On 1 Nov 2004, Ruben Krasnopolsky asked
What's the big deal with a national ID card?
The various responses cited consequences within people's personal
experience, such as carrying a driver's license that cannot be
authenticated by police, or using one to identify oneself as a voter.
Unfortunately, one big deal is military: an enemy who is willing to
spend US$100 million per year for the next generation or so to burgle,
bribe, blackmail, or bamboozle someone who might have access to the
information or to plant someone with a belief that helps the enemy.
For example, if you were a general in an opposing military, how much
would you be willing to pay to gain the medical records to 1.3 million
US soldiers?
(I pick this number because computers with the medical records of 1.3
million US soldiers were stolen in early 2003. The FBI said it
thought the most likely purpose of the burglary was to obtain parts
that could be sold. The FBI thought that the criminals did not know
that the computers contained information of interest to US enemies.)
I thought of the pyschological warfare aspects of such a theft: what
happens to morale when every family in a battalion receives copies of
the records of neighbors, with the comment, `Look how well your
government kept these records from us; how well do you think your
loved ones will do in a convoy?'
A retired Royal Navy captain thought differently than I; he
immediately said that with this kind of information, it would be
easier to interrogate some prisoners.
An enemy military is not the only issue. Suppose you were a person
who stole people's identity so as to steal their bank accounts. Would
you be interested in copying 1.4 million records that include names,
addresses, and social security numbers?
(I pick this number because some number of records up to this number
were copied this August 2004 from computers at a project for the state
government of California. The records were of old people receiving
medical benefits. The records were not copied from an agency of the
state government but from a different entity doing work on behalf of
the state government.)
People often make decisions in terms of their personal experience or
their friends' experiences; but such experiences tend to be local.
You will know, directly or indirectly, about local thieves. Fewer
people have experience with crackers hired by a mafia in
St. Petersburg, Russia, or in New York, USA, or with an enemy
military. But with the Internet, your information is as close to
someone far from you as to someone close by.
--
Robert J. Chassell
[EMAIL PROTECTED] GnuPG Key ID: 004B4AC8
http://www.rattlesnake.com http://www.teak.cc
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