '419' is not an lvalue.

    3. Re:409 += 10 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you're going to be pedantic, at least get your constants right.

    4. Re:409 += 10 by ozmanjusri · · Score: 1

      More like 409 + 11 eater. It would explain a lot...

      --
      "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
    5. Re:409 += 10 by mcvos · · Score: 1

      Try using Fortran.

    6. Re:409 += 10 by Requiem18th · · Score: 1

      >>> 409 += 10
      SyntaxError: can't assign to literal

      --
      But... the future refused to change.
  2. How about by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    an actual summary?

    1. Re:How about by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your full of shit. It's Bash Google day on slashdot, today.

      Oh, timothy...

    2. Re:How about by interkin3tic · · Score: 2

      It's not just bash google day, of course. A short list of companies that get bashed a lot on slashdot:

      Apple
      Google
      Facebook
      MS
      Sony
      Steam
      Oracle
      Canonical
      Nokia
      Motorola
      Activision
      Comcast
      EA

      Companies that receive very little hate on slashdot:

      Samsung I guess?
      Some indie game makers
      Appleseed, diaspora, and a bunch of other social networking sites you've probably never heard of
      Any company that doesn't actually make anything (except for patent trolls, who we also hate)

      Slashdot: news for tech and software hipsters.

    3. Re:How about by godel_56 · · Score: 1

      It's not just bash google day, of course. A short list of companies that get bashed a lot on slashdot:

      [deletions]

      Companies that receive very little hate on slashdot: Samsung I guess?

      I've just put my Samsung Laser MFP in for repair for the second time in a year (for real). It's on a home system and is rarely even turned on. The bastards!

      Well, seems you can cross Samsung off.

    4. Re:How about by cervesaebraciator · · Score: 1

      You forgot one social media site that's been bashed on Slashdot today: Slashdot.

    5. Re:How about by interkin3tic · · Score: 1

      I also forgot yahoo and AOL, though I guess they don't get a lot of hate because even acknowledging their continued existence is beneath us.

    6. Re:How about by datapharmer · · Score: 1

      and is rarely even turned on.

      And we found the problem...

      Electronics don't like being just left around to rot. I'm not sure where you are from, but here in Florida humidity is a killer. If you let it run it drives off the damp. Printers that sit are printers that die.

      We solve it by putting them in the landfill next to all the analog volume controls for radios that have failed over the years. Corrosion issues are rarely worth the time to repair anymore - especially on the cheaper MFPs which I'm convinced are all designed to have a lifespan of about 2.5 toner/ink cartridges.

      --
      Get a web developer
    7. Re:How about by 1u3hr · · Score: 1

      Here in Hong Kong, the same. 95%+ humidity for weeks. I just had a look at a laptop that hadn't been used for a few months on a shelf. The screen was covered in mould. Still booted up, but it's not even suitable to give away now. But my HP Laserjet 5MP, vintage 1995, is still chugging along. I leave it powered on all the time, it only draws about 5 Watts so I don't think this is irresponsible. Still works fine (the cart is replaced with the toner) though the plastic casing is getting brittle and bits snap off fairly easily.The rear door is held on with a bit of bent wire.

    8. Re:How about by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      Steam

      Steam is a product. Valve is the company.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    9. Re:How about by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 1

      It's not just bash google day, of course. A short list of companies that get bashed a lot on slashdot:

      Apple
      Google
      Facebook
      MS
      Sony
      Steam
      Oracle
      Canonical
      Nokia
      Motorola
      Activision
      Comcast
      EA

      You forgot to include the outfit that makes the Chromefox browser.

  3. Re:Why do people give a fuck about these sites? by jonahbron · · Score: 1

    Except this is free. And you don't have to take up yet another domain name just for you.

  4. Account verification by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 4, Informative

    Doing this kind of thing is a breeze in Belgium. Everyone has an ID card with chip containing a couple of certificates on it. A site can use these to validate you say who you say you are by checking through a government server. Ebay does account verification in this way. Quick, painless.

    --
    If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
    1. Re:Account verification by ColdWetDog · · Score: 3, Funny

      Doing this kind of thing is a breeze in Belgium. Everyone has an ID card with chip containing a couple of certificates on it. A site can use these to validate you say who you say you are by checking through a government server. Ebay does account verification in this way. Quick, painless.

      Why that's communist! We would never do that here!

      Why do you hate America?

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    2. Re:Account verification by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And that would never work in the United States because:
      1) Most people believe that the U.S. government cannot be trusted to run such a system without abusing its power to control or spy on citizens.
      2) Some highly religious people believe that any kind of national ID card is a sign that the government has been taken over by Satan (see: "Mark of the Beast").

    3. Re:Account verification by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 3, Funny

      Why do you hate America?

      Because of your freedoms, obviously ;-)

      --
      If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
    4. Re:Account verification by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I get tired of hearing about countries that are great places to live where I would move in a heartbeat if only it were possible.

    5. Re:Account verification by caitsith01 · · Score: 0

      Doing this kind of thing is a breeze in Belgium. Everyone has an ID card with chip containing a couple of certificates on it. A site can use these to validate you say who you say you are by checking through a government server. Ebay does account verification in this way. Quick, painless.

      Can you choose not to have one?

      Otherwise that sounds like a horrendous plan.

      --
      Read Pynchon.
    6. Re:Account verification by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 1

      Here, this'll discourage you :

      "Belgium is the OECD country that levies the highest tax and social security burden on the labour income of single taxpayers, whether they have low, average or high earnings."

      Now you know why we produce so much beer, it's to drown our sorrows.

      --
      If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
    7. Re:Account verification by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      OH, hate America? Well there's the whole start wars for bullshit reasons, then there's Wall Street, then Hollywood, then the Tea Party then Fox News.......

      No reason at all really.

    8. Re:Account verification by Flipao · · Score: 1

      Doing this kind of thing is a breeze in Belgium. Everyone has an ID card with chip containing a couple of certificates on it. A site can use these to validate you say who you say you are by checking through a government server. Ebay does account verification in this way. Quick, painless.

      Can you choose not to have one?

      Otherwise that sounds like a horrendous plan.

      What is it you don't like about it?

    9. Re:Account verification by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If only it worked properly in Linux. I find that the BeiD packages in Ubuntu are always broken come tax submission time.

    10. Re:Account verification by Deatzo+Seol · · Score: 2

      Well, no, it's compulsory for everybody... on the other hand, and I know this sounds unbelievable, the government generally respects the people's privacy...

      --
      We are the music makers, and we are the dreamer of dreams. ~ Arthur O'Shaughnessy
    11. Re:Account verification by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 1

      No, everyone gets an ID and you must carry it with you at all times. I don't see why that would be a big deal, it's basically just a plastic card with a summary of the information the government has on you anyway.

      --
      If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
    12. Re:Account verification by Anne_Nonymous · · Score: 1

      You can keep the ID cards, but would you care to swap governments?

    13. Re:Account verification by patscii · · Score: 1

      Sounds basically like an American drivers license. We just have a problem with National IDs. It stirs up apocalyptic ideas about 666, one world government, universal healthcare, stuff like that.

    14. Re:Account verification by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      We would if we actually had a government.

    15. Re:Account verification by MomoolaMan · · Score: 1

      Accept life, cherish life, dump on life, don't papoohie on that. What do you think of the scientific butter that awards crack-addicted babies with even more?

    16. Re:Account verification by belg4mit · · Score: 1
      --
      Were that I say, pancakes?
    17. Re:Account verification by Rob+the+Bold · · Score: 1

      Now you know why we produce so much beer, it's to drown our sorrows.

      Sadly, in the US, we produce more -- and cheaper -- beer. :(

      --
      I am not a crackpot.
    18. Re:Account verification by Kenja · · Score: 1

      You are not required to have and carry a drivers license. It does however make life more convenient.

      --

      "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
    19. Re:Account verification by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The U.S. government cannot be trusted to run such a system. The Belgian government probably can't be either.

    20. Re:Account verification by MusedFable · · Score: 1

      I don't care about the amount of tax. I'd just like to live in a country not full of retards.

    21. Re:Account verification by owlnation · · Score: 1

      "Well, no, it's compulsory for everybody... on the other hand, and I know this sounds unbelievable, the government generally respects the people's privacy..."

      Wait? Belgium has a Government? I thought the country has been without any real form of Government for over a year. It seems to be a country in the process of completely ripping itself apart.

      Regardless... your "government" may be respecting your privacy now, this does not mean that will always be the status quo. Anyone with the tiniest knowledge of European history (and especially that of Belgium) would be extremely foolish to trust their government.

      Plus, compulsory ID cards are very expensive, and just do not work. They are simply a way of controlling the passive. Criminals, illegal immigrants etc do better as a result of ID cards, not worse.

    22. Re:Account verification by Cramer · · Score: 1

      3) the US .gov would make such a flaming complex incompetent mess of the whole thing -- assuming it was ever completed, billions of dollars and decades later.

    23. Re:Account verification by Seumas · · Score: 0

      No, everyone gets an ID and you must carry it with you at all times. I don't see why that would be a big deal, it's basically just a plastic card with a summary of the information the government has on you anyway.

      Uh. It would be a big deal, because America is a free(-ish) country and citizens don't need to "show zee papers" at the whim of whatever "authority" feels like hassling you. Even requiring on IDs on airplanes is a new and controversial issue for just this reason.

    24. Re:Account verification by Seumas · · Score: 1

      Uh. A driver's license only makes life more convenient if you're going to be driving. If I'm not driving, I have absolutely no goddamn use for the thing. I might have occasional use for a State ID card, but I am absolutely not ever under any obligation (unless I've been arrested, I believe) to produce that identification to anyone at any time. And you aren't obligated to present your license to someone, just because they have a shiny badge on their chest, either -- unless you are engaged in driving a vehicle at the time.

    25. Re:Account verification by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      "Papers Please"

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    26. Re:Account verification by LordLimecat · · Score: 2

      There are a large, large number of government programs that one could ask "what is it, precisely you dont like about it?" I have, in fact, been asked this about the Obamacare plan.

      The simple, easy answer to most of these questions is as follows:
      A) Most of these cases are NOT the federal government's role, according to the documents (or contracts, if you will) that grant our government its authority
      B) This is because a large, expansive, powerful central government was originally regarded as a bad thing
      C) Which is because people are not inherently good, but inherently selfish, and / or arrogant, and / or corruptible. The best leaders are the ones who understand that they are not to be trusted with excessive power.

      A good policy is to regard any law that is to be passed as being a negative, and then to have to justify its passage. Each law you pass will by its nature remove some freedom from its citizen, and should only be done if there is some much greater pressing need.

      Personally, I am on the fence about an ID system. I recognize a need for enforcement to be able to do their job; but at the same time I am not sure there is sufficient justification for imposing such a system on a national level, particularly given that the design of the USA seems to be, from everything I have read, to have been a coalition of independently governed states with a federal arm that performed ONLY those roles that the states could not.

    27. Re:Account verification by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      And the whole "its not the federal government's place to enact such a law" thing, that has something to do with it as well.

      And the potential for harassment and abuse, that too, though that argument is losing some weight as it is increasingly irrelevant whether or not you have an ID.

    28. Re:Account verification by Guignol · · Score: 1

      Fortunately, the Belgian government doesn't exist, so this is the perfect solution :)

    29. Re:Account verification by caitsith01 · · Score: 1

      No, everyone gets an ID and you must carry it with you at all times. I don't see why that would be a big deal, it's basically just a plastic card with a summary of the information the government has on you anyway.

      It's a "big deal" because the state doesn't own you, you own the state. They should have no right to force you to carry ID at all times. If you are a private citizen minding your own business, why should you be forced to identify yourself to the authorities? If the need for identity legitimately arises (hopefully via due process) then you can always produce appropriate proof then.

      Interesting that Europe - which should, more than any other part of the world, appreciate why tight state control over citizens is a bad thing (Nazis/Stasi/USSR/etc) - has this type of setup.

      --
      Read Pynchon.
    30. Re:Account verification by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 1

      Yeah : Stop And Identify Statutes. Or you know, excercise your right to remain silent and be photographed, fingerprinted and thrown in the hole. I'll just show my ID thanks, all that's on those papers is my name and where I live. if you are being given a ticket or being arrested they're going to ask you that anyway.

      --
      If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
    31. Re:Account verification by stms · · Score: 1

      Because of your freedoms, obviously ;-)

      So that's the reason our last two presidents have been taking away our rights it's not to protect us it's to make us look better in international affairs.

    32. Re:Account verification by KahabutDieDrake · · Score: 1

      You are wrong. At least in California and Oregon and Washington, you are required to carry a state issued ID card at all times. Driving, walking, whatever, you are supposed to have a state ID card. I'm also pretty sure many many other states feel the same way.

      Oh, and that bit about not being obliged to present your ID to police... good luck with that. I'd say let me know how it goes, but you'll be in lock up so you won't be able to. In fact, in most states, the ONLY thing you are obliged to do in regard to a police officer is identify yourself.

    33. Re:Account verification by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      Europeans do not, in general, believe that strong state is bad. They believe that strong state is bad when used for nefarious purposes. That is why there is "hate speech" and other similar kinds of censorship in Europe - it is there to prevent the bad guys from taking over. For a more specific example, it's why Germany has a law banning political parties that promote things directly contradicting the "democratic order" - i.e. parties which are against democracy, secularism, human rights etc.

    34. Re:Account verification by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      I have been arrested. I have a right to remain silent, I'll exercise it fully. They will not get my name from me, therefore I can question how they got my name. When I was arrested the asked my name. I didn't tell them. I didn't say a word. Once the "you're under arrest" happened, I shut my mouth.

      Nothing pisses off a cop than having to figure out who you are.

      I was acquitted of the charges mainly because the cops had NOTHING but each others conflicting testimony. They had nothing because I gave them nothing.

      As for the "Stop and Identify" statutes, you must be suspected of committing a crime before they can detain you. And if you are NOT suspected of committing a crime, asking "am I free to go, or are you placing me under arrest", is the last thing you should ever say to a cop who wants to detain you.

      http://www.abc4.com/content/news/top_stories/story/UPDATE-John-Doe-inmate-identified-as-NM-man/XiAoEKLxyUuaEJ564Rndhg.cspx

      It cost the county more to lock him up for four weeks than the fine is that he will have to pay. Hilarious!

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    35. Re:Account verification by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      a large expansive powerful central government may not have been the original intention, but the civil war sort of changed all that when the federal government won its argument with violence, much the way the founding fathers won their argument against england with violence.

    36. Re:Account verification by PCM2 · · Score: 1

      Personally, I am on the fence about an ID system. I recognize a need for enforcement to be able to do their job; but at the same time I am not sure there is sufficient justification for imposing such a system on a national level, particularly given that the design of the USA seems to be, from everything I have read, to have been a coalition of independently governed states with a federal arm that performed ONLY those roles that the states could not.

      But we already have a national ID. It's called a passport. U.S. passports even include biometric data and RFID now. Of course, you don't have to have a passport -- but try leaving the country and coming back without one. Effectively, your right to travel depends upon your being identified via a national ID.

      --
      Breakfast served all day!
    37. Re:Account verification by Billlagr · · Score: 1

      More and Cheaper != good

    38. Re:Account verification by PCM2 · · Score: 1

      You are wrong. At least in California and Oregon and Washington, you are required to carry a state issued ID card at all times.

      Sorry, it's you who are wrong. I can't speak for Oregon or Washington, but there is no such law in California.

      --
      Breakfast served all day!
    39. Re:Account verification by GNious · · Score: 1

      My ID, issued by Belgian Authorities ca 4 years ago: Piece of cardboard, with a picture stapled to it.

    40. Re:Account verification by wdef · · Score: 1

      Belgium and neighboring countries have terrible weather.

    41. Re:Account verification by wdef · · Score: 1

      I don't care about the amount of tax. I'd just like to live in a country not full of retards.

      And where would that be exactly? But for my money the Scandinavians look a lot better and are more rational and liberal than any other gang.

    42. Re:Account verification by wdef · · Score: 1

      Technically, I believe you need a passport to be able to enter another country. Not sure that strictly speaking you should need one to leave your own country. But where would you go? The Moon?

    43. Re:Account verification by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hmm, unfortunately Libertas stands with her back to the mainland in the NY harbour, so she is unable to ensure liberty in the USA.

    44. Re:Account verification by beuges · · Score: 1

      Two years ago a co-worker and I drove for a few hours from South Africa to Lesotho to do some work. We reached the border around 7pm and it was dark and mostly deserted. We got our exit stamps on the South African side and drove across the border into Lesotho. We didn't see anyone nor did anyone stop us, and it completely slipped our minds that we had to stop to get our entry stamps on the other side, so we just drove through.

      Two days later when we were leaving around midday, obviously everyone's awake now and at their posts. The lady at passport control in Lesotho refused to exit-stamp our passports because we didn't have entry stamps. We asked what we could do and she said to try our luck at the South African side.

      So we stopped at the border gate, and my co-worker chatted to the guards there for a couple of minutes about this and that and they waved us through without checking that we had exit stamps from the Lesotho side. We stopped at the South African passport control office, and the official there stamped our passports without even looking at them.

      So, according to our passports, we left South Africa on Friday evening, went nowhere for 2 days, and returned on Sunday afternoon.

    45. Re:Account verification by Nikademus · · Score: 1

      The whole thing is pretty broken since you have no means to verify the root Belgian certificate (self signed) you are downloading.

      --
      I gave up with the idea of an useful sig...
    46. Re:Account verification by Lennie · · Score: 1

      That is why most european countries have working cheap healtcare.

      --
      New things are always on the horizon
    47. Re:Account verification by mcvos · · Score: 1

      On the other hand, Belgium is also the country that hasn't had a central government for over a year. I get the impression some Americans would appreciate that sort of thing.

    48. Re:Account verification by Culture20 · · Score: 1

      Just like anyone boating in international waters, intending to go to another country, but turning around and returning to port.

    49. Re:Account verification by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow... that's so retro 1940's Nazi Germany! Is the chip embedded in your skin, or is the ID tattooed on your forearm?

    50. Re:Account verification by m.ducharme · · Score: 1

      Indeed, why aren't libertarians holding up Belgium as a shining model of Anarchy in action?

      --
      Rule of Slashdot #0: You and people like you are not representative of the larger population. - A.C.
    51. Re:Account verification by m.ducharme · · Score: 1

      Canada?

      --
      Rule of Slashdot #0: You and people like you are not representative of the larger population. - A.C.
    52. Re:Account verification by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, Europe is just a horrible place to live!

    53. Re:Account verification by jwdb · · Score: 1

      The root certificate is also included on the chip, so as long as you have a known good one (i.e., your own that you picked up from the local govt. office) you can verify any other card.

    54. Re:Account verification by itsdapead · · Score: 2

      What is it you don't like about it?

      I've never understood the theoretical problem, and can only assume that the opponents of ID cards in principle must be people who:

      • Don't drive a car
      • Never leave the country
      • Look old enough to buy alcohol
      • Never take out loans, open bank accounts, savings accounts, mobile phone contracts...

      ...all of which currently require ID, and in many cases have to resort to silly, ad-hoc ID checks such as abusing passports/driving licenses for purposes other than travel/driving, asking for utility bills etc. A properly designed universal ID system with modern technology would be much less intrusive than these by only letting bartenders/banks/phone companies check the precise information that they needed (e.g. is this person over 18? Y/N?)

      If the cops stopped you, they could swipe your card on the spot and just see your photograph (not even your name) and record a one-time code. Then, later, they can go and explain to a magistrate why they need to access your details. Its not as if a cop can't find an excuse to stop & search you anyway if they feel so inclined - and when they do that they might feel obliged to charge you with something to justify themselves. Having ID cards doesn't mean you have to give the police carte blanche... and should the fascists win an election, or stage a coup, its going to take them all of a week to issue "papers" (and until then woe betide anybody who goes out without a utility bill, driving license or birth certificate).

      No, the real practical problem for me is that this is a Large IT Project and if there's one thing that both governments and Big Industry are congenitally incapable of doing it is organizing a Large IT Project. I think that, while they just about comprehend that you can't sign up a contractor to build a tunnel under the Bristol channel and two-thirds of the way through decide that you want a bridge over the English Channel instead, they haven't quite managed to extend that logic to anything involving computers. So the odds are that we'd all have to pay huge fees for our ID cards, have huge difficulty getting any mistakes or abuse corrected, the encryption would be cracked within a week and that the entire database of personal information would turn up on Wikileaks within 24 hours of the launch.

      Also, the now defunct ID card scheme was going to solve the problems of illegal immigration, terrorism, crime and halitosis, but making it possible to open a bank account without presenting a gas bill and a birth certificate was never mentioned.

      --
      In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
    55. Re:Account verification by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      Containing a CHIP!? You mean like those RFID chips that are the mark of the antichrist!? And I bet they have some kind of tracking thing in them too, so they can use the information to put you into Obama's re-education camps, just like the last census!

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    56. Re:Account verification by assertation · · Score: 1

      "Quick, painless...."

      totalitarian and completely creepy

    57. Re:Account verification by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      If there's any trace of government the libertarians will say it's not free enough for them to move there. One recently told me that Somalia isn't free enough from government - he didn't say why, but it could only be due to the presence of the government-controlled compound inside the capital.

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    58. Re:Account verification by RJHelms · · Score: 1

      They still have a state, just not an elected government.

      Just because there's no ministers, doesn't mean all the bureaucrats go on vacation for a year - though you might wish they would.

    59. Re:Account verification by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      If your state has a "Stop and identify" statute then you DO need to tell them who you are. Luckily, I live in California, which doesn't. Of course, you agree to certain things when driving, like to be ID'd, so if you're in the car you absolutely give up that right...

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    60. Re:Account verification by DanTheStone · · Score: 1

      The UK already did that, if anyone needs an object lesson.

    61. Re:Account verification by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      The discussion isnt about whether we have one, but whether we want one. To say "but we already have one" is irrelevant, and as other posters point out a passport isnt quite the same thing since you do not need to carry it at all times or even have one. You could, theoretically, I think, buy your own private jet and fly to the Arctic without a passport, and Im pretty sure you dont need a passport to take your own private ship to Sealandia (not 100% sure on the UK's stance on that).

      But again, all of that is irrelevant to the discussion of "does the federal government have a place in this?"

    62. Re:Account verification by DanTheStone · · Score: 1

      Iceland seems to be a good choice.

    63. Re:Account verification by Quirkz · · Score: 1

      Terrible weather? We talking compared to southern Spain, here, or Chicago?

    64. Re:Account verification by m.ducharme · · Score: 1

      Well yes, but what's interesting about it is that there is no authority from the top at all. The bureaucrats are acting without authority from an elected government, or from an unelected dictator, or anyone really. I suppose technically that means the authority is currently residing in the top bureaucrat, making Belgium a true Bureaucratic state. But you could also say that the whole system continues to run on no authority at all, especially if the top bureaucrats are acting on the basis that they are maintaining the status quo until someone comes along and takes authority. If the latter proposition most closely resembles reality, then one could surmise that the Government is in fact headless, and the bureaucrats (who are after all just ordinary people) at all levels are acting collectively for the people while the head figures out where it is. This could in fact signal the very beginnings of a workable anarchic state, especially if the situation persists for a long time. It's an interesting situation.

      --
      Rule of Slashdot #0: You and people like you are not representative of the larger population. - A.C.
    65. Re:Account verification by RJHelms · · Score: 1

      I have heard this theory as well. One of the reasons I've seen is that organizations like Al Shabab, various warlords, etc, serve the functions of a state even if they don't have any diplomatic recognition as such. The tiny "central government", as well as presence of international organizations, are also "too much of a state" for some libertarians..

      I think recognizing non-state actors as stepping in to fill the role of the state is important. But it's a pretty big jump to assume that in any way supports a libertarian viewpoint.

    66. Re:Account verification by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nice try but having an ID with a chip in it does not guaranty that you are who you say you are since these things can be and have been cloned and spoofed.
      All it does is give the holder of the card and the issuing authority a false sense of security.

    67. Re:Account verification by tftp · · Score: 1

      Sorry, it's you who are wrong. I can't speak for Oregon or Washington, but there is no such law in California.

      Such a law does exist, but it's not what the GP remembers. The law applies only to immigrants and it requires them to carry their Green Card with them at all times. Citizens don't have to carry any ID (unless driving) and it is common to hear 10-27 on the police scanner where the officer mentions "verbal" -- meaning that the subject simply told the officer who he is but produced no proof of that.

    68. Re:Account verification by PCM2 · · Score: 1

      Such a law does exist, but it's not what the GP remembers. The law applies only to immigrants and it requires them to carry their Green Card with them at all times.

      Which, incidentally, is a pretty lousy thing in and of itself. I carried a Green Card when I was a teenager, and the last time I had to have it replaced because my wallet was stolen, it cost about $550 and took maybe nine weeks to get a new one. That's a pretty brutal burden for someone at the bottom rung of the work ladder or, for example, day laborers.

      --
      Breakfast served all day!
    69. Re:Account verification by caitsith01 · · Score: 1

      Australia has working, cheap healthcare yet mysteriously we are not required to carry around compulsory ID cards.

      --
      Read Pynchon.
    70. Re:Account verification by Yamioni · · Score: 1

      I'll take Antarctica. Sure it's cold, but those penguins are a lot smarter than 95% of the fucking idiots I deal with on a daily basis.

      --
      Cool post bro, highfive \o
  5. Summary of what he did by billstewart · · Score: 5, Informative
    • 0 - Gary Walker's a real person with a non-unique name on Google+. Here's what he did:
    • 1 - Made a Google+ account with his real name, some bogus information, and occasional cat pictures. - Worked
    • 2a - Had three friends report it as a "Fake Profile" - No Response
    • 2b - As the real Gary Walker, reported the new profile as "Impersonation".
    • 2b.1 - Google+ requires a copy of a government ID if you report an account as "Impersonation". He used a really bad fake driver's license. - Worked!
    • 2b.2 - Google+ informed him it was blocking the new profile, and also informed the new profile it was blocked. Took about 2 hours - Worked!
    • 2c - As the new Gary Walker, requested reinstatement, using an even worse fake driver's license - Worked!
    • 3 - Wrote up results - Attracted Blog traffic and comments - Worked!
    • 4 - ....
    • 5 - PROFIT!!

    Apparently you don't even need Real Photoshop to turn a McLovin' Hawai'i Driver's License into an adequate-quality fake ID for Google+ purposes. But SHHHHHH!! Don't Tell Them!

    --

    Bill Stewart
    New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
    1. Re:Summary of what he did by DoktorMel · · Score: 1

      Point of interest: in order to get to step 5, I'd have had to set up AdSense prior to step 3.

      --
      -- The Sage does nothing, and nothing is left undone. --Lao Tzu
    2. Re:Summary of what he did by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 1

      Apparently you don't even need Real Photoshop to turn a McLovin' Hawai'i Driver's License into an adequate-quality fake ID for Google+ purposes.

      The idea that faxing/emailing a copy of an ID somehow validates that you are the legitimate owner of that ID was bogus from the get go.

      At best the guy looking at the copy can plug in the name and address (if it is on the ID) into a marketing database to see if it matches what's already in that database. But he can't tell that you aren't a faker who looked up the target's identity in the phone book or even the same database and then put that info on a forged ID and emailed it them.

      Even if they wanted to look at your face via video chat, all you have to do is make a fake ID with the real name and address but use your face for the picture.

      This stuff provides no security for users, it only makes their lives more difficult while making it even easier for con-men to pull off scams because now the marks will think that since Google/facebook/etc are requiring real IDs that the con-man really is who he says he is.

      Utter fail all around.

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
    3. Re:Summary of what he did by artor3 · · Score: 1

      I'm curious if one could just type some gibberish in notepad, rename it "*.png" and submit that as their driver's license. There's no way anyone actually looked at the second license and thought it was legit. I suspect Google is just conducting some security theater. Ask for a scanned license, and expect imposters to just slink off with their tail between their legs.

    4. Re:Summary of what he did by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do you really think the guy's they're outsourcing to in india for this work have any clue wtf a real or fake ID looks like?

    5. Re:Summary of what he did by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yeah the problem is if I am the real Gary Walker and I complain they do this over again and it eventually builds a pretty good database that is actually... correct. The quality of originals will get better as the get more real IDs versus fake ones

    6. Re:Summary of what he did by Raistlin77 · · Score: 1

      Except that they claim to not store the data and even recommend that you blur identifying information other than your name. And even if they were storing the IDs, what happens if the fake Gary Walker is just as persistent at providing bogus IDs for verification as you are at providing real IDs? If Google doesn't actually verify the validity of the ID provided, they really don't have any choice but to accept that both Gary Walkers must be real. They'll end up with a database full of real IDs and fake IDs that have been accepted as real.

    7. Re:Summary of what he did by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      If it only took 2 hours, I doubt there's a human involved. They probably just ran some OCR software and tried to find the name in the output. Blurring everything else makes this easier. You could probably just generate a blurry image, type your name over a part of it, and send it.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    8. Re:Summary of what he did by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      This nicely demonstrates why requiring id is pointless. Google can't validate every form of id in the world.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    9. Re:Summary of what he did by hesaigo999ca · · Score: 1

      I might be mistaken, but thsi is still in the beta phase...and needs to tie into real government offices where they can backup your claims of using drivers license...if any iregular photos compared to say ...your real one, then i guess they send up a flag....i am not sure, but i know this is step 1 in a 10 step process by google to try and be the first one's (before facebook) to be used mainstream for id validation ....which ties into banking, drivers license, passport, etc...for this to be 100% functional, they would need to be already tied into those orgs to validate your credentials you are passing to them....such as a photo id....then you could probably see a better ID validation process from them.

    10. Re:Summary of what he did by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      I'd try sending in an ID card with a picture of a cartoon character on it, and then a nonsense image (say, watermelon cat) before jumping straight to that step.

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    11. Re:Summary of what he did by idontgno · · Score: 1

      I might be mistaken, but thsi is still in the beta phase...

      This is Google, the legendary home of the eternal beta. I suspect there's no internal motivation to fix this. The only thing that seems to work is shame. Thank God for that.

      .and needs to tie into real government offices where they can backup your claims of using drivers license

      I think tying G+ bureaucracy to honest-to-Satan government bureaucracy is the worst possible idea. At a minimum, it completely disregards the fact that G+ is international, and there's absolutely no chance Google's going to negotiate verification access to personally identifiable information with every government in the world, at every conceivable level of bureaucratic granularity responsible for every conceivable kind of personal identification.

      More importantly, and a distinction lost in most of these discussions, this is solving the wrong problem. The problem is not "how do I prove my identity to G+". The problem is "why do I even have to use a government-mediated identity for an on-line avatar?" And the answer is "You don't."

      The "real identity" mania in the social web is pointless for any purpose that serves the actual needs and desires of the users.

      --
      Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
    12. Re:Summary of what he did by hesaigo999ca · · Score: 1

      >and there's absolutely no chance Google's going to negotiate verification access
      They would if facebook was doing it, and wanted to stay in the game. The whole point to zuckerberg's move to hit the international passport schema, is to have a medium that talks globally, because let us face it, with technology comes removal of borders, soon we will be 1 nation, in 100 years or so....
      If he lines himself and his company to be the first to offer this medium, they would jump way ahead of google.

      Remember both of these companies came out almost at the same time with integrated device id validation with built in sms text for their account access....which now slowly cc companies are adopting.

  6. Re:Why do people give a fuck about these sites? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think you need to look up the meaning of "less-efficient"

    It certainly doesn't mean a site that allows a person to easily upload pictures from most computer devices with internet access, maintain contact information without needing to inform people in your contact list that your contact information is changing, allow messaging, instant messaging, and billboard conversations with 1 to 2 clicks in a browser.

    Creating a website certainly isn't considered efficient since you'd need to add all of that, to make it as useful as most social media websites.

  7. o/b Papers Pleassse! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Doing this kind of thing is a breeze in Belgium. Everyone has an ID card with chip containing a couple of certificates on it. A site can use these to validate you say who you say you are by checking through a government server. Ebay does account verification in this way. Quick, painless.

    Just the way that Mr. Hilter down the road wanted it.

    And we all know that such systems are never broken.

    Good luck with the illusion.

  8. Hey. What say you warn people next time... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    before enticing them into clicking on a link that's actually a 50-page pdf with (potentially underage) pornography and a photo of an open leg wound in it by mentioning Captain Kirk?

    1. Re:Hey. What say you warn people next time... by Osgeld · · Score: 1

      mod parent up

    2. Re:Hey. What say you warn people next time... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you are at work how about getting the fuck back to work?

      And by porn are you referring to the balls? Grow a pair.

    3. Re:Hey. What say you warn people next time... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is such a thing as a "5 minute break" where maybe, just maybe, someone will use their work computer for something other than their job. Not everyone works 8 hours without stopping, you fucking moron.

  9. DON'T CLICK on that 419 eater link at work! by IonOtter · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you're at work, DO NOT CLICK on that link to 419eater!

    It is funny, yes, but it has several pornographic and at least one medically disturbing/disgusting image.

    Save it for viewing at home.

    --
    [End Of Line]
    1. Re:DON'T CLICK on that 419 eater link at work! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      at least one medically disturbing/disgusting image.

      That is correct, the Kirk passport has him being from from Maryland, MD. This is indeed medically disturbing/disgusting.

    2. Re:DON'T CLICK on that 419 eater link at work! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Get a better workplace, wage slave.

    3. Re:DON'T CLICK on that 419 eater link at work! by antdude · · Score: 1

      Sure, tell us where in this crappy economy?

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    4. Re:DON'T CLICK on that 419 eater link at work! by antdude · · Score: 1

      Or use an ad blocker? I didn't see any on my visitation.

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    5. Re:DON'T CLICK on that 419 eater link at work! by IonOtter · · Score: 1

      You're just jealous I have a job. (Though if I keep hanging around on Slashdot too much, that may change. >.> )

      --
      [End Of Line]
    6. Re:DON'T CLICK on that 419 eater link at work! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where the hell do you work at? Church?

    7. Re:DON'T CLICK on that 419 eater link at work! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      but it has several pornographic

      No it doesn't. There's one photo of some people on a boat who appear to be having some blow jobs, but you can't see anything. It would get a "PG-13" rating at the most if it was a movie.

      The leg, however, is quite disgusting. And yes, I'd rather not be linked directly to a massive .pdf that really has little relation to the story.

      As for the story itself, it's not very revealing. He should have tried to get his real account suspended for impersonating the new, "fake" one he created not the other way around. And he never did really try to get an account suspended for being bogus- just for impersonating.

      I'm not even all that surprised by the fact the fake ID's got "missed", and to be quite honest although I'm aware of the movie Superbad I've never seen it and doubt I'd recognize the photo as a fake. Same with the mass murderer- I'm not a ghoul so I don't pay attention. Maybe if he'd used someone famous like Bundy or Manson, instead of someone HE decided ought to be famous, it might not have worked so well.
      I worked as a bartender for 25 years, and I've seen a lot of ID's. All this story really reveals is that we need some kind of uniform standard for ID cards in the US, because it is NOT uncommon to see ID's which are poorly made, with offcentered photos, mixed font styles, and so on.
      Yes, they could use more rigor in terms of the verification process. But as the author mentioned, the only story really going on is that Google, unlike most other services, actually DOES have such a process. Most places rely on an email, postal mail, or on rare occasions a phone conversation. Hell, you can unlock your online banking account more easily.

    8. Re:DON'T CLICK on that 419 eater link at work! by xatm092 · · Score: 1

      Thank god you said this, I was about to click on the link...

    9. Re:DON'T CLICK on that 419 eater link at work! by lwriemen · · Score: 0

      Working in Jesusland is close enough! ;-)

  10. Re:Why do people give a fuck about these sites? by Coolhand2120 · · Score: 1

    Are we running out of domain names now? I assumed that first.middle.last.me or .com or whatever TLD will always be available to people who want to run a web site.

  11. Re:Why do people give a fuck about these sites? by Coolhand2120 · · Score: 1, Interesting

    When IPV6 becomes more widely adopted and we dispose of all this NATting more devices will be on a classless network and this sort of service will be sold at best buy to run on your own mini-NAS build into your year 2014 computer.

  12. Re:Why do people give a fuck about these sites? by rhook · · Score: 1

    If someone already has last.me you're screwed, the first.middle part would be a subdomain.

  13. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 1

    We are also a free country, there's no checkpoints in the streets.

    I really don't get it, if I :
    deal with the bank, I prove my identity with a debit card,
    deal with the library, I prove my identity with a library card,
    deal with traffic cops, I prove my identity with a driver's license,
    and if I deal with the government, I prove my identity with an ID card.

    What's the big deal ? I mean look what's on this thing and tell me what exactly about that is supposed to enslave me ?

    --
    If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
  14. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by foniksonik · · Score: 1

    There are lots of good reasons but you don't have to agree with them as is your right. Personally I'm just fine using a photo ID to travel via commercial air transport, rent a car and hotel at will, qualify for credit lines as needed so as not to expose my own wealth to scanners and frauds - at home or abroad.

    --
    A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
  15. Guys, c'mon. by oliverk · · Score: 1

    Psssh...dude, it's Google. They're not evil or anything...

    --
    ---- Please be nice in case my Slashdot karma ~= my real life karma.
  16. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by jabberw0k · · Score: 0

    The deal is, that We The People delegate certain of our inalienable rights to Our Government; we do not need ANYTHING to prove that we exist as individuals. This is why we do not have nor do we ever need government identity papers -- Because We The People give the power to the government, not the other way around. Your mere existence is its own inalienable self-proof.

  17. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by artor3 · · Score: 1

    Unless of course you're an immigrant in Arizona. Then you need papers, or you end up in prison.

  18. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by Flipao · · Score: 1

    We in America, a free country, do not have identification papers.

    Yes, America truly is the land of the free. And Raymond Shaw is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life.

  19. Re:Why do people give a fuck about these sites? by unrtst · · Score: 2

    My last.* is taken
    My first-last.* is taken
    My firstlast.* is taken
    as is firstmiddlelast.*, first-middle-last.*, Flast.*, F-last.*, FMlast.*, F-M-last.*, first-L.*, firstL.*, as well as all of those with my shortened version of my first name (think "steve" instead of "steven").

    Granted, the ".*" is a slight exaggeration, but * includes com, net, and org, and many others for most of those.
    It's also hard as hell to find me on any social site unless you know my email or some other more specific information.

    AND, I just tried creating a temp account on yahoo and found out the reverse of my last name, reversed lastfirst, and reversed firstlast are all taken as well (ex. htims, htimsnhoj, nhojhtims) as are most of those reversed name domains! WTF!

    If I could get my "firstlast.com", I'd gladly give out subdomains to others with my name.

  20. Re:Why do people give a fuck about these sites? by unrtst · · Score: 1

    When IPV6 becomes more widely adopted and we dispose of all this NATting more devices will be on a classless network and this sort of service will be sold at best buy to run on your own mini-NAS build into your year 2114 computer.

    FTFY

  21. Wow. Slashdot has really changed. by Alaska+Jack · · Score: 1

    In the past, you wouldn't have had to explain to the people here why allowing the government to require everyone to carry "papers" was a good idea in the short term, but a bad idea in the long term.

    Now 80 percent of /. is just a bunch of script kiddies who think opposition to this kind of thing is rooted in religious crackpottery, or imaginary straw men who just think everything from Europe is communist.

    I mean, gosh, Washington, Madison, Jefferson -- How could those guys not understand how much better life would be if we centralized all our power in one big government?

        - aj

    1. Re:Wow. Slashdot has really changed. by ThatsMyNick · · Score: 1

      In the past, you wouldn't have had to explain to the people here why allowing the government to require everyone to carry "papers" was a good idea in the short term, but a bad idea in the long term.

      I am one of those kids that dont understand this (neither about why it is better in short term nor whey bad idea in long term). Someone care to explain?

    2. Re:Wow. Slashdot has really changed. by Alaska+Jack · · Score: 1

      I am one of those kids that dont understand this (neither about why it is better in short term nor whey bad idea in long term). Someone care to explain?

      I nominate Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay.

      Or, for an outsider's perspective, de Tocqueville.

      - aj

    3. Re:Wow. Slashdot has really changed. by Altrag · · Score: 2

      Effectively, it removes privacy in the long term. Once its been around long enough that it stops being a "convenience" and starts being a "requirement" that you have some form of ID, you can then be tracked with relative ease.

      And that's generally considered a bad thing. The old "nothing to hide" argument against unrestricted privacy invasion is stupid -- everyone has something that they'll eventually need to hide from someone else. Whether its a religious belief, their political preferences, their porn surfing habits, or yes, criminal behavior. You a democrat? Wouldn't the republicans like to know. You a republican? Wouldn't the democrats like to know.

      What I don't understand is how anyone thinks that this doesn't already exist? Between federal and state governments, most people have at least 2 cards (SSN and driver's license). Military issues their own ID as well. Add in passports, credit cards, debit cards, bank accounts, mortgage records, loyalty program cards, club membership cards, etc and your average person probably has over a dozen records in both public and private databases for which they intentionally carry around their ID card, and at least a couple are (almost) to the level of "required" in order to operate in today's society.

      What we don't have (that I know of!) is any sort of centralized database which records all information related to an individual. Each database is maintained seperately and anyone trying to put together a full profile of a person would need to contact multiple database operators.

      Which is pretty irrelevant when you think about it. Having a single shared key might make such searches slightly easier (don't have to look through 8 dozen "John Smith" entries to find the one you're looking for) but it doesn't strictly imply that the databases themselves have to be linked. In the US they probably would be (why go to the effort if you can't invade peoples' privacy?) but there's no technical reason for that to be the case.

      In order to do such a thing in a private way you would need to (minimally, I'm sure I haven't thought it through completely!):

      - Keep the individual databases seperate. They can share a key (ie: your ID number) but they shouldn't be able to share any other data beyond that without your authorization (already questionable anyways but still...)

      - Allow people to obtain a new key that cannot be traced back to your old key (except perhaps a tightly controlled database that can only be accessed with a warrant for criminal investigations.. again this is already questionable with warrantless wiretapping and other such privacy-destroying laws becoming more common).

    4. Re:Wow. Slashdot has really changed. by icebraining · · Score: 1

      Here in PT we also have a card with certificates provided by the govt, but each service (Social Security, National Health Service, etc) has its own ID number and database. It's forbidden by our constitution - which was written after the military coup against the fascist govt - to create a centralized ID/database.

      Personally, I don't really have a problem with e.g. banks and similar organizations from requiring government ID, but a social network? It's completely abusive.

    5. Re:Wow. Slashdot has really changed. by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      One simple reason is that a strong centralised identity system makes identity theft easy. Now an attacker just needs to compromise one (supplied to the government by the lowest bidder) system and they can pretend to be you in any context. There are other reasons related to civil liberties, such as erosion of anonymity, which is a requirement for truly free speech (ask those terrorists who tried to overthrow the lawful British government in the North American colonies a couple of hundred years ago).

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    6. Re:Wow. Slashdot has really changed. by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      The old "nothing to hide" argument against unrestricted privacy invasion is stupid -- everyone has something that they'll eventually need to hide from someone else.

      You provide some good example, to which I will add: You want your bank statement hidden inside an envelope rather than on the back of a post card. Privacy actually makes it harder for criminals, not easier as many people seem to think.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    7. Re:Wow. Slashdot has really changed. by skegg · · Score: 1

      You a democrat? Wouldn't the republicans like to know. You a republican? Wouldn't the democrats like to know.

      Some may think you're paranoid, but check-out this article from a major Australian newspaper:

      The Age investigation has revealed how Labor is building profiles of constituents based on its communications with MPs, attendance at rallies, membership of groups, letters to newspapers and through polling and surveys.
                      Revealed: How the ALP keeps secret files on voters

    8. Re:Wow. Slashdot has really changed. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The easier it is to identify you, the easier it is for a hacker to impersonate you.

      If one identification mechanism links all your financial holdings to you, and that same mechanism links easy-to-hack things like your email accounts or accounts with insecure local mom-and-pop businesses to you, then you become an attractive target. Once a hacker hacks the mom-and-pop shop, they suddenly have access to all your money.

      Also...if the government has a firm handle on your identity, then the government can very easily apply leverage against you to cease your political activism if such activism displeases the currently entrenched powers.

      There are also issues with misdeeds from your young-and-misguided self being permenantly linked with your universal ID, thus forever punishing your older-wiser-wouldn't-do-that-agains-just-trying-to-make-an-honest-living self.

      If you bother to apply your critical thinking skills to this sort of thing, you can see why it is actually very dangerous to be so easily identified and tracked.

    9. Re:Wow. Slashdot has really changed. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Parent's emphasis on the word "papers" alludes to the infamous Gestapo line "show me your papers" in Nazi Germany. It is a frightening implication that you had no right to be part of society unless so sanctioned by the authorities.

    10. Re:Wow. Slashdot has really changed. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So what you mean is that ID cards must be implemented using multiple separate databases and multiple separate numbers under the tight supervision of constitutionally enforced independent privacy commission like they're implemented in most developed countries that have ID cards?

    11. Re:Wow. Slashdot has really changed. by Altrag · · Score: 1

      This might have been paranoia 30 years ago.

      By 2011, its not even a poorly kept secret anymore that information is valuable, and anyone who can collect information of any sort will do so.

      What they do with that information and how evil they are can still lead you into the land of tinfoil (and for that matter, figuring out who "they" are!) But the fact that information is arbitrarily collected and used is hardly earth-shattering news anymore.

  22. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 1

    The deal is, that We The People delegate certain of our inalienable rights to Our Government; we do not need ANYTHING to prove that we exist as individuals. This is why we do not have nor do we ever need government identity papers -- Because We The People give the power to the government, not the other way around. Your mere existence is its own inalienable self-proof.

    You don't need anything to prove you exist as individuals ? I think I know someone on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue who'd disagree with that.
    And it's not proof of existence, it's just identification. You'd think geeks of all people would understand the value of proper identification during interactions with service providers.

    --
    If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
  23. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by Alaska+Jack · · Score: 2

    I guess I don't understand.

    If you are here *legally*, then you already have papers -- and that goes for every state, not just Arizona.

    If you are are *illegally*, then you have committed a crime. Why exactly should you not "end up in prison."?

    Please clarify.

        - aj

  24. Jean Luc Picard by istartedi · · Score: 1

    They should use Jean Luc Picard because everybody knows that the world is full of stupid people

    --
    For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
    1. Re:Jean Luc Picard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've actually seen French men with the name Jean-Luc Picard - they're fairly common names. Same with James Kirk, but not James Tiberius Kirk - Tiberius is unusual. . . . I imagine the name James Kirk is probably less common since Star Trek because of the reference, probably the same with French men born after Star Trek The Next Generation took off.

      Unless their parents are the nightmare sort of Trekkie . . .

  25. You don't get out much, do you? by brokeninside · · Score: 2

    Failure to identify yourself to a police officer can result in arrest and imprisonment.

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43867449/ns/us_news/t/mystery-prisoner-has-utah-jail-authorities-stumped/

    But, aside from that, are you serious about Belgium being a totalitarian regime? That's just plain nuts.

    1. Re:You don't get out much, do you? by Seumas · · Score: 2

      Misleading. You'll note that the man was arrested on minor charges; not failure to present identification. You are not required to carry or provide identification in America unless you are driving a vehicle or flying a commercial airline. A few municipalities have enacted very controversial and constitutionally grey laws that require you to identify yourself if an officer believes you are engaging in a criminal activity and you are of course always required to provide identification if you have been *arrested*.

      Now, can an overzealous cop say "you were sitting on this park bench reading a book and you refused to provide me with your papers when I asked you for them" and decide to arrest you on that alone? Sure. A cop can also decide that you being a bit mouthy is justification to hit you in the head with a baton or taze you. That doesn't make it a legal action on the cop's part. That's what the legal system is for (never *ever* fight or debate with an officer, even if your rights are being violated. Just shot the fuck up and deal with that when you speak with a lawyer so you don't make things worse for yourself).

      But, what they can do and what is legal and right is not the same thing.

      http://flexyourrights.org/faq/When_do_I_have_to_show_ID

    2. Re:You don't get out much, do you? by brokeninside · · Score: 1

      Those minor charges? Trespassing in a public parking garage. That's not a whole lot different than sitting on a park bench.

      And who decides what counts as a crime? From the link you supplied:

      From here, ID laws only get more complicated. In Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Court of Nevada, the Supreme Court upheld state laws requiring citizens to disclose their identity to police when officers have reasonable suspicion to believe criminal activity may be taking place. Commonly known as "stop-and-identify" statutes, these laws permit police to arrest criminal suspects who refuse to identify themselves.

      In other words you're free not to show ID until such time as the police decide that they have "reasonable suspicion" that you're up to something nefarious and ask to see your ID. From that point on, they can lawfully detain you until you comply.

  26. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by Alaska+Jack · · Score: 0

    He's talking about the fundamental relationship between a free people and their government.

    You're talking about "the value of proper interactions with service providers."

    He's talking principles.

    You're talking expedience.

        - aj

  27. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 1

    I freely admit I'm a pragmatist. I can see the philosophical reasoning but I'll take the real benefits over the purely theoretical loss of dignity. There's no sense in ending up with half baked systems (like the US social security card, which from what I understand relies on security by obscurity) or basically outsourcing identification services to the DMV or worse, the banks (who famously even send credit card offers to dogs.)

    --
    If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
  28. Re:Why do people give a fuck about these sites? by z0idberg · · Score: 2

    Have you tried FML.* ?

  29. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by artor3 · · Score: 1

    The point is that people who are here legally, but have brown skin, must carry their papers with them at all times. If they lose them, or forget them at home, or whatever, then they get tossed in jail until they can present them. So the statement "Americans are a free people: No Identity papers" doesn't apply to Arizona. In Arizona, you're only free if you're white.

  30. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by 1729 · · Score: 1

    I guess I don't understand.

    If you are here *legally*, then you already have papers -- and that goes for every state, not just Arizona.

    If you are are *illegally*, then you have committed a crime. Why exactly should you not "end up in prison."?

    Please clarify.

    In America, citizens don't need to carry identification papers, nor do they need to justify brown skin with proof of legal residency. The original version of SB1070 required police to check the residency status of anyone they came into contact with when there was "reasonable suspicion" (what does that mean?) that the person might be here illegally, and to imprison that person (possibly a U.S. citizen!) if they could not immediately produce proof of legal residency. See the problem?

  31. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by Alaska+Jack · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I don't think you've thought this through very well. Your reply does not seem to be based on fact.

    (1) "people who are here legally, but have brown skin, must carry their papers with them at all times."

    I've just been reading up on Arizona's SB 1070. It makes no mention whatsoever of "brown skin." The law seems to apply equally to all colors of immigrants. I.e., it certainly discriminates between nationals and foreigners, but does not seem to discriminate between *types* of foreigners.

    Not trying to be disingenuous here. Arizona clearly has a problem with illegal immigration from Mexico, not from Romania. But that doesn't mean Arizonans don't like *Mexicans*; it just means they don't like *illegal immigration.*

    (2) "'Americans are a free people: No Identity papers' doesn't apply to Arizona. In Arizona, you're only free if you're white."

    This seems obviously false as well. The people you're referring to -- i.e., immigrants, whether legal or illegal -- *aren't Americans.* I certainly hope we treat non-Americans well, but whether we do or don't seems to have little bearing on whether Americans "are a free people."

      - aj

  32. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What's the big deal ?

    Have you forgotten what the occupation was like during WW-II?
    Papers please!

  33. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by artor3 · · Score: 1

    Don't be ridiculous. You know damn well that no cop is going to arrest a white person on suspicion of being an immigrant. The fact is that the law will be used against anyone with brown skin, and pretty much no one else.

    As to your second point, anyone living long term in this country is an American. That's what makes this country great, or at least what used to. That we take people from all over the world, mix the cultures together, and come out with one super culture (which we then sell back to the world). Perhaps you're thinking of native Americans -- confusing I know, given that some American Indians prefer to be known by that term.

    Once you get right down to it, this law will be used to imprison legal immigrants, and even natural born citizens of Mexican ancestry. That may not be the intent, but it's an unacceptable side effect. Anyone who values freedom should oppose it. The fact that Republicans support it shows that all their talk of small government is a facade.

  34. Re:Why do people give a fuck about these sites? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because unlike you, many people actually have friends. And staying in touch with those friends or relatives who are long distances away through these sites is easy.

  35. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by Alaska+Jack · · Score: 2

    Yes I do. But it's not relevant -- the "original version" is not the one that passed. According to Wikipedia, the one that passed stated that police may only investigate immigration status incident to a "lawful stop, detention, or arrest."

    I don't particularly like this law. Could it be abused? Oh, totally. But it only came about because of the federal government's politically motivated failure to even try to live up to its obligations.

    (ARTICLE IV Section 4: The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion.")

    - aj

  36. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by kramulous · · Score: 1

    Mate, I'd give it a rest.

    Americans really do not trust their governments. Maybe they have a good reason for it ... I dunno. It seems you are happy to trust your government and I am happy to trust mine. Oddly enough, your country and mine are high on a voter turnout list while USA has the lowest voter turnout on this wikipage.

    Could be purely coincidental.

    --
    .
  37. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by Alaska+Jack · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You seem to know a thing or two about ridiculousness.

    (1) "You know damn well that no cop is going to arrest a white person on suspicion of being an immigrant."

    Are you aware that the law explicitly forbids arresting a person of *any* color on "suspicion of being an immigrant"?

    (2) "Anyone living long term in this country is an American."

    Not sure what you're trying to say here. I don't believe a long tenure of living here automatically grants you American citizenship, though of course you can apply. But what if you choose not to? What if you don't consider yourself an American? Are you one anyway? And do you mean living long-term here legally? Or illegally?

    You are obviously speaking from the heart here, but that doesn't mean what you're saying makes any sense. Often, the opposite.

    (3) "That's what makes this country great, or at least what used to. "

    I'm sorry, but this is objectively incorrect. What made this country great was the unprecedented application of liberal values: Freedom of speech, assembly, religion and thought; government of, by and for the people; equal justice under law; etc. In other words, all those things we call "liberty." How long people lived here had nothing to do with it. Simple racial diversity is a nice plus -- I like it as much as you do -- but even the most cursory review of history will show that it's hardly critical, or even necessary. Plenty of relatively homogenous civilizations have achieved great things.

    (4) "Once you get right down to it, this law will be used to imprison legal immigrants, and even natural born citizens of Mexican ancestry."

    ALL LAWS are eventually abused, by politicians, prosecutors or cops who are incompetent, ignorant, racist, etc. This law is no different. Victims of abuse are free to sue for giant settlements, just like in any other case of wrongful arrest/imprisonment.

        - aj

  38. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by 1729 · · Score: 1

    Just to clarify, the original version of SB1070 did pass and was signed into law. It was amended a week later after the massive outcry began. The amendment was a very good idea: in particular, witnesses to or victims of a crime should not arrested for being here illegally just because they reported a crime. Otherwise, since we have millions of illegal immigrants here who aren't going away anytime soon, we'd be creating a class of perfect victims.

    I agree that an arrest should entail a full identification, and that immigration laws should be enforced at that point. The "lawful stop" part is gray area, though. I worry about scenarios where a citizen with an accent or a "foreign" appearance could be legally stopped (which doesn't imply an actual crime occurred) and then imprisoned until they proved their identity; I think it's safe to assume that this would not happen to a white person with a standard American accent.

  39. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by xero314 · · Score: 1

    As for a driver's license, I did not have one until I was 33 years old, and I only need it when I am driving an automobile -- that is why it is called a driver's license. The only person who ever gets to see it, is a police officer and only if I am driving. There is no other legitimate need for anyone to see it, ever.

    So what two forms of identification did you use to get any of the jobs you have had in your life?

    Yes you can be an american citizen, natural born, and not have any form of universal identification. Though you would find your life to be very restricted. Just proving your citizenship would be down right impossible. In reality practically all US citizens have a Universal ID, and though you can not be required to reveal that ID, you can be restricted from service for not doing so.

  40. Moral of the story by Compaqt · · Score: 2

    GIMP works! Eat that, Photoshoppers.

    "I was able to get an account with no particular infringing information or activity suspended by providing a GIMP'ed version of the McLovin ID from Superbad."

    --
    I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
    1. Re:Moral of the story by JustAnotherIdiot · · Score: 1

      Well, duh, GIMP would work for that. Hell, MSPaint would work for what he did.

      --
      What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
    2. Re:Moral of the story by impaledsunset · · Score: 1

      We get it, GIMP makes you look like a serial killer.

    3. Re:Moral of the story by idontgno · · Score: 1

      We get it, GIMP makes you... a serial killer.

      FTFY.

      --
      Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
  41. Re:Why do people give a fuck about these sites? by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

    Have you tried .name?

  42. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

    You tell that to IRS when they come and demand your ITIN.

  43. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

    It was the sae thing in most European countries before Axis occupation just the same.

    In any case, "papers please" wasn't what made occupation nasty.

  44. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by artor3 · · Score: 2

    The law can expressly forbid it, but when it tells cops to arrest people who they suspect might be here illegally, the fact remains that the people most likely to be suspected are those with brown skin and Spanish accents. Which means that there are plenty of American citizens of Mexican descent who may very well be arrested, for no reason other than their appearance.

    I don't see how you can take issue with the notion that permanent residents, be they natural born citizens, naturalized citizens, or legal immigrants, are Americans. They live in America. They take part in American culture. The fact that a few people may consider themselves to be not American is irrelevant -- you're moving the goalposts. You stated that immigrants aren't Americans and thus America could be considered a free country even if we treated them like shit (though to your credit, you did not suggest that we should).

    And the notion that a statement of what makes America great could be "objectively" true or false is silly. But pedantry aside, America was built by immigrants. Most of our population is descended from immigrants. You can't claim that immigrants aren't real Americans, and then turn around and claim that their immigration status has "nothing to do with it" when talking about their contributions to the country. Either their immigration status is unimportant, in which case they are Americans, or it is important, in which case you have to at least admit that immigration is important to the country.

    And finally, some laws are more open to abuse than others. We should not allow bad laws simply because there are other bad laws on the books. Point me at another law that is equally likely to result in unjust imprisonment, and I'll oppose that one too.

  45. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 3, Informative

    First of all, an immigrant is an American from the point he gets American citizenship. Apart from not being able to become a president, his rights and duties are the same as any American born on US soil.

    Second, GPs case applies equally to natives. Suppose you are born in US to Mexican parents (who could even be citizens by the time of your birth). This makes you a natural born citizen of US. But aside from your birth certificate, you might not have any other document to prove this. If they stop you on the street in Arizona for "being suspiciously like an illegal immigrant", and you have no ID to present, they can lock you down until someone fetches them your birth cert.

    This all is not just theory - there already were cases of US _citizens_ being detained because they couldn't readily prove their citizenship on the spot. JFGI.

  46. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

    FWIW it used to be the case in most US states that simply residing there fo a certain period of time (1 year for most, sometimes 6 months, sometimes 2 years) made one immediately eligible for citizenship. This began to change from 1870s on, and mostly disappeared by 1900 - largely due to "yellow peril" hysteria, anti-Catholic sentiments, and other forms of racism and religious intolerance.

  47. Fake names and profiles are easy... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    just use obscure names of fictional characters. James T Kirk is good, also Jean Luc Picard. I once used Harry Tuttle for an account.
    If you don't know who The Harry Tuttle character is, turn in your geek card immediately.

    1. Re:Fake names and profiles are easy... by Cederic · · Score: 1

      Surely you mean Buttle?

  48. Results not surprising by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    the reason why the driver license worked is because Google is using India and china to process our information. I have already had to deal with these guys on some other issues and was surprised to find out Google outsourced that much. What I find interesting is that Google is still using Chinese and that China is being allowed to learn that much about other nations. And by outsourcing this to foreign nations, you can see the results of this. I think that somebody from Mexico or Canada would do better and knowing about America than ppl who have never set foot here. At this time, I would not trust a CA from Google (or from any company like them such as MS, facebook, Apple, etc) then I would another home-brew CA.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  49. NSFW - Mark it as such by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why is there still no NSFW warning on this post? Get it sorted ffs.

  50. NSFW FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can someone please mark that link NSFW. Fucker.

  51. Got a kick out of the Kirk Passport by rikkards · · Score: 1

    It was entertaining but the funny thing is the I knew the two girls with the guy taking a leak in high school. Small world.

  52. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by Lennie · · Score: 1

    Many people voted in Belgium and still no parlement.

    --
    New things are always on the horizon
  53. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by mcvos · · Score: 1

    How can you delegate power to the government if you can't prove you exist? Or at least that you're American? Some kind of formal proof of existence and nationality is necessary for any large democracy to function.

  54. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by mcvos · · Score: 1

    No, but that occupation did make "papers please" very impopular.

  55. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by m.ducharme · · Score: 1

    Forget it, you're not going to win a rational argument with someone on a subject they can't be rational about. The indoctrination since childbirth to believe that no ID cards and easy access to weapons makes a free society runs too deep.

    --
    Rule of Slashdot #0: You and people like you are not representative of the larger population. - A.C.
  56. if you are at work by Snaller · · Score: 1

    Then work! Slacker.

    --
    If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
  57. Slashdot = buggy as hell! by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

    Slashdot is broken like an Ubuntu .10 beta release. Moderation details window is broken, the "get more posts" button on the user pages just up and disappeared, you still have to expand parent posts to see the moderation of child posts, it still has that bug where if you click on a link and the tip of the cursor doesn't land on the body of one of the letters it just expands/collapses parent posts, and mcgrew could tell you all about the broken journal features. But hey thanks for implementing the post governor that throttles the posts of contributing users with excellent karma, I wanted that feature for so long!

    Hey if you mod this to +5 it'll get into the "hot posts" widget or whatever it's called and maybe someone will see it.

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    1. Re:Slashdot = buggy as hell! by Midnight+Thunder · · Score: 1

      And it is using some sort of antiquated language known as Perl ;)

      Side note: I used to be a Perl fan and have since moved over to Python and PHP.

      --
      Jumpstart the tartan drive.
    2. Re:Slashdot = buggy as hell! by nschubach · · Score: 1

      That's not just Ubuntu... I haven't had moderation detail for over a week (maybe two?) and they still haven't fixed the event bubbling issue on comment expansion. This happens in any OS I've used.

      --
      Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
    3. Re:Slashdot = buggy as hell! by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      Read again, I think you didn't have enough coffee yet...

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  58. It's not that bad by Kamiza+Ikioi · · Score: 1

    Pornographic? The heads of the women are CLEARLY covering the genital regions of the men like straw hats covering any prime time "nude" sitcom scene.

    Just to be sure, I'll ask what the women in HR think... brb...

    --
    I8-D
    1. Re:It's not that bad by MetalliQaZ · · Score: 1

      Try explaining that to your grandmother. That's how hard it will be to explain it to your boss as they have security throw you out. Large companies have absolutely zero tolerance.

      --
      "Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
  59. Re:Why do people give a fuck about these sites? by Coolhand2120 · · Score: 1

    That's pretty hard to believe. And there's nothing wrong with using a sub domain. Either you've got a spectacularly common name or you're just fibbing.

  60. Link is not work safe! by MetalliQaZ · · Score: 1

    I expect Slashdot to not get me fired, thanks.

    --
    "Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
  61. Re:Why do people give a fuck about these sites? by Coolhand2120 · · Score: 1

    You could always use a number or geographic location in your name too. Like james.david.smith-socal.com or even use the TLD in a creative way. The number of combinations boggles the mind, you should have no problem finding an exact match or a one off (add a character). I'm sure a lot of the people asking "but what about my domain" are resourceful enough to figure out how to get a good domain name without sacrificing readability, and in the case of geographic location they may even add a little extra info.

  62. Re:Why do people give a fuck about these sites? by Coolhand2120 · · Score: 1

    Personal "mini" NASs already exist and have for several years, IPv6 works across most modern networks already. I think I was being generous in saying in 3 years we should see fully functional IPv6 networks across the global. Really, they are working right now.

    Personal NASes

    IPv6 adoption rates

    Do you really think it will take 113 years to fully adopt IPv6? It only took 20 years to create the whole internet as we know it. It only took about 70 years to create computers, the internet and most all technological advances as we know them today.

    In your opinion, what technological limitation is going to put a 113 year delay on this idea?

  63. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by cellocgw · · Score: 1

    Yes, America truly is the land of the free. And Raymond Shaw is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life.

    Well done there. I'm off to pass the time by playing a little solitaire.

    --
    https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
  64. Re:Why do people give a fuck about these sites? by Thalagyrt · · Score: 1

    And how exactly do you propose he gets that subdomain from whoever owns last.*? Pretty sure that if you just randomly email whoever owns a domain and say "Hay dood I want subdomain!!!!!111!1one" it won't work, and you certainly can't just go to a registrar and register a subdomain of someone else's domain...

    --
    Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo!
  65. 419-eater PDF is NSFW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You should really mention that the 419 link gets NSFW towards the end.

  66. Me, Myself, and I by Skapare · · Score: 1

    People know me (love me or hate me) as "Skapare" (or any of the other dozen or so nicknames I use on other contexts). What good is it to put a profile on Google+ that is based on the name that was put on my birth certificate? Until Google lets people be who they want to be online, then Google+ is just as useless as Facebook.

    Actually, I don't have an issue with Google verifying that I am who I say ... to them ... that I am. But my internet persona is not that. Here on Slashdot, who cares what my real life name is. But what they might, and some sites like Google+ and Facebook probably do, care about, is that I cannot abuse the system by putting up a profile or make comments that is/are completely inappropriate. I could put "Skapare" up on one of those sites and do some nasty stuff and get banned. And then I can put up another site and still do nasty stuff again, abusing the system until that one gets caught. And Google already knows that people not only do this, but even have an inventory of ready-made, not yet abused, personas that they can turn as soon as they need to. Spammers are doing this big time, for example.

    It should not be a matter of whether my profile is fake or not. Impersonation can be an issue. But the focus should be on whether the person actually doing it, even though not named on the site(s) created, is abusing the system. If I were to run a social media site, I'd have a "three strikes" policy along with the policy of what is appropriate and inappropriate content. And once you ... the REAL you ... breaks the rules for the third time, you ... the REAL you ... get to create no new profiles for a year. After that, it's a "one strike and triple the time" policy. So the 4th violation nets a three year wait, and so on.

    To effectively enforce that, this is where actual real life identification is required. That identification would be used to enforce any attempt to create new profiles during the ban. But the point is, having this identification does not, and should not, mean the profiles have to represent that real life identity. The real life identity would be kept confidential and secret from the posted profile. Law enforcement in the jurisdiction(s) operating in would have certain legal access to that, such as a court order. And other restrictions would also have to apply whether I like it or not, such as copyright violation takedowns (and repeating this would earn a ban, too). But, again, the whole idea of a pseudonym profile is what it is all about.

    --
    now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
    1. Re:Me, Myself, and I by DQKennard · · Score: 1

      You've got it right: verify there's a real person behind the identity, and that it's not the same real person who's already been banned, but let the identity itself be what it is. And the service shouldn't just hand out or sell that "real life" link without some good user controls.

  67. Re:Why do people give a fuck about these sites? by Coolhand2120 · · Score: 1

    Than you use a prefix or suffix with your geographic location, area code, address, you name it. And I doubt that anyone has exhausted all of the TLDs.

  68. 401-eater link NSFW! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That is all.

  69. Name.net by DQKennard · · Score: 1
    Clearly, since name verification is basically impossible, everyone on the planet should be issued a unique ID in a centralized database, to which every other site can link for verification. Oh, sure, there will be some difficulties in the transition, from people obsessed with "freedom" and "privacy" and whatnot.

    Oh, hey! Maybe we could issue IPV6 address ranges to everyone. Names and pseudonyms could just be domain-equivalents that decode to your subnet addresses.

  70. Re:Americans are a free people: No Identity papers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    USA government took away their right to have, rape and kill their slaves. They will never forget.

  71. Re:Why do people give a fuck about these sites? by unrtst · · Score: 1

    I had an IPv6 connection 6 or 7 years ago (from HE.net). It's never really been a technological limitation that has slowed or prevented IPv6 adoption.

    IPv6 has been around for 13 years already.

    MS IE 6 has been around for 10 years. IE 7 came out 5 years later. IE 6 is still widely in use, but new browsers have shown far faster growth than IPv6.

    I know that's apples and oranges, but it's far easier to upgrade the browswer than to get IPv6 working meaningfully at home, and yet IE 6 (like IPv4) still holds onto a large portion of users.

    If people can't be bothered to upgrade it, why would I expect IPv6 to be fully adopted within the next 3 years?!?

    In your opinion, what social change will cause people, people that have had 13 years to move to IPv6, to adopt it in the next 3 years?

    Hell, the web 13 years ago favored individual sites WAY more than the web of today with all the facebooks, blogs, flikrs, cloud drives, and other centralized content publishing. The only companies that want users hosting content from home are domain sellers, and there's far less money in a domain name than hosting services. What percentage of users had their own website 13 years ago? What percentage has their own site now?

    Neither companies nor users are pushing towards decentralized services. The IP shortage actually helps companies maintain their control over data and services (and your wallet).

    Do I think it'll take 113 years? No, but changing 2014 to 2114 looked better than changing it to 2034 or 2044. I think you're dreaming if you think even half the current end users will have easy access to IPv6 in 3 years. It's a good dream, but nothing is trending that way (except IPv4 exhaustion - but as said, that helps the companies in control).

  72. Re:Why do people give a fuck about these sites? by unrtst · · Score: 1

    So you're saying one should just come up with some other name then? I have my own site, and multiple domains... that's not a problem. I'm just saying your assumption that first.middle.last.TLD will always be available is very flawed.

    FWIW, my last name is "Miller", which is not only very common, but is also the name of a famous beer company with plenty of money to buy up all the miller.TLD's, and there's no way they're giving away or selling subdomains.

    I'm fine with using a domain that's not my common name, but that's besides the point - your assumption is wrong. You can try it... go grab a list of last names (phonebook?) and first names, and start running combinations through whois or dig. There will be available ones, but there's A WHOLE LOT of them that are taken.

  73. Re:Why do people give a fuck about these sites? by Coolhand2120 · · Score: 1

    Then I guess you should register one or more of the following domain names before the famous beer company realizes its oversight, some semi-nude woman just now told me godaddy will apparently give them to you for $7.99/yr. Or get over the sub domain thing and put a minus in the domain name e.g.: unrtst-leroy-miller.com. The list of options is almost inexhaustible. Add that to the fact that most people are not going to do this.

    miller.net
    miller.org
    miller.info
    miller.me
    miller.mobi
    miller.biz
    miller.us
    miller.com.ag
    miller.net.ag
    miller.org.ag
    miller.com.bz
    miller.net.co
    miller.nom.co

  74. Re:Why do people give a fuck about these sites? by unrtst · · Score: 1

    Well, that's half right...
    The following domains that you listed are NOT available:
    miller.net
    miller.org
    miller.info
    miller.me
    miller.mobi
    miller.biz
    miller.us

    One thing you implied before remains true - we're not running out of domain names, and I agree with that. There are around 1.2+e89 possible names under the .com TLD. Single dictionary word .com domains are basically all taken, but there's plenty of room for easily remembered names still... and that's the point of these names - something people can remember better than an IP address. For that reason, I have no interest in miller.net.ag, cause few in my family/friends would remember that, but they can remember "deadbodystorage.com" (which was one of my favorites from back in the day).