At 8:20 AM -0700 10/18/96, Hal Finney wrote:
Somehow too it is hard to see how to sell a system as a privacy enhancement when its first step is to take fingerprints of the whole country. "But we're not saving your names, honest!" I don't know if it would fly.
Tim May argues that alternative solutions which are more local will be better. In the case of the abuse situation, maybe you could just have ...
Indeed, I believe "identity is just another credential," not necessarily very important. I sometimes exaggerate this point a bit by saying, "Your key is your identity." Carl Ellison made a similar point, yesterday. (By "identity" I mean the popular notion of unique, biometric, True Name identity. Other forms of identity exist as well, such as usernames (bound to passwords), phone numbers, corporate names, etc.) Identity--the True Name sort--is sometimes useful, but is often given exaggerated importance. For example, I've met "Hal Finney," but, for all I know, he's as fictional a person as "Lucky Green" is. In fact, it was not until fairly recently that I even learned "Lucky Green" is not his True Name...I had assumed the "Lucky" part was a nickname, of course, but that the "Green" part was real. I had no reason to suspect otherwise, no need to demand proof of his True Name (such as things are here in the U.S.), etc. The "is-a-person" debate is one we should be careful to consider the real issues for. As Hal (or whomever he is) notes, starting with a comprehensive data base of True Names, fingerprints, etc., and binding them to is-a-person credentials is potentially very dangerous. (And from a libertarian/anarchist point of view, I don't want to pay for such a Big Brother infrastructure, nor do I think it gets at the real issues. If identity is just another credential, and the exchange of credentials is based on mutually agreed-upon arrangements, then mandating an identity credential is a Bad Thing.) --Tim May "The government announcement is disastrous," said Jim Bidzos,.."We warned IBM that the National Security Agency would try to twist their technology." [NYT, 1996-10-02] We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."