It’s voluntary, but if you refuse to get one, doesn’t that automatically mean you’re a potential terrorist like those who “Opt out” at airports? You trust your government and corporations, don’t you? Don’t you!!! They’re doing it for the children!
White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt announced to the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research on Friday that President Obama intended to turn over development of a national Internet ID to the Commerce Department.
[…]
According to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, as reported by CNET: “We are not talking about a national ID card. We are not talking about a government-controlled system. What we are talking about is enhancing online security and privacy, and reducing and perhaps even eliminating the need to memorize a dozen passwords, through creation and use of more trusted digital identities.”We are talking about a government-controlled system. That is exactly what we are talking about. In fact, the presentation of what few facts exist is vague enough as to be good for nothing but worry. Here are the few facts on the program that are available:
- 1. The government will enable the creation of verified identities
- 2. The government will create an “Identity Ecosystem”
- 3. Getting a verified identity will be elective
- 4. Verizon, Google, PayPal, Symantec and AT&T support the program
- 5. A user would be able to use one login to sign in to all of their sites
So, a user would have one, “verified” ID, which would be known by the government, and a set of large corporations.
This makes me long for the good’ole days of George W Bush.
I already have one. It’s my US Army identification card. It’s the Common Access Card (CAC) and it’s used to sign emails, log onto government systems/networks, digitally sign paperwork, access leave and earning statements, personnel files, etc. It’s an ID with a mag stripe, barcode, and smart chip.
Yet another attempt to spend our money, create more bureaucracy solving the problem that is not their to solve by law and using it to create more oppressive controlling infrastructure.
I hope every single Obama voter remembers this attempt in 2012.
It’s nobody’s business who I am. I am who I am to few important entities such as Social Security, Government employee I.D., Drivers License, et cetera. I am whom ever I want to be and nobody can be sure, starting with my birth certificate and ending with my death certificate. I am hard put to prove without a doubt that I am who I say I am. Only my birth mother and father can vouch for who I am and they are no longer with us. Can we prove that they were who they said they were? It’ all built on trust, and I don’t trust the government to know the truth.
To increase your privacy online, the gov’t wants to know who you are.
Huh?
the opposite of a commercial drivers license was voluntary at one time.
Alex Jones was busy screaming about loughner being a liberal and let this one fly by.
Thanks Dvorak blog.
I will sign up as soon as it becomes mandatory. The government never stops pushing so you know it is coming down the pike. Unstoppable as an avalanche. I predict that encryption and VPNs will become more popular.
As soon as it is mandatory, it will become expensive.
… and unavailable to critics of government.
I’m against it. My impression is that the gov knows who all of us cyber warriors are already or easily can when interest is drawn to a particular IP?
The most direct and economically motivated effect of this will be easier/more lawsuits for illegal downloads/copyright infringement.
Imagine protection of corporate money being the real issue behind this?
I was wondering how long they could go on looking at something like OpenID before they went and did something like this…
Am I really stupid, or will these become tradeable commodities – so the bad guys can get on the ‘net using a good guy’s identity.
What a complete crock of incompetence tossed up by our pre-selected officials.
Obama himself thought this up, right. This has been inevitable ever since the internet was opened up to commercial entities and the public in general. It’ll be interesting to see how long before it becomes mandatory and we have to get fake IDs to log on. And only “certified” / “registered” devices are allowed to connect, each with an Official IPv6 universally unique address assigned. Oh you’ll be allowed to have some illusory anonymity, sort of like the “free speech zones” of the 2004 election party conventions.
The Government would love tomorrow to saddle everyone with an ID to use the internet, complete and total control, know everything you do online etc.
But I do think they are aware of the amount of flack they would get by the public.
So the whole, Its implemented by silicon valley/private tech sector and it is voluntary is just to get he camels nose under the tent.
A soft pitch to get it going. After awhile the hard sell and big time mission creep will set in.
Guarantee you this wont be voluntary after long.
I suggest we all sign up for one, under the name John C Dvorak. He seems like a trustworthy guy.
Hey, idiots, it’s called LastPass. Oh, sorry, I keep imagining you’re actually trying to solve the problem you’re presenting.
Just another resource for the I.D. borrower. They will prob. need only access the card once and the use the borrowed info in an app.
I don’t need an ID. AT&T tells everybody my IP any time I go on line from home.
The sensitive personal details of 25 million Britons could have fallen into the hands of identity fraudsters after a government agency lost the entire child benefit database in the post.
A major police investigation is being conducted after Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, admitted yesterday that names, addresses, birth dates, national insurance numbers and bank account details of every child benefit claimant in the country had gone missing.
The confidential material is on two CDs that were placed in the post by a junior employee at the HM Revenue & Customs office in Tyne & Wear more than a month ago and have not been seen since.
The Chancellor and the Prime Minister have known about the loss since November 10 but there were concerns last night that the police were not told for a further five days and the banking industry was not alerted until last Friday.
http://timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2910705.ece
Good on ya Obama
Ye don’t care that yer buddies got screwed with this sort of thing
And now ye’ll screw us too wontcha
The £4.5bn national identity card scheme is to be scrapped within 100 days, the home secretary, Theresa May, announced today.
The 15,000 identity cards already issued are to be cancelled without any refund of the £30 fee to holders within a month of the legislation reaching the statute book.
Abolishing the cards and associated register will be the first piece of legislation introduced to parliament by the new government. May said the identity documents bill will invalidate all existing cards.
The role of the identity commissioner, created in an effort to prevent data blunders and leaks, will be abolished.
The government said the move will save £86m over four years and avoid £800m in costs over the next 10 years that would have been raised by increased charges. An allied decision to cancel the next generation of biometric fingerprint passports will save a further £134m over four years. Savings to the public under the whole package will total £1bn.
The publication of the identity documents bill today marks the end of an eight-year Whitehall struggle over compulsory identity cards since they were first floated by the then-home secretary David Blunkett in the aftermath of 9/11.
More than 5.4m combined passport and identity cards were due to be issued when the scheme was started in earnest next year. This was projected to rise to 10m ID cards/passports being issued ever year from 2016 onwards.
http://guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/may/27/theresa-may-scrapping-id-cards
The Brits are scrapping their junk after major failures and cost overruns already.
And Obama wants to give us his junk?
Government ID is JUNK
Obama you are an IDIOT
Any of you libs scraping the Obama stickers from your Priuses yet?
If not, what will it take?
> Any of you libs scraping the Obama stickers from
> your Priuses yet?
Sure – just let me know when he starts another illegal war.
Obama says: “. . . even eliminating the need to memorize a dozen passwords.”
Umm, this little “problem” has been solved already by lastpass
Steve Gibson (a security expert) has vetted this program in detail by interviewing the software architect, checking out the code, etc. He details everything about it in “Security Now!” Episode 256, recorded on July 9, 2010.
I would trust this program 100% more than I would any national Internet ID implemented by our government. Why should I trust them to keep my “Internet ID.” They REALLY must think the average American citizen is complete putty in their hands. They are playing the “big nanny” and I don’t like it one little bit. Just look at the ridiculousness our public schools stoop to in order to protect “the children.”
I sense a sickening pattern happening in Washington right now. Do we really want our government to be as equally inept as these boneheaded school-teachers and principles? How many senators do you think REALLY understand the technical aspects of cyber-security? This is bad for two reasons: 1) these folks in Washington are not technically-minded enough to appreciate the ramifications of this proposal, and 2) how can we trust them not to instigate some sort of tracking, or back-door into the system? Just consider AT&T’s Implementation of NSA Spying on American Citizens back in 2004 or 2005 for a good reason; or even the case in Florida where citizen’s DMV information was sold by that department.
Count me out please.
Obama is nothing but a shill.
Ron Paul for 2012.
2 words – F Off.
To the posters recommending LastPass, I add my name. Why anyone wouldn’t use it, or a similar password locker, I don’t know. There are several, including LastPass, that are free.
Anyway, UncDave, you’re a few days behind on this. We’ve already had a brief discussion of this plan. I laugh at the voluntary aspect. I’m betting within a few years, the registration will be done through the IRS. What better way to monitor what you buy from Amazon so it can be taxed? And other less benevolent reasons.
If it goes through, watch the USA try to do what the Australian gov’t has done: buy up all the internet fiber in the whole country. ISPs now buy their service from the gov. What better way for OZ to eventually implement their plan to censor the internet? Government, by it’s nature tries to become totalitarian.
Crap like this makes me wanna go listen to Alex Jones. Or Adam Curry. And then feel dirty…
Thought this was why the gubment issued me a passport.
Call me whacky, but doesn’t this whole internet thingie cross over borders?
Sign up hell, I’ll start making them.
Hell no.
The current sheeple ID system of drivers licenses seem to work ok but I see the need for some sort of internet fraud protection system. Glad it’s optional but I’d like to see benefits first so I’ll decline.
Furthermore, irresponsible cunts like Palin have demonstrated that influential people can target individuals for murder in this day and age. Why would anyone want to be exposed to the fringe loonies out there waiting for approval to commit atrocities?