I'm gonna pirate your Pion, by changing it to Prion, (for the ARRRRR). ;-)

"prevent automation"

Buggy Whip Makers would like a word with you.

While your post has some interesting tidbits, some even worthy, the conclusions are incorrect. You're blaming government intervention while proposing government intervention as a solution.

The more government is involved in economic matters, the more screwed up things get, because that's the nature of regulations. We just need ONE MORE regulation, and that will solve all the problems (and somehow creates additional problems).

Supply Demand curves exist in all markets. Pushing them around artificially is a recipe to inefficiencies.

There should be some "friction" in accessing records more than a year or two old.

Whether that friction involves putting the older data in "nearline" storage requiring a robot to mount a disk or tape to access it, or whether it stays online but there's only a "skinny pipe" between it an the internet, an adversary shouldn't be able to transfer the entire database in less than a few weeks, more than long enough for tripwires to activate and a human to investigate.

Show your cards. Show the world the source code and related information needed so independent experts can tell the lay public what is really going on.

Yes, you may have to reveal trade secrets, but that is the price you have to pay when your product looks like it is up to no good.

With Passkeys, they have access to your stuff without any oversight by courts and discovery. There are ZERO 4 and 5th Amendment rights to stuff protected by passkeys. They can compel you to unlock your phone, and put your finger on the print reader, and facial scan you .... all without your permission or CONSENT. As much stuff behind that initial Passkey on your phone (ApplePay/GoogleWallet, Banks, everything).

Legally it is untenable how much access they have with Passkeys.

Passcodes cannot be compelled (XKCD hammer notwithstanding). 4th and 5th Amendments apply.

If passkeys are movable, then they can be duplicated and reused by nefarious actors as easy as this seems to indicate here.

I have not, and do not, and never will trust passkeys as primary security for anything.

Passkeys can be compelled legally, with and sometimes without a warrant. Passwords cannot be compelled at all. SCOTUS has already set the rules.

Details bore me. Describing a person's outfit in detail is filled with information I could not care any less about. Its not that I can't visualize, because I can and do.

I do understand why people DO like that kind of stuff, it's just not me.

Don't need a search warrant to dig though the trash can. People spew their data all over the place, and they just vacuum it all up.

I never really enjoyed reading long fiction. I read a lot, just not fiction.

I was made to read fiction in school (a long time ago), and it always bored me to read stories that had nothing I wanted. I don't find it entertaining or even relaxing.

I've read plenty of books, and in my younger years, used to read those thick IT tomes on Windows and Linux and ....

https://img-cdn.hpb.com/normal...

The lie (you've done nothing wrong) is revealed, by the factoid* that the average person commits several crimes every day, unwittingly.

*factoid: Assumed but never really provable

This is just a kindly reminder to NEVER TALK TO THE POLICE.

Ever.

"I respectfully decline to answer any questions. I invoke my 1,2,4,5 Amendment Rights. I do not consent to any searches. I refuse all roadside exams, and wish to have my lawyer present during any further interactions. BTW, here is my lawyer ... {pushes the button* on my phone}. My Attorney will represent me fully during this interaction, you may address them directly."

* https://www.attorney-shield.co...

Then STFU.

I thought they were all independent contractors!!!

Assume there's a legitimate company out there that will verify driver's licenses. Do they really need to store everything "online"? No, they do not.

They can store it "offline" with a 1- or 2- minute delay to access the data, caching it in "online" systems for maybe 15 minutes.

This, plus alarms when large amounts of data is being moved from "offline" to "online" in a short period of time, would've either made this leak slower than it was or, more likely, led to this year-long leak being discovered and plugged long ago.

Is this inconvenient? Sure, but it's not a practical impediment for "batch jobs" like employment identity verification.

For "real time" things like renting a car, the vendors will have to begin the verification process, do things to "kill time" like review the auto-rental contract or go with the sales clerk to inspect the car, then tell the customer "you are good to go" or "we need more information to verify your identity."

For situations like a bank where you can't "fill the time," the bank can set up a highly-secure on-premises id-verification computer that can act as a long-term cache. Everyone whose ID isn't locally cached will need to "step aside" for a minute while their ID is verified. Or better yet, they can start the ID-verification process before getting to the front of the line.

I think AT&T (pre-1984) and the "Baby Bells" (1984 on) stopped putting lead shielding around copper cables in the 1970s or the early 1980s.

Legacy Lead-Sheathed Telecommunications Cables: Status and Issues for Congress is a report from 2023 that says

The report is light on details though. It's also not clear what part of the modern AT&T overlaps with the pre-1984-breakup version of AT&T.

Look at the xkcd comic. In most* cases, important thing - the thing that makes xkcd xkcd - is the dialog. The drawing is literally a bunch of stick figures.

Coding can be similar. Parts of your code can be boring simplistic things that are the code-equivalent of stick figures. But if you want anyone but your "proud family" to appreciate it, it better do something interesting.

* the xkcd fans reading this - and that will be most of you - know there fantastic exceptions where the artwork is, well, fantastic