3 ms·

Hot take: assign everyone the address that's the SHA256 of the first and last names. That's the only way that's fair, right?

freetime2 8y ago
To avoid collisions, use birthdate as salt.
- Freak_NL 8y ago
  Posted in jest of course, but the assumption that the combination of given name, family name, and birth date is unique has caused plenty of issues in the past, which is why most nations assign some kind of numeric identifier to each citizen.
  - toomanybeersies 8y ago
    Just ask the two Jessica Ishaks who live in Sydney how annoying it is [1] (on a side note, doesn't seem super clever to publish your name, area, and birthdate on the Daily Mail). There's also the two Lisa S Davis' in NYC [2]. And we can't forget the two Emily Hughes' in England [3]. [1] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4445950/Women-birthday-mixed-up.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4445950/Women-birthd... [2] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/03/identity-theft-racial-justice https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/03/identity-the... [3] https://www.independent.co.uk/student/news/student-university-loan-same-name-birthday-birthplace-emily-hughes-birmingham-west-midlands-a7858496.html https://www.independent.co.uk/student/news/student-universit...
  - hoschicz 8y ago
    Note that you shall never assume that the birth numbers or SSNs are unique: they are often NOT. I've heard that they are not unique in the US and a few stories from my Databases course professor about how you should always assign your own unique IDs to users. Birth numbers change.
    - kwhitefoot 8y ago
      > never assume that the birth numbers or SSNs That's a parochial view, US SSNs are not unique but Norwegian SSNs (fødselsnummer) are unique. In Norway it is composed of a six digit birthdate plus a five digit code (personnummer).
      - eesmith 8y ago
        They may be unique, but do they change? Google translates the Norwegian Wikipedia entry as saying "The last digit in the individual number indicates the gender of the person - different digits for men and equal numbers for women." Does this change for transgender people, or for those who undergo sex reassignment surgery? I wasn't able to find information about this for Norwegian. The equivalent entry for Sweden, at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_identity_number_(Sweden) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_identity_number_(Swed... , says : > In exceptional cases, the number may be changed later in life, typically because the date of birth or the registration of gender of the child were in error. If a person undergoes full gender reassignment surgery later in life, the serial number is changed to make the 'gender digit' (no. 9) conform with their new physical sex.

freetime2 8y ago

To avoid collisions, use birthdate as salt.

Freak_NL 8y ago
Posted in jest of course, but the assumption that the combination of given name, family name, and birth date is unique has caused plenty of issues in the past, which is why most nations assign some kind of numeric identifier to each citizen.
- toomanybeersies 8y ago
  Just ask the two Jessica Ishaks who live in Sydney how annoying it is [1] (on a side note, doesn't seem super clever to publish your name, area, and birthdate on the Daily Mail). There's also the two Lisa S Davis' in NYC [2]. And we can't forget the two Emily Hughes' in England [3]. [1] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4445950/Women-birthday-mixed-up.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4445950/Women-birthd... [2] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/03/identity-theft-racial-justice https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/03/identity-the... [3] https://www.independent.co.uk/student/news/student-university-loan-same-name-birthday-birthplace-emily-hughes-birmingham-west-midlands-a7858496.html https://www.independent.co.uk/student/news/student-universit...
- hoschicz 8y ago
  Note that you shall never assume that the birth numbers or SSNs are unique: they are often NOT. I've heard that they are not unique in the US and a few stories from my Databases course professor about how you should always assign your own unique IDs to users. Birth numbers change.
  - kwhitefoot 8y ago
    > never assume that the birth numbers or SSNs That's a parochial view, US SSNs are not unique but Norwegian SSNs (fødselsnummer) are unique. In Norway it is composed of a six digit birthdate plus a five digit code (personnummer).
    - eesmith 8y ago
      They may be unique, but do they change? Google translates the Norwegian Wikipedia entry as saying "The last digit in the individual number indicates the gender of the person - different digits for men and equal numbers for women." Does this change for transgender people, or for those who undergo sex reassignment surgery? I wasn't able to find information about this for Norwegian. The equivalent entry for Sweden, at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_identity_number_(Sweden) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_identity_number_(Swed... , says : > In exceptional cases, the number may be changed later in life, typically because the date of birth or the registration of gender of the child were in error. If a person undergoes full gender reassignment surgery later in life, the serial number is changed to make the 'gender digit' (no. 9) conform with their new physical sex.