ID Cards and the Big Lies

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Date: July 7, 2005 4:57:03 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: lauren () vortex com
Subject: ID Cards and the Big Lies


Dave,

Another especially insidious aspect of modern ID card systems is
that they are nearly universally "sold" to the populace under false
pretenses.  All manner of pie-in-the sky, computerized, biometric
benefits are promised, while the problems and manners in which they
actually *weaken* security and make identity theft problems *worse*
are ignored, as are the vast potentials for commercial abuse,
discrimination, and so on.

Like the snake oil salesmen of yesteryear, the ID card pitchmen weave
tales of security glories with as much substance as fairy dust.
That their motives are often laudable is no excuse for their
fantasies in this regard.

But they do know how to take advantage of opportunities.  Will we
shortly see the tragic events in London today used as talking points
to try seal the deal for a vast British national ID "Ministry of
Information" infrastructure?  Does anyone care to bet against this
scenario?

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren () pfir org or lauren () vortex com or lauren () eepi org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
  - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, EEPI
  - Electronic Entertainment Policy Initiative - http://www.eepi.org
Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
DayThink: http://daythink.vortex.com

 - - -


> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: "Perry E. Metzger" <perry () piermont com>
> Date: July 7, 2005 9:52:28 AM EDT
> To: hadmut () danisch de
> Cc: cryptography () metzdowd com
> Subject: Re: [Forwarded] RealID: How to become an unperson.
...

> So, the next time one of your friends in Germany asks why the crazy
> Americans think ID cards and such are a bad thing, remember my father,
> and remember all the people like him who fled to the US over the last
> couple hundred years and who left children that still remember such
> things, whether from China or North Korea or Germany or Spain or
> Russia or Yugoslavia or Chile or lots of other places.


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