Also, is it just me, or the article title and content a bit misleading: how is a summer intern (PhD student from Stanford), who published this as a single-author paper (no IBM co-authors), an "IBM researcher"?

This is mentioned only at the very end of the "article".

Dude, that's the spirit -- you should be a Chief Data Architect at IBM! :-))

"It'll Be Messy" :-)

What you say about anonymity is really important.

Solving the problem at it's root would require that *both* doctors and their reviewers/patients can be held accountable for what they do or say, respectively. Reciprocity is fair.

However, the only thing such a measure will eventually achieve is to encourage anonymous reviews. An anonymous reviewer cannot be held accountable for anything.

In that respect this measure is just another example brain dead example of technology-blindness. It's not the first and certainly not the last, no surprise here!

Also, I've noticed a bunch (at least two) tethering apps, which are (a) paid, and (b) require root access (e.g., developer phone). I wonder if there is any connection here...

I see a lot of comments wondering about this. To clarify, RTFA: "...provide fingerprints upon re-entry."

Translation: each time you enter the country, instead of waiting on the 2-minute line and just wave your document(s), you'll wait on the 30-to-60-minute line and have your prints and photo taken. This is not about availability of the data (that is not new), it's about extra formal procedures at the borders.

Furthermore, the arguments about document forgery mentioned in the linked article also apply to US passports. After all, they are also issued by a US authority, like green cards. So, clearly that is the next logical step, except it may be a bit tougher to pass (simple: US citizens vote, non-citizens don't). But the new rules for permanent resident aliens should be a good move to prepare the public.

As to how useful all this data collection is: as someone currently stuck waiting for a visa because the new USCIS database system is not functioning properly, without a timeframe for fixing it, I have some doubts. At least I was formally warned about the presence of bugs in the system and potential indefinite delays, but I chose to be (too) optimistic -- so I cannot really blame USCIS for having to reschedule my trip.