Comment Re:Online Sucks. The Real World Is Worse. (Score 1) 165
wow, my first /. post :)
the reason that SSN has become so necessary is that it has become a secondary "name" .. like
take your name for example Seumas , not very common right? let's say your last name is .. McNally (hypothetical here of course) now how many Seumas McNally's you imagine there are?
Dozens at least, and those are the ones currently living.
There must be a method of distinguishing between one "Seumas McNally" and the next, so some kinda GUID (Globally Unique Identifier, granted i stole the term from MS, but it's applicable here) is needed, which is a role that the SSN fills. And you have a name that's comparatively unique, take someone like "John Smith" on "Quan Lee" or "Siddig Singh" (or some other name that's culturally common). the problem is that it fills a dual role, it's not only a GUID it's a "passport" that not only proves who you are, it allows you access to define a persona.. these are mutually exclusive roles, what's needed is a secondary identifier.. eg, a number/letter combination that defines YOU, a GUID that's not given out to ANYONE (and one that's also COMPLETELY unique, ie odds of repitition somewhere in the area of 1 to 50 billion or so :) )
i can't take credit for this idea, the ORIGINAL concept, afaik, comes from David Brin's
"The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Privacy and Freedom?"
, which i am no doubt bastardizing HORRIBLY.
i recall a person saying we should have a /. moderated interview of DB a few weeks earlier (in a encryption/privacy etc post) .. i 2nd that motion :)
--
Einstein on Quantum Mechanics:"GOD does not play dice w/ the universe."
Hawking on Einstein:"GOD not only plays dice with the universe, he tosses them where we can't see the results."
--
Srivatsan Raghavan
machinshin@onebox.com - email
the reason that SSN has become so necessary is that it has become a secondary "name"
take your name for example Seumas , not very common right? let's say your last name is
Dozens at least, and those are the ones currently living.
There must be a method of distinguishing between one "Seumas McNally" and the next, so some kinda GUID (Globally Unique Identifier, granted i stole the term from MS, but it's applicable here) is needed, which is a role that the SSN fills. And you have a name that's comparatively unique, take someone like "John Smith" on "Quan Lee" or "Siddig Singh" (or some other name that's culturally common). the problem is that it fills a dual role, it's not only a GUID it's a "passport" that not only proves who you are, it allows you access to define a persona.. these are mutually exclusive roles, what's needed is a secondary identifier.. eg, a number/letter combination that defines YOU, a GUID that's not given out to ANYONE (and one that's also COMPLETELY unique, ie odds of repitition somewhere in the area of 1 to 50 billion or so
i can't take credit for this idea, the ORIGINAL concept, afaik, comes from David Brin's
"The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Privacy and Freedom?"
, which i am no doubt bastardizing HORRIBLY.
i recall a person saying we should have a
--
Einstein on Quantum Mechanics:"GOD does not play dice w/ the universe."
Hawking on Einstein:"GOD not only plays dice with the universe, he tosses them where we can't see the results."
--
Srivatsan Raghavan
machinshin@onebox.com - email
