At 09:54 AM 11/5/95 -0800, you wrote:
My point, originally, to Rich Graves' mention of Chris Hibbert's excellent FAQ on Social Security Numbers and person numbers, is that it is no longer relevant to fight against a "single index number." Modern data base methods are so well-suited to cross-indexing that it hardly matters whether there's a single point of entry to the data base or not.
However, modern life is also well-adapted to the counter strategy of fuzzying up any focus on your "cluster of transactions." Thus it is trivial to use multiple names and addresses for multiple transactions. Particularly if you "go bare" in the insurance arena, many tracking opportunities are denied your opponents. This will also save you big bucks in premiums foregone. You also have to watch the stuff most people don't think about like magazine subscriptions which can easily be had in any name (and should be). The current possibility of getting multiple secured credit cards in multiple names will become even more fun as the temporary Visa and Mastercards (travelers's checks on a card) are issued. Plenty of entrepreneurs will be buying and selling those. Just like the phone card market today.
THE KEY POINT IS THIS: Are voluntary economic transactions between persons to be subject to approval and regulation by the State?
They will no doubt try but closed systems have a hard time competing with open systems. A good way to track the future control possibilities is to track how easy it is to get an internet account. If it remains as easy to get an internet account in the future as it does today, then it will be very hard to indulge in central transaction controls. I am predicting that there will be a convergence between the ease of communicating over the nets (institutional ease not interface ease) and the ease of completing transactions. I think the convergence will be one sided in the direction of easier and easier transactions. Again, I'm not talking about technical ease here but the structural or institutional ease of completing transactions. "Frictionless Capitalism" is frictionless across the board. The belief that it is possible to "press down upon the brow of labor this Crown of Thorns, to crucify mankind upon a Cross of Red Tape" (to mangle a phrase) is worthy of ridicule. I happened to catch "Funeral in Berlin" today. The Commies didn't manage it with a lot more going for them than Slick Willie has. They got their clocks cleaned by MarketEarth. The Securities and Exchange Commission doesn't stand a chance.
If babysitting and lawnmowing, not to mention hiring someone to write some C code, requires submitting tax and Social Security forms, requires checking the J-1 vs. Permanent Resident vs. Approved Citizen Unit status, then the die is cast.
I thought the guy was in Zamboanga (where the monkeys have no tails). At least that's what he told me in his email. The gardener was an independent contractor. The babysitter worked for a temp agency (at least that's what she said). I know I paid a company. At least the digicash went to something with a company name.
Well, the State is becoming more efficient in tracking such things, and tax penalties are increasing.
Not sure if that's true. Are there fewer illegal aliens, fewer people driving without licenses, fewer people practicing medicine without a license, etc than in 1960, 1970, 1980? I seriously doubt it.
In closing, we must beware "the policeman inside," to use the William Burroughs term. A surveillance state that arises because modern computers and data bases allow all economic transactions to be monitored, taxed, and approved or disapproved is a horror we should fight with all of our resources. Whether right-, left-, or libertarian-leaning, the implications of this state power to control our lives are horrible.
No argument there. DCF "Freedom isn't Freeh freedom isn't Freeh you've got to pay the price you've got to sacrifice for your liberty" -- Here's hoping you're all morally rearmed.