At 12:00 PM 1/7/96 -0800, Timothy C. May wrote:

Frankly, the notion that a central government would issue proofs of trustability, via identity cards and the like, is a modern invention.

(The message of Vinge's "True Names" was partly ironic, that one's True Name is important primarily in allowing tagging by the government. Ordinary people rarely need True Names.

I don't want official proof of my identity. If others want it, let them make their own arrangements.

In the early 1950's Robert Heinlein and his wife Virginia took a trip around the world ("Tramp Royale" recently published by Ace Books). He had to apply for a Passport and got a Certificate of Delayed Birth Registration from Missouri since his county had not kept birth records when he was born. "I breathed a sigh of relief; at last I was me. I had attended school [Annapolis BTW], been commissioned in the armed services, held two civil service jobs, married, voted run for office, drawn a pension and done all manner of things as a flesh-and-blood being through more than four decades, all without having had any legal existence whatsoever." Proof of identity is never needed. Proof of authorization is only needed by one's bankers. The rest is government garbage. Hopefully enough people will learn this and we can reduce the nonsense a bit. DCF "Where are your papers? Sorry buddy, I'm a fundamentalist. I don't go in for that Mark of the Beast stuff. Have you ever read Revelations? You aren't one of those tools of Satan are you?"