Obama Eyeing Internet ID for Americans

[scribblet]

Hope this is the right place for this... what do you make of it, on first reading it sounds pretty ominous, would you trust the gov't with a national internet ID...

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-20027837-501465.html?tag=mncol;lst;1

STANFORD, Calif. - President Obama is planning to hand the U.S. Commerce Department authority over a forthcoming cyber security effort to create an Internet ID for Americans, a White House official said here today.

It's "the absolute perfect spot in the U.S. government" to centralize efforts toward creating an "identity ecosystem" for the Internet, White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt said.

That news, first reported by CNET, effectively pushes the department to the forefront of the issue, beating out other potential candidates including the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. The move also is likely to please privacy and civil liberties groups that have raised concerns in the past over the dual roles of police and intelligence agencies.

The announcement came at an event today at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, where U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Schmidt spoke.

The Obama administration is currently drafting what it's calling the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, which Locke said will be released by the president in the next few months. (An early version was publicly released last summer.)

"We are not talking about a national ID card," Locke said at the Stanford event. "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."

[GostHacked]

Essentially with the net 2.0 and IPV6, that ID will be built into the whole system. It looks like everything is going to be easier to track.

In terms of privacy (not like there is much privacy anymore) it will be horrendous. This net ID has been talked about for years now, seems like they have what they need to implement it now.

[jbg]

Sounds Orwellian to me. And I wouldn't want to hand my privacy keys to Osama Obama.

Edited January 8, 2011 by jbg

[Jack Weber]

So much for "'Net Neutrality"...

[bush_cheney2004]

If you insist on privacy and anonymity...use carrier pigeons instead.

[August1991]

If you insist on privacy and anonymity...use carrier pigeons instead.

I'm inclined to agree with BC. When we all used a landline, everyone knew where/who we were. I would be the first to agree that the Internet is too often an irritating wall of graffiti.

But then again, what about Samizdat or simple graffiti in opposition to an oppressive regime?

----

Maybe the issue is different. How do we ensure that we don't live under an oppressive regime?

[Bonam]

Easy to circumvent for those with a bit technical know-how while eliminating privacy for others.

As for how to insure you're not living under an oppressive regime... form your nation in such a way that the government is not allowed to have the tools necessary to oppress you. You can't trust a regime to be benign by virtue of its politicians when it has the tools to control you.

Edited January 9, 2011 by Bonam

[eyeball]

I'm inclined to agree with BC. When we all used a landline, everyone knew where/who we were. I would be the first to agree that the Internet is too often an irritating wall of graffiti.

But then again, what about Samizdat or simple graffiti in opposition to an oppressive regime?

----

Maybe the issue is different. How do we ensure that we don't live under an oppressive regime?

Total Transparency. Wire up the government like it was the Borg...before it wires us up.

This doesn't have to be as nasty a proposition as it sounds on the face of it. We could actually adopt a very sympathetic and grateful attitude for the oppression we inflict on our poor dear leaders. I mean someone has to take one now and then for the masses, kinda like Jesus.

We know damn well when the state finally decides to chip us all it will be positively gushing with concern for our safety and well-being.

Personally I think we're simply ungovernable in the long run no matter what we do but I can't rule out what reversing the oppression paradigm might result in. It's the only thing the human race hasn't tried.

Edited January 9, 2011 by eyeball