Internet ID for all Americans?

[RightIsWrong]

I have what I think are simple questions:

1. If this is to protect us from having our online identities stolen, wouldn't it be easier and less costly to have an online training session that focuses on home computer security and how to ensure that you are less likely to fall prey to ID theft?

I mean, you'd have the original production cost and a monthly hosting cost....and that's it.

2. If this is something that the government has no desire to be involved in or does not see a need to be involved in the future, why are they pushing for it?

3. If this was such a great and needed product, why hasn't a private company already come to market with it?

 

[RightIsWrong]

So I have some more questions after reading the SF Gate's suck up/complicity piece for this piece of sh...eh....legislation.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/artic...businessinsider-obamas-internet-id-2011-1.DTL

* It's going to be led by the Commerce Department, not the NSA or Homeland Security, which were candidates. This is good, because national ID + internet + NSA sounds pretty big brother-ish to us.

Yeah, cause the NSA or DHS would never, ever infringe on another agency's ground.

* The goal is to not let you have to remember dozens of passwords for all the sites you use. How are they going to do that? Well, that's where it gets vague.

What percentage of people that are most susceptible to and think that this is a really good idea, use a different login/passwd combo for each site?

* This is not at all like a National ID card! It's going to be a unique ID for every American, but it's totally different from a National ID.

Oh, so you will get a unique ID so that you are able to be identified, unlike a SS#, DL # or other forms of govt issued ID now that reuse the same ID #s. I'm sure that it's nothing at all like a National ID.

* It's not going to compromise anonymity online. If you don't want to use it, you don't have to.

Yet!

* It's going to be led by the private sector, not the government. The big security/IT companies with the right Washington connections to get this gig don't reassure us any more than the government does.

Yep, just ask the fucktards at ATT and the other telecoms how much protection they will provide when the government comes asking for permission to datamine every one of their customers.

* The ID might take the form of a "smart card" or something else like that, that would have a code that you would enter to websites or that would authenticate you somehow, the UK's Daily Mail says. But no guarantees on that score.

Oh gee, a smart card?

Smart cards have the unique ability to store large amounts of biometric and other data, carry out their own on-card functions, and interact intelligently with a smart card reader. Secure ID systems that require the highest degree of security and privacy are increasingly implementing both smart card and biometric technology.

You mean a unique card that is specifically tied to an individual and can contain massive amounts of data? I guess they're right, it is nothing like a National ID card and could never, ever be abused by the government.

 

[bamacre]

Or your cell phone or your land line or your mail or your bedroom. Oh, the bedroom is off limits? Why? It's in the interest of the General Welfare to make sure you aren't passing on AIDS.

Tell me, did you applaud Bush for his actions? Oh I bet not, but if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear right? I'd wager if W had done this you'd be howling.

It seems neocons do have a left equivalent.

The neocons came from the left.

 

[waggy]

this will pass. then in a few years this will be mandatory if you want to do anything online (wich you will have to).

they coldn't get people to accept a national ID (i never had a problem with it myself). this is going to allow the RIAA even more power.

this really has nothing to do with what they are claiming. just another example of how the US went from "we the people" to "we the business"

 

[piasabird]

Well how do you know who is an American and what about all the people who are not USA Citizens, or do not have USA legal Residence?

This kind of super simple approach will probably not even work. Is he going to build a USA Firewall into the Internet?

I could log onto a email server in Mexico or Russia or anywhere.

Good Luck Baby!

You need an International ID.

 

[piasabird]

Most of the time you lose your ID from some illegal Phishing E-Mail or something like a free prize giveaway, or I just enhirited a larege sum of money.

I am an american businessman in China and I need your help to move my 267,530,000.00 back to the United States. . . .