An ID Number for Everything

jon323456 writes "Put this in your privacy pipe and smoke it. According to news.com, MIT researchers have cooked up a new barcode that has enough dataspace to include a unique serial number for everything. And in combination with RFID tags...."

96 bits???

[corebreech]

Damn man, MIT must be slipping. I could give you uniqueness using only 64-bits.

So could any coder who cut his teeth on machine language.

We need to stop teaching Perl/Python/Java as a first language. Make the uber-generation deal with opcodes and registers. Assembler will put hair on your chest boy!

The point is, bits aren't cheap. If we're going to set standards for their allocation, let's let somebody who knows what they're doing do it. Yes?

Barcode?

[l810c]

Why call this a barcode? It's an ID tag. Kinda like a DSL 'modem' I guess.

You read that right.

[ajuda]

It takes all those PhDs to figure out that a really, really big number can hold lots of information.

Wow this is pretty dumb.. slow news day?

[phunhippy]

So basically.. they're using a 96 digit bar code instead of a 12 or 14..

wow stop the presses.. thatis revolutionary..

oh wait I got an idea.. lets use 128.. or better yet 1024!!! we'll never need to make a new standard for thousands of years!

woooo!(ric-flair like woooo)

Great!

[cyclist1200]

Now I can start tagging my subatomic particle collection!

Even the tinfoil?

[dthable]

So, my tinfoil hat will now have a unique code as well. What's a paranoid /. geek to do?

Lets see

[chrispycreeme]

that's 2^96 = 79,228,162,514,264,337,593,543,950,336
hosts... minus 2 for the broadcast and the network address. Um...No thats not right.. damn cisco.

Hmmm...

[hak hak]

To start with, let's give each of those ID chips a number! Oh wait... now there are no numbers left for all my other stuff!

MOT

[Brahmastra]

Maybe, at this rate, MIT will rename themselves to MOT - Ministry of Truth

Isn't there only about 10^80 particles?

[Anonymous Coward]

Thus with 80 digit barcode you should able to label every particle in the universe :)

Same technology to *fix* CD's

[Malicious]

If you beleive that bar-codes are infringing on your privacy rights, there is a simple solution.
Take a felt tipped marker. Make one of the lines thicker.

Problem Solved!

Did I just violate DMCA?

Oh no

[l810c]

This barcode tatoo on the back of my neck is going to seem So Dated.

Get your requests in early!

[kcornia]

Everyone knows how much street cred you get with a low /. ID..

Number the RFID tags!

[iapetus]

And in combination with RFID tags....

Hmm. If everything can have a unique ID, and an RFID tag to go with it, then my cunning solution is to insist that each RFID tag has its own unique ID (and tag) as well. Privacy intrusion defeated by the power of recursion!

Re:Wow this is pretty dumb.. slow news day?

[cdrudge]

Why not just assign everything an IPv6 IP address under the notion that someday you will be able to plug it in. There's enough addresses in that space to go around...plus your sweater and can of chicken soup one day will be net-enabled anyways.

Re:Hey! What is my number?

[Pirogoeth]

OK... You are now number 675474 [slashdot.org]! Congratulations!

Knee Jerk

[tunabomber]

Put this in your privacy pipe and smoke it.

Maybe the things that I smoke in my privacy pipe is my own freakin' business- that never occurred to you now, did it?

The ghost of Bill Gates...

[Xaroth]

"79228162514264337593543950336 bar codes ought to be enough for anyone."
--MIT, 2003

Re:Hey! What is my number?

[cant_get_a_good_nick]

These people looked deep within my soul and assign me a number based on the order in which I joined.
-- Homer J. Simpson.

Can we pick serial numbers?

[MoeMoe]

Maybe it'll be like vanity phone numbers... I got dibs on 1337!!!

This could be called...

[weston]

Wow! This needs some kind of cool name, like... like...

MIT Everyware [slashdot.org], perhaps?

Re:96 bits???

[michiel.h]

The point is, bits aren't cheap. If we're going to set standards for their allocation, let's let somebody who knows what they're doing do it. Yes?

Yeah, those so called 'researchers' at MIT are nothing but frauds. We need people who know what they are doing. We need experience. We need expertise.
I say we ask Ballmer. He'll help us out.

Huh.

[Anonymous Coward]

Brilliant. I've still got cancer though.

Re:Great!

[alexre1]

In recent news, Stanford's physics department took a leaf out of the infamous "Pet Rock" success story, and made an absolute killing with their new product line "Pet Subatomic Particles" (marketed by Mattel). They come in two varieties: the cute and cuddly "Pet Lepton", for those little girls out there; and the big and fierce "Pet Quark". Each Pet Subatomic-Particle is stamped with it's very own, unique ID number! You can get your very own for only 5 easy payments of $99.99 US!

In related news, this move pissed the hell out of the MIT researchers who developed the so-called "Everything Barcode", which they claimed had enough dataspace to uniquely indentify everything. Said one reasercher, (off the record): "Man, did this come as a surprise. I mean, we made space for every single atom in the entire friggin' universe in this barcode system, but did we think about Quarks and Leptons! Argh! We'll have to go back to square one on this. Give us another two years, and we'll find a number so big, that ... well, you get the idea!"

Re:You read that right.

[twoslice]

It takes all those PhDs to figure out that a really, really big number can hold lots of information.

Actually, it is worse than that. It takes all those PhDs to figure out that you can count really high if you just keep counting...

I hearby claim first bar

[DrSkwid]

I hearby claim first bar

|

Privacy?

[Wvyern]

So where are they gonna put this barcode, oops, ID Tag on people? If it's on the ass no one will be able to scan mine through all the hair.

Re:Even the tinfoil?

[MrLint]

Im sorry sir you cant return that tin foil because it didn't block the mind control lasers, as this barcode clearly states your warranty has expired.

Re:Can we pick serial numbers?

[Anne_Nonymous]

Too late, you are already serial number 659154.

Re:Same technology to *fix* CD's

[Gudlyf]

Great, so instead of it looking like a bought that innocent bag of chips, I show up as having bought an anal dildo.

and the total number of IDs is

[Anonymous Coward]

6^66

Re:No more inventory counts

[GeckoX]

No, no, no, you'd label each _molecule_ within the paint can and query that silly ;)

Re:An ID on every car axle?

[Mortanius]

Well, the raw tag number is unique within any given state, but looked at nationally, each number could have up to 50 duplicates, ignoring the state of origin. Besides, what can you tell from a license plate itself? There's a much more serious issue in the automotive industry; the VIN.

The VIN is truly unique; no two cars have the same number. They are unique amongst a common manufacturer, and unique amongst all automotive manufacturers. Every car, truck, minivan, SUV, etc. has one of these numbers, often written in multiple places, and oftentimes PHYSICALLY STAMPED in the material of the car so as to prevent fraud (it's illegal to remove this privacy-infringing device!)

These numbers are not protected at all; they're prominently displayed on the dash of all vehicles equipped with them, so that anyone simply walking past your car can look in and record the number. From it, they'll know what manufacturer produced your car, the car's series, its body style, engine type, emissions, what model year it is, what factory it was produced in, and on top of that, A SIX-DIGIT UNIQUE IDENTIFIER!

This problem has existed for decades, and few people actually know the evils that lurk inside! This must be stopped! Stand up to your car manufacturers, tell them you WILL NOT BUY another vehicle from them until this travesty is corrected!

(Peace out, yo.)

Re:Same technology to *fix* CD's

[Blue Stone]

If you're visiting a chip shop that sells anal dildoes, I'd consider buying your chips elsewhere.

Re:No more inventory counts

[Whispers_in_the_dark]

You'll always have a need to do a physical audit.

Unless, of course, that your whole business is the warehousing and distribution of RFID tags. If that's the case, you're probably just about set.

Re:Huh.

[reiggin]

Guess that's one less person to worry about Barcoding.

Re:IPv6?

[Xenoproctologist]

Indeed. IPv6 will not be complete until people can run a traceroute on their underwear to make sure they remembered to put it on.

Re:Even the tinfoil?

[Anonymous Coward]

I, for one, welcome our new megacorporation overlords.

Re:You read that right.

[tiled_rainbows]

When my brother worked at a supermarket checkout, he'd just wave the item vaguely in front of the reader and then pass it on, whether the barcode was read or not. He was the most popular checkout guy ever.

MIT

[The Clockwork Troll]

Morally
Indifferent
Technologists

Uh-Oh

[not_a_george]

Bad situation:
mom and dad walk by little jimmy's room, pull out the scanner, and find jimmy has:
2 packs of cigs
5 porno videos, including the tommy lee video
a 50 pack of condoms
and a "3 foot long tobacco enhacement product (tm)"
dad says to mom "thats my boy!"

Obligatory joke

[Anonymous Coward]

Now every SCO lawsuit and every RIAA subpoena can have its unique idenitifier.

Their products can also have an unique ID. for SCO I suggest 2 and RIAA 3 ...

Did they actually say it?

[deeLo57]

MIT Researcher 1: so , should we make it 96 bits or 128? MIT Researcher 2: "96 bits should be enough for anybody."

Re:96 bits???

[Anonymous Coward]

"Assembler will put hair on your chest boy!"

Mnemonics are for wimps. Gimme back my toggle switches.