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Interpol Wants a Global Identity Card System 349

Orome1 writes "The head of INTERPOL has emphasized the need for a globally verifiable electronic identity card (e-ID) system for migrant workers at an international forum on citizen ID projects, e-passports, and border control management. INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said: "At a time when global migration is reaching record levels, there is a need for governments to put in place systems at the national level that would permit the identity of migrants and their documents to be verified internationally via INTERPOL." Issuing migrant workers e-ID cards in a globally verifiable format will also reduce corruption and enable cardholders to be eligible for electronic remittance schemes that will foster greater economic development and prosperity in INTERPOL member countries."
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Interpol Wants a Global Identity Card System

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  • by Anonymous Coward

    of commie Nazi fascists!

    • FTFA:

      "The ID WORLD forum heard that such a card required developing a mechanism whereby the biometric identity features of migrants, such as fingerprints and DNA, would be checked systematically against global databases."

      A global DNA database?

      At least they wont be able to lose that data on a couple of CDs...

      http://www.alertboot.com/blog/blogs/endpoint_security/archive/2010/05/13/disk-encryption-us-army-reserve-has-laptop-stolen-cd-causes-data-breach.aspx [alertboot.com]
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_of_United_Kingdom_ch [wikipedia.org]

      • From "show me your papers" to "put this swab in your cheek, low-life" in a single step. How droll.

      • by nschubach ( 922175 ) on Wednesday April 06, 2011 @12:07PM (#35735022) Journal

        Control is the only reason I can see for something like this.

        Why can't we live our lives in a matter of micro-transactions without everyone knowing what you are doing? I mean, do I really need a global ID to buy a loaf of bread or visit the someone (say, a doctor) and pay them in cash?

        The only benefit to IDs are to people getting services from governmental bodies. (ie: so people don't cross the border and obtain medical care on the local citizen's bill.) The more I hear about global/national IDs, the more I hate socialized services because that's the only "valid" reason to have them. If people lived their own lives to the extent that they, as an individual, can afford there would be no need for IDs to make sure you are getting your fair ration.

        • "You really can't afford that chemotherapy... Too bad, you die!!"
          • Yeah, and? Sure, it may suck... but if you can't afford something what makes the next guy responsible for you or your mistakes? (Not saying cancer is a mistake... but what if you go jumping off a roof? Do they have to pay for your stupidity?)

            I also get tired of the "Oh the humanity!" arguments like the one you just presented. One day you have to realize that people die. You have to be prepared for it. There are simply not enough resources in this world to allow people to be careless with their own hea

            • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

              Yeah, and? Sure, it may suck... but if you can't afford something what makes the next guy responsible for you or your mistakes? (Not saying cancer is a mistake... but what if you go jumping off a roof? Do they have to pay for your stupidity?)/blockquote?

              Because we're human beings and not vile repugnant inhuman anti-social Libertarian monsters.

              • by t2t10 ( 1909766 )

                Because we're human beings and not vile repugnant inhuman anti-social Libertarian monsters.

                I don't endorse the libertarian position, but frankly, people like you often just turn out to be a different kind of monster--the theocratic kind, the socialist kind, the totalitarian kind, etc. You're all out to help me live better, but historically, your track record is lousy.

                What seems to work fairly well is a democracy with a loosely regulated free market and a limited set of public services. The government shou

              • by ArcherB ( 796902 )

                Yeah, and? Sure, it may suck... but if you can't afford something what makes the next guy responsible for you or your mistakes? (Not saying cancer is a mistake... but what if you go jumping off a roof? Do they have to pay for your stupidity?)/blockquote?

                Because we're human beings and not vile repugnant inhuman anti-social Libertarian monsters.

                Then I suppose you are donating at least 45% of your after tax income to pay for the treatment of others, correct?

              • In history, who has proven to be the biggest monsters? Marx and Engels (the fathers of both socialism and communism) or George Washington and Thomas Jefferson?
                • by Imrik ( 148191 )

                  Since Marx and Engels didn't really have anything to do with the later corruption of their works, I'd have to say the two that lead a revolution against their government would be the bigger monsters. That said, I wouldn't really classify any of them as being particularly monsterous. A better comparison would be to Lenin and Stalin, the fathers of what most people think of when you talk about communism.

        • Why can't we live our lives in a matter of micro-transactions without everyone knowing what you are doing? I mean, do I really need a global ID to buy a loaf of bread or visit the someone (say, a doctor) and pay them in cash?

          Do you typically cross a national border to buy a loaf of bread or visit your doctor? Why would you think you needed a global id used for border control and migrants if you don't cross a border, and how do you deal with the requirement for id and recordkeeping that already exist if you do?

          Why would you think that an ID you use to cross the border to buy your loaf of bread would stop you from paying for it in cash, or for a doctor the same way?

          If people lived their own lives to the extent that they, as an individual, can afford there would be no need for IDs to make sure you are getting your fair ration.

          So live your life to the extent that you can without crossing

        • by TaoPhoenix ( 980487 ) <TaoPhoenix@yahoo.com> on Wednesday April 06, 2011 @01:31PM (#35736136) Journal

          "Please log into the internet with your global ID. No sites will load without it. "

    • Nihilo Ordo Seclorum

    • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

      by Catbeller ( 118204 )

      One world corporation. Interpol is a private company.

      • It is not a private company. Interpol is an international organization that fosters coordination and mutual assistance between law enforcement organizations. Its TLD is .int, and that is only provided to international organizations after a strict vetting process proving that it was formed by way of international treaty.

        • by unixfan ( 571579 )

          Haha, not quite so. As the end of the war (WWII) there was the growing concern amongst various war criminals in Germany that they might end up in big trouble. The idea was formed to start an organization that would be looking for criminals, but manned by them, which would hold them above suspicion (plus they had new identities). At least that was the idea. That organization was named Interpol. It certainly was a private organization without any powers which is often given all sorts of powers in movies, but

  • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 06, 2011 @12:00PM (#35734886)

    And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.

    • by Catbeller ( 118204 ) on Wednesday April 06, 2011 @12:10PM (#35735076) Homepage

      Revelations was a political tract railing against Emperor Nero. It was a capital crime to dis the emperor, so they wrote in code - seven hills, three heads, yadda yadda. The "Beast" was Nero. The "Whore of Babylon" was Rome. It was a political/religious pamphlet.

      Any sufficiently nebulous set of metaphors can "predict" anything, if you want it to. What would impress me? St. John of Patmos saying, "In 2011, Interpol sets up an international ID card system." If you can see the future, there is no reason to obfuscate.

      • Read Foundation sometime.
      • by ackthpt ( 218170 )

        Revelations was a political tract railing against Emperor Nero. It was a capital crime to dis the emperor, so they wrote in code - seven hills, three heads, yadda yadda. The "Beast" was Nero. The "Whore of Babylon" was Rome. It was a political/religious pamphlet.

        Any sufficiently nebulous set of metaphors can "predict" anything, if you want it to. What would impress me? St. John of Patmos saying, "In 2011, Interpol sets up an international ID card system." If you can see the future, there is no reason to obfuscate.

        Nostradamus predicted your post...

      • As much as I hate to defend religious nutjobs, asking St John of Patmos to make clear predictions isn't really fair. Imagine someone from the first or second century really was magically transported to the present (or rather, the future if this international ID thing were to go through). Saying, "There will be this thing-y that you have to have, because if you don't have it you won't be able to work or sell things" seems like a pretty reasonable description for someone from that time period to come up wit

        • ... a pretty reasonable description for someone from that time period to come up with for a system that requires migrant workers to register for an ID before they're allowed to work.

          You mean like a social security number?

          This article is about registering for an ID before they are allowed to cross the border, whether or not they are going to work. Sorta like the PASSPORTS we already require people to have, but with the ability to tie into an international criminal database instead of just the national one.

        • I don't think that it is fair for us to expect John to have made clear, specific predictions. It is fair, however, to expect a clear prediction before we consider it to be at all convincing. The predictions contained in the Bible (and in the works of Nostradamus, Mother Shipton, the Koran, etc) all are so nebulous as to be applicable to virtually any time in history, rendering them utterly useless. Is there any way that John of Patmos could have understood what he was seeing were he transported to the futur
          • The predictions contained in the Bible (and in the works of Nostradamus, Mother Shipton, the Koran, etc) all are so nebulous as to be applicable to virtually any time in history, rendering them utterly useless.

            Not utterly. They are a statement that bad things can come to pass unless we are watchful, and this is what to watch for. I'm not particulary worried whether the prediction applies to a plan from the Barons and Earls in 16th century England to require the peasants to have the Baron's number tatooed on their forehead if they want to buy grain, or a global electronic payment system replacing all cash in the 21st.

            Just another data point in the debate of who/what the beast is: Seventh Day Adventists will tell

      • Problem, the glimpse of the future would have to be expressed in a manner that can be understood by the locals from your home time.

        So explain something like, "At some point in the future, all will have to carry a numbered marker in order to buy or sell things, and this marker will either need to be in hand, or you will need to remember it's number. This device will come from a blasphemous, heretical government and will bear their name and the number they assign" in terms that someone from early AD Roman Em

    • The problem with broadcasting how the bad guy will behave before the bad guy does it is that when the bad guy gets around to doing it, he just does something slightly different from what you previously said and suddenly it's not the same thing and all is well.

      I think Peter should probably have taken Time Travel 101 before writing Revelations and been a bit more vague.
  • by khallow ( 566160 ) on Wednesday April 06, 2011 @12:01PM (#35734904)
    This sounds like a bad case of mission creep to me. INTERPOL doesn't need global ID capabilities for its job. So why should we put them in charge?
    • INTERPOL doesn't need global ID capabilities for its job.

      Surely global ID would help them locate Assange more rapidly... snicker snort

  • by mlwmohawk ( 801821 ) on Wednesday April 06, 2011 @12:01PM (#35734920)

    Sure, theft and murder are bad, but a mass global ID means that anonymous existence will become impossible. Just think what access to such a system will mean to governments that run by dictators. Even the oh so sweet and trustworthy "democracies" will abuse this. Sometimes, it is important for the good of mankind to disappear into a crowd.

    • by Catbeller ( 118204 ) on Wednesday April 06, 2011 @12:06PM (#35735010) Homepage

      The usual majority laugh at privacy and point at illegal immigrants and drug traffickers. "You have nothing to worry about unless you're doing something wrong", they giggle. They watch as the world police state clicks on. We're all safe behind the police walls, they agree.

      Then the masks drop and our real bosses appear, and they ain't governments. And there is no where to hide. Forever.

      • In a way, it's true today. If you do nothing wrong you won't have a police record. It's been working out fine... Pushing it to mandatory IDs though is a very... very bad idea.

        • by tukang ( 1209392 )

          If you do nothing wrong you won't have a police record.

          Police records are created the moment a person is charged with a crime. There are plenty of people who were found not guilty but still have police records.

        • by lgw ( 121541 )

          If you do nothing wrong you won't have a police record. It's been working out fine

          If the government is honest and acting in your intrest, this is true. We try to protect certain rights so that the government can't screw us too badly when they're dishonest and out to get you.

          Madison said it best:

          If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.

          I'm stunned by the number of /.ers who both complain that the US government has been corrupted by corporations, and avocate systems where we trust the government implicitly, often in the same post!

          • I'm stunned by the number of /.ers who both complain that the US government has been corrupted by corporations, and avocate systems where we trust the government implicitly, often in the same post!

            You'd think that a bunch of self-proclaimed science and tech geeks would at least be self-consistent in their beliefs, but you're right.

            It's odd how the government is "a police state" that's overrun with corporate greed and cronyism, hell-bent on subjugating the unfortunate citizens of the third world in a relentl

        • Is peaceful protest "wrong"?

    • ...it's the database behind the card. Being able to prove who you are is actually a very comfortable luxury. But what data will be held apart from your name and date of birth? And who will control that rules are obeyed and data gets deleted on time?
      • Why do you need to prove who you are? Honestly. What services do you benefit from that require a global ID card?

        • Why do you need to prove who you are? Honestly. What services do you benefit from that require a global ID card?

          You know, if there were only some form of identification that would allow migrants and others to travel across national borders while allowing those nations the ability to identify criminals who want to enter their country ...

          Wait a minute. It is called a "passport". We already have a reasonably global system in place. It appears that Interpol is looking for a system that is common enough between states that they can also check interpol records for criminal histories, as well as the individual country.

          D

          • I think the issue is that while in places like the US, and the EU, the reliability of the documents as proof of identity is pretty good, there are other parts of the world where it's basically just proof that they paid their fee or bribed an official. Some places for a nominal bribe they'll put whatever name you like on the documents.

            That being said, I'm not sure this is the correct solution. And I'm positive that this solution scares me.

            • by mangu ( 126918 )

              there are other parts of the world where it's basically just proof that they paid their fee or bribed an official. Some places for a nominal bribe they'll put whatever name you like on the documents.

              And the Interpol would solve this problem exactly how?

              No self-respecting sovereign country would allow the Interpol to send agents to verify that the data is correct, they would still depend on people being correctly identified by their nation of residence or citizenship. Not to mention the cost of installing Interpol offices everywhere in the world.

              Besides, even in the USA or EU it's not so difficult to assume a fake identity once you realize everything starts with a birth certificate, and birth certificat

          • Did we miss the part about "migrants" and "border control"? If you don't want to be in someone's database, you probably don't want to travel to another country where they control their borders anyway because they'll be keeping a record of you entering, and that border is where you'd need this card.

            But, as you said, these issues are already provided for with a passport. So why do we need a global repository to manage this? And why does <Country 1> need to know that I travelled to <Country 2> three years ago? Especially if my homeland is <Country 3>? Because that's the big difference I see in this.

        • Renting a summer cottage in spain without the owner being afraid I am going to run from the bill. Open a bank account when I become expat for a few years. Selling my car to someone who lives just on the other side of the border. Applying for an education abroad. I didn't say NECESSARY, I said COMFORTABLE.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • There is already a register of everyone with citizenship in Norway. It works quite well as far as I know and is used for verifying identity and not much more.

      How is this going to screw me over exactly? Are there not already a myriad of registries you have to appear in to get anything done in the real world?

      I personally prefer having a national registry like this compared to having to present a birth certificate if I want to prove my identity...

  • Dear Interpol, (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 06, 2011 @12:01PM (#35734930)

    On behalf of humanity; "fuck off"!

  • I want a Porche and Interpol to go fuck themselves. Unfortunately, Interpol will probably get their way first.
  • everyone should be forced to surrender one kidney. The government will keep it preserved to permit detailed DNA identification, and will of course swap it for your other kidney if it turns out you need it at any point in your life. It's not just a cure for terrorism, it's a vital safety net for people who are feckless with their kidneys.
  • by Even on Slashdot FOE ( 1870208 ) on Wednesday April 06, 2011 @12:03PM (#35734976)

    But all of the pastor's I've listened to told me the Beast was going to come from the USA!

  • This reads like Interpol want more funding. Global ID cards will not effect illegal immigrants - they'll still be brought over to wherever in container ships etc.

    If anything it will create a market for illegal ID cards in countries with less scruples - INCREASING the level of corruption.

    What's wrong with the passport system we have already?

    • That market already exists, I think that this will likely make little to no difference one way or the other. You'd still have to trust the documents that are issued by the officials in whatever part of the world the individual comes from. And I assume you remember how those bigots reacted to the documents provided to substantiate President Obama's citizenship.

  • Isn't this what the current passport system already provides? Passports already have unique numbers, and there are existing standards about reading the mag printed strip and RFID tags in there now.

    -molo

  • On behalf of all the forgers, ID-theives and other people who have to hold a damn lot of different forms of ID creation and their various security schemes at hand to satisfy all their customers:

    PLEASE! MORE POWER TO YOU!

    And while you're at it, at least condense it all into one big database, too. Hacking hundreds of national ones is really cutting into profits.

  • how about something more permanent like a tattoo?

    ...what?
    • by Lumpy ( 12016 )

      tattoos are for wimpy girls....

      Branding or cutting it into your flesh with automated knives is more permanent.

  • I want a pony...

    Is interpol going to PAY for this?

  • Why I am always even more sceptical of any claims that "greater access to information and control is needed" (to paraphrase) when they then state it should be themselves doing it?

    I keep finding myself wondering "needed by whom?", and why wasn't a relatively independent observer saying the same thing?

    Wait, "enable cardholders to be eligible for electronic remittance schemes"... Soooo, Interpol wants unhindered access to all your international bank transfers? Oh I see.

    Anyway, I imagine most of the participati

  • I vote for Epsilon to handle this one.
  • The only criminal activity I see running rampant is in the major banks and governments in the "Western Democracies". Perhaps INTERPOL can start by ID-ing politicians and bankers and track their flow of money and transactions first. Think of it as a high value pilot project.
  • If they want this to take off, they would approach facebook and gmail and offer them some sort of deal for making this happen using their social network as a base to catapult this thing forward.....

  • So what. I do research with disease transmission among stigmatized populations and I've been saying for years that my job would be a hell of a lot easier if we just put a barcode tattoo on everyone at birth. I can even justify it by describing the advances in public health we'd be sure to get out of it. Does that make doing so ethical or desirable? Hell no, not even close. The problem with people like these is that they get caught up enough in the specific needs of their little world, and the specific

  • by Jane Q. Public ( 1010737 ) on Wednesday April 06, 2011 @01:38PM (#35736230)
    Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

    Even the United States, with its big-government push toward national IDs, has failed completely in that effort. The States won't comply, nor do they have any reason to. Interpol will never get anything like it in my lifetime. And for good reasons.

    Electronic IDs are an illusion of security at the cost of real security. People put faith in them but they are hackable. The end result is that they go unquestioned, so those with hacked IDs can get away with murder, so to speak.

    Every time somebody has said they have come out with an "un-hackable" ID system, somebody else has hacked it within a very short period of time. I do not see that changing any time soon.

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