funsec mailing list archives

Re: [privacy] Social Security Card to be National ID?


From: "C Q" <kyle.c.quest () gmail com>
Date: Fri, 18 May 2007 21:38:18 -0400

This was simply an example showing counterfeiters will have a lot of
challenges
to overcome when it comes to digital identification. There are a lot of
things that
can be done and the best solution will be a blend of several technologies.

This was a simple example to counter your simple reasoning in the previous
email about counterfeiters. By now means I intended to talk about a perfect
solution... First of all it's not my job... I got enough to worry about.
Second, I don't have time to write a complete essay discussing the
subject...


On 5/18/07, Randy Abrams <abrams () eset com> wrote:


> Please go read up on asymmetric encryption, PKI, certificates, CAs, etc.
Then come
> back and tell me how you are going to counterfeit Microsoft website's
certificate...

I am reminded of a quote in, off all things, a book on robotics that went
something to the effect of "if you only see one solution you probably don't
understand the problem."

If I want to counterfeit Microsoft's website certificate then I have an
exceptionally difficult task, however if that is what I am trying to do then
I am probably going after something entirely different and there will be a
variety of approaches that will work.

Not the web site certificate, but when I worked at Microsoft there were
two Microsoft digital certificates issued by Verisign to people who did not
work for Microsoft... Hence the impetus to turn on certificate revocation in
IE.

As for freedom (and civil liberties) being an illusion, that's not exactly
true. There are some remnants left that are worth fighting for... They just
don't happen to be in Iraq.

Cheers,

Randy


________________________________

        From: C Q [mailto:kyle.c.quest () gmail com]
        Sent: Friday, May 18, 2007 6:12 PM
        To: Randy Abrams
        Cc: Fergie; privacy () whitestar linuxbox org
        Subject: Re: [privacy] Social Security Card to be National ID?


        At least here you tried to provide some reasoning behind your
statement... That's progress :-)

        Once again, I'd like to revisit the scenario with money. Please
tell me are most bills counterfeit?
        Yes, there's a problem with people counterfeiting money, but it's
not an epidemic. And it's actually
        easy to counterfeit our money... Their protection mechanisms are
pathetic :-)
        If we have really good id cards. It will be much harder to
counterfeit them. It's not about
        impossibility... it's about reducing the possibility. Besides...
even if the crooks will
        manage to counterfeit the cards to make them visually similar
there will still be a matter
        of having to deal with digital fingerprints, etc. That won't be
that easy to counter fit.
        Please go read up on asymmetric encryption, PKI, certificates,
CAs, etc. Then come
        back and tell me how you are going to counterfeit Microsoft
website's certificate...

        As for freedom... I got news for you. There's no such thing.
Especially in the US.
        It's an illusion... And it's been gone for many many years. I have
lived in other countries,
        so I can share my first hand experience that a lot of times you
have much more freedom
        elsewhere...

        And another thing about freedom... it's a relative concept. For
example, the drivers in Germany
        are fighting the Green Party that wants to impose a 120km (about
75 miles) speed limit.
        The German drivers are saying that it's their right... a free man
should be able to go as
        fast as he wants from point A to point B.

        Speaking of driving... where's this freedom thingie you are
referring to... when you are forced
        by law to wear a seatbelt as if the government owned your body and
soul...


        On 5/18/07, Randy Abrams <abrams () eset com > wrote:

                And yet it will not accomplish either. It will add a
product line to the black market. Criminals with funding will buy the
technology to beat the ID card, and will also sell excellent counterfeits on
the black market, making it harder to discover an illegal alien. For the law
abiding American it will only facilitate government tracking.

                It's simply a proposal that no American who values freedom
at all could accept as anything less than an assault on the rights and
freedoms of the innocent.

                Cheers,

                Randy


                ________________________________

                        From: C Q [mailto:kyle.c.quest () gmail com]
                        Sent: Friday, May 18, 2007 5:54 PM
                        To: Fergie
                        Cc: privacy () whitestar linuxbox org
                        Subject: Re: [privacy] Social Security Card to be
National ID?


                        You are right. I didn't word it correctly. I meant
to say that
                        I talked about those two issues. Yes, one of the
main benefits
                        behind introducing National ID is to have better
tools
                        in preventing what you mentioned (the whole pilot
license thing).
                        I agree that this should really be about that and
less about
                        controlling illegals. It's just that website with
the original article
                        tried to get immigration into the mix. I just had
to say something about that...



                        On 5/18/07, Fergie <fergdawg () netzero net> wrote:

                                -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
                                Hash: SHA1

                                - -- "C Q" <kyle.c.quest () gmail com> wrote:

                                >There are two issues here:
                                >1. National ID and its benefits
                                >2. Illegal aliens and their impact on the
lives of the people who live in
                                >the US.
                                >

                                Actually, no.

                                Number 2 should be "Prohibiting terrorists
from obtaining pilot's
                                licenses."

                                It is nothing less than disingenuous to
color this debate on a
                                National ID card as an illegal immigration
control issue.

                                After 11 September 2001, the _entire_
impetus for a National ID
                                card (née Real ID) was to put into a place
a mechanism to identify
                                people who weren't supposed to be here --
namely terrorists.

                                - - ferg

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                                --
                                "Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
                                Engineering Architecture for the Internet
                                fergdawg(at)netzero.net
                                ferg's tech blog:
http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/








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