Digital ID World Conference

Denver is playing host to the Digital ID World conference, which is intended to discuss and examine the future of "digital identity" - how you'll be identified, tracked, and monitored online. Several people from the weblog community are in attendance and have reports available: Denise Howell, David Weinberger, Doc Searls.

hate to reference 1984, but...

[dildatron]

I hate to reference 1984, but it seems like the whole identity tracking thing sparks a lot of fear in a lot of people. It's not so much that we are all doing bad things and just don't want to be tracked, it's that the potential for abuse is high.

And it's not just on computers, by any means. More and more I have noticed cameras on nearly every stop light, cameras in every parking lot, etc. I know what their intended purpose, but they can potentially be abused.

I think most of us are pro-privacy, and I will sacrifice a bit of safety for personal freedoms. I just know how bad people abuse good things all too well.

Interac?

[CodeTRap]

Your rights online. HAH! What about your rights offline?

What I want to know is this. How much of my spending habits, (what I eat, drink, sleep on, sleep in, sleep with, all that information) how much of it does a company like Interac have? Or Visa, or MasterCard. When you make your puchases using that little pinpad, or any other form of electronic payment.. How much of that information is stored, analyzed, saved, used?

You're all afraid of losing the ability to download free mp3's.. or surfing porn anonymously.. but. What about being able to buy groceries without big bro knowing what you eat? Or what movies you watch. Or where you were? How much of that electronic trail can be used to trace your movements? Who has the right to that information? What are they going to use it for?

Do you think that your day cannot be traced by the purchases you make? Where you work? Traced with camera's throughout the city... I wonder who's made a game of watching you, just for practice.....

Re:Interac?

[KavitaDrake]

It's not hard to envision the next step of purchase monitoring--you routinely buy too much junk food (the lifestuff of computer geeks) at the grocery store, and your health insurance rates go up because of your risk for obesity. Does anyone really think those little supermarket 'savings' cards are for your benefit?

From an statistical perspective

[rhodesbe]

The way I see it: Assuming all bank accounts, ID's and records are referenced against a chip in the skin or ID no.: No system ever achieves 100% accuracy. In many industries, an acceptable accuracy is defined as anything within 6 sigmas of deviation. This translates into roughly 2 "mistakes" per million parts, or cycles, whatever. That being said, there are approx. 6 billion people in the world. If whoever administrates such a DB (a scary thought in itself) accepts "6 sigma" quality, then this means up to 12,000 people get screwed at any one time, because every transaction is subject to variation. The jist of what I am saying is that I don't want my child denied medical access because of normal, UNAVOIDABLE variation. In short, "Keep It Simple, Stupid". Sometimes analog is better.

Re:warning: biting

[nanojath]

theist: one who believes in the existence of a god or gods

atheists are incapable of recognizing ethical conduct and moral opinion since their "moral" code is little more than threat-avoidance/reward-driven behaviour (as their understanding of human conduct recognizes only evolutionary forces i.e. survival- and reproduction- inspired behavior).

Although I fall into the very, very, very broad category of "theist" I don't actuall believe the statement immediately above. But you will find plenty of "theists" who will, in fact, assert that anyone who does not believe in a God or gods can only be a moral relativist. Why do they assert this? Because they are are judgemental dumbasses. And so are you.

Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?

[B.D.Mills]

The Romans had a good saying here - Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

I cannot trust someone I cannot see or don't know guarding my personal information. Chances are they will sell it to all willing to pay, including those whom I would prefer not to have it. Many ISP's already do this, and they will keep on doing it.

So who's keeping an eye on these silent watchers? Nobody. And this is wrong.