Thinking about the corporations in another way, they need your money. It is in their best interest to make a system which generates as much profit as possible, no matter what the costs.

Fix'd.

They'll happily sell your information for profits, give preferential treatment to sites that will generate profit, and do what they can to get you spend money on their stuff. Corporations' first priority is their stockholders.

 

Again, I see no problem with allowing a system which people who choose to can use to link all their profiles into one, more secure, easily accessible system.

 

I see one huge problem with this. This can be hacked and will be hacked. Especially if a weak password is used.

 

If you read a page back, it has been suggested passwords will not be used.

It doesn't matter, everything can and will be hacked at some point or another.

snip

 

Good, vid, simple explanation.

 

Definitely planning to switch ISP's/phone companies if any company here starts with that...but like he said, soon...ALL companies may start doing it, which doesn't help much.

Oh gawsh no...

 

The government has too much power already...they need less.

snip

 

Good, vid, simple explanation.

 

Definitely planning to switch ISP's/phone companies if any company here starts with that...but like he said, soon...ALL companies may start doing it, which doesn't help much.

 

We'll just have to create our community company. Some place here in Canada did that because big corporations didn't want to spend to bring high speed internet to those regions.

So, under this system if someone steals your password or digital passcard or whatever this is, they now have what they need to PROVE they are you to any number of sites that may contain information from credit cards to bank account numbers to any other amount of personal information rather than just the ONE account they stole/hacked the password to under the current system? Do I have this right? Serious question.

 

That's the way I see it. As it is, if my RS account ever gets hacked, they get my pixels and nothing else. If my Paypal gets hacked, they get... well, nothing since atm, I don't have any money in Paypal and it's not linked to any bank accounts. If my Amazon account gets hacked, I can call my credit card company and deny the purchases and get my money back. All three of those accounts are separate from each other, so if one of those scenarios ever happened, the damage would be minimal and fixable. With the new ID system, as I understand it (and I'll be the first to admit there's a good chance I don't), all three would be linked through the same ID and could possibly be hacked simultaneously if someone got my ID, so I wouldn't just be out one thing, I'd lose my time investment in RS and the hacker could bleed my credit card through both Paypal AND Amazon, not to mention the other dozens of sites that would be linked to my ID.

Plus, there are things I do on the Net that I don't want known. Whether it's looking at pr0n, torrenting music or looking for a gift for my girlfriend, there are some things I want to keep hidden from others, and I go to great lengths to do it - secret email accounts, alternate logins, etc. Anonymity is the Internet's biggest draw, and having some kind of universal ID that can be used and seen by anyone kind of destroys that.

Sorry for the double-post, but this is why a government run online ID is a bad, bad idea. If you thought the Facebook information leak was bad, this would be far worse.

Or..not?

 

Comparing a mass e-mail by the government cannot be compared to a centralised sign in run by private companies. They are two totally different things used in two totally different situations. A Truck crashed over a cliff today, does that mean my car is unsafe?

I'm considering just switching from internet to mesh network. It'll be cheaper and the government will have no control over it.

 

Or..not?

 

Comparing a mass e-mail by the government cannot be compared to a centralised sign in run by private companies. They are two totally different things used in two totally different situations. A Truck crashed over a cliff today, does that mean my car is unsafe?

On the same cliff, it could very well be unsafe.

A Truck crashed over a cliff today, does that mean my car is unsafe?

 

Yes. When you give 2 tons of metal, plastic and rubber the ability to move at speeds over 50 mph, it inherently becomes potentially unsafe. It's the skill, experience and maturity of the operator that draws the line between potentiality and actuality.

The same is true for information handling. It doesn't matter what the information is, or the system being used, if the user - i.e., the government - can't be trusted to handle simple information like an email list, how can they be trusted to handle something like an all-encompassing personal ID database? The government has proven time and again, at all levels, that their employees generally aren't capable of handling or keeping sensitive information secure. I'm not alone in thinking they really shouldn't be trusted to manage our online IDs.

All of my bank information is online, credit cards, facebook info, there isn't really anything to me that isn't already online. If Obama wants to digitize what is effectively just a social security number? That's fine by me too.

 

Also, slippery slope arguments- slippery slope arguments freaking everywhere.

You do realize how much trouble someone could get you into by stealing your paper SS card, right? Imagine how much MORE trouble someone could get you into if they managed to get your online version? As it stands, having everything separate and "compartmentalized", if someone were to steal one set of online information, the rest of your accounts would be *theoretically* safe. If all your accounts were accessible through one ID login, the thief gets everything. EVERYTHING! Let that sink in for a moment.

It all comes down to damage control; if you put all your belongings in your garage, then a fire guts the garage because someone didn't turn off the propane grill, you lose everything. But if you put your things throughout the house, and the garage gets gutted without spreading to the rest of the house, you only lose what was in the garage and still have your other things. Lumping your entire online presence into one login is the digital equivalent of putting all your stuff in the garage. In these days of rampant ID theft, computer worms, viruses, government blunders and other dangers to your name, life and livelihood, it just makes more sense to protect yourself in any way possible, not make it easier for online predators to access your information.

1984