4 ms·

Didn't even make it through the fist paragraph before I hit this gem A small group of entrepreneurs within the government... IMO says a lot about the biases o

Didn't even make it through the fist paragraph before I hit this gem A small group of entrepreneurs within the government... IMO says a lot about the biases of the reporter and probably the site as well. Franklin may be frequently misquoted (as pointed out by another commenter here), but the liberty/security trade-off is real. Personally I tend to err on the side of liberty idealism. It's clear there are plenty of interests pulling for the other side.

smokeyj 14y ago
So many gems in this one. > One area in desperate need of disruption is the delivery of government services. Seeing disruptive describe a bureaucratic process is tickling. > Over time, systematic corruption and mismanagement have bred bad data, false information and outright fraud ... Poor laborers and migrant workers, in particular, are forced to travel far from their homes to collect their wages and benefits, having to dole out bribes to predatory middlemen along the way. So now we're empowering a corrupt monopoly with biometric intelligence on every citizen in the country. What could possibly go wrong..
- ftuiz 14y ago
  take a look at this one,i can already see where they are going.they will en-roll everyone or force everyone to en-roll so that big corporates can spy on us/profile us .. man this is sad http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/view/3600-bengaluru-uid-aadhaar-operators-violating-privacy http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/view/3600-bengal... (note :i live in India)
  - smokeyj 14y ago
    I think most of the industrialized world will go through this inevitably, but it's important to remember that liberty is a long term strategy that requires education and diligence. In a way, India is about to prove why biometric data on every citizen is a bad idea. We need to see how such data can be abused to fully understand how dangerous such data is in the wrong hands. Sure tptacek might come on down and tell us how such regulation should be thanked, but we're about to witness a controlled experiment that proves the contrary. My money is on a more controlled extortion apparatus ;)
- neurotech1 14y ago
  This gets dangerously close to Minority Report [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minority_Report_(film) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minority_Report_(film) ] type scenario where political dissidents or a minority group, can be denied all services by a corrupt official. Fingerprint scanners can be defeated by a determined person. Retinal scanners will probably be defeated in the next 5-10 years. The government will claim "The retinal scanner authentication database is never wrong" until they are proven wrong.
  - ktizo 14y ago
    Retinal scanners will probably be defeated in the next 5-10 years. I thought about this and wondered if you could make a hologram of the inverse of your retina, combined with the retina you want to have, on a contact lens.
    - neurotech1 14y ago
      That is what I was thinking. A contact lens with the right reflective hologram to look like a retina. Most retina scanners don't have insanely high resolution (usually less than 1 Megapixel)
  - refurb 14y ago
    I'm not going to be an alarmist and say "ID cards lead to totalitarian states". However, it's interesting how a number of totalitarian states have used information about their citizens to control them. After the North Vietnamese took over South Vietnam, everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) had to fill out forms that described the various roles they and their families had over their lifetime. Kids would fill out these forms at schools. Did your father work for the Americans? Well great, he can no longer get a job and his kids can no longer go to college (yes, I'm simplifying what actually happened). You didn't have to torture, throw in prison or exile the majority of your political opponents, you simply denied the means the carry out everyday tasks (sending kids to school, finding a job, getting enough food to eat, etc). It's really ingenious if you think about it. Someone who fights everyday to get the basic necessities of life usually doesn't have much time to oppose you politically.

smokeyj 14y ago

So many gems in this one. > One area in desperate need of disruption is the delivery of government services. Seeing disruptive describe a bureaucratic process is tickling. > Over time, systematic corruption and mismanagement have bred bad data, false information and outright fraud ... Poor laborers and migrant workers, in particular, are forced to travel far from their homes to collect their wages and benefits, having to dole out bribes to predatory middlemen along the way. So now we're empowering a corrupt monopoly with biometric intelligence on every citizen in the country. What could possibly go wrong..

ftuiz 14y ago
take a look at this one,i can already see where they are going.they will en-roll everyone or force everyone to en-roll so that big corporates can spy on us/profile us .. man this is sad http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/view/3600-bengaluru-uid-aadhaar-operators-violating-privacy http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/view/3600-bengal... (note :i live in India)
- smokeyj 14y ago
  I think most of the industrialized world will go through this inevitably, but it's important to remember that liberty is a long term strategy that requires education and diligence. In a way, India is about to prove why biometric data on every citizen is a bad idea. We need to see how such data can be abused to fully understand how dangerous such data is in the wrong hands. Sure tptacek might come on down and tell us how such regulation should be thanked, but we're about to witness a controlled experiment that proves the contrary. My money is on a more controlled extortion apparatus ;)
neurotech1 14y ago
This gets dangerously close to Minority Report [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minority_Report_(film) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minority_Report_(film) ] type scenario where political dissidents or a minority group, can be denied all services by a corrupt official. Fingerprint scanners can be defeated by a determined person. Retinal scanners will probably be defeated in the next 5-10 years. The government will claim "The retinal scanner authentication database is never wrong" until they are proven wrong.
- ktizo 14y ago
  Retinal scanners will probably be defeated in the next 5-10 years. I thought about this and wondered if you could make a hologram of the inverse of your retina, combined with the retina you want to have, on a contact lens.
  - neurotech1 14y ago
    That is what I was thinking. A contact lens with the right reflective hologram to look like a retina. Most retina scanners don't have insanely high resolution (usually less than 1 Megapixel)
- refurb 14y ago
  I'm not going to be an alarmist and say "ID cards lead to totalitarian states". However, it's interesting how a number of totalitarian states have used information about their citizens to control them. After the North Vietnamese took over South Vietnam, everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) had to fill out forms that described the various roles they and their families had over their lifetime. Kids would fill out these forms at schools. Did your father work for the Americans? Well great, he can no longer get a job and his kids can no longer go to college (yes, I'm simplifying what actually happened). You didn't have to torture, throw in prison or exile the majority of your political opponents, you simply denied the means the carry out everyday tasks (sending kids to school, finding a job, getting enough food to eat, etc). It's really ingenious if you think about it. Someone who fights everyday to get the basic necessities of life usually doesn't have much time to oppose you politically.