New ID technique: warning of things to come

[Timothy C. May]

Bill Stewart, about that new ID system for passport control:

> This was mentioned in the press a while back; it's not intended for everyone,
> but frequent travellers, including US subjects and non-US-subjects,
> would be able to get them to speed going through the border police.
> Don't know implementation timeframe, and as Lyle said,
> they weren't real explicit about what they planned to do with the
> data they collect.  Paper passports and border police are already offensive;
> I've got no plans to get more people-control technology applied to me.

Yes, this whole trend is disturbing for reasons similar to why Clipper
is disturbing: the government is getting into the business of
endorsing and supporting certain systems.

I realize the governments of the world must actually _use_ products,
systems, etc., and that this perforce helps to "standardize" these
things, whatever they are.

But, as with Clipper, when the government endorses a security or ID
technology that involves having folks carry around special papers or
tokens, then the pressures can be applied, eventually, to make these
systems universal. With Clipper, the government is also using its
considerable powers to control technology export to make Clipper
competitors nonviable (not saying Clipper is viable, but the Clipper
competitors look to face a regulatory uphill battle).

So, I worry about any national ID system, even if done for
"efficiency."

But maybe it'll make the planes run on time.

--Tim May


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