President Obama apparently quite likes the idea of bringing out an Internet ID for all US citizens.
CBS reports that the Obama administration is currently working on the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace,
It will hand out Internet IDs to all Americans and be handled by the US Commerce Department rather than the Department of Homeland Security or the National Security Agency.
US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, during an event at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, insists that the plan is not a national ID card and would not be "a government-controlled system".
He said it would enhance online security and privacy and reduce and eliminate the need to memorise a dozen passwords, through creation and use of more trusted digital identities.
The scheme has been muttered about for about a year, but details are still thin on the ground. The idea is that users would have an optional smart card or digital certificate that would prove their actual identities. These would be offered to consumers by online vendors for financial transactions.
White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt said that there would be no centralised database either.
Schmidt said that the Commerce Department's role is "the absolute perfect spot in the US government" to centralise efforts toward creating an "identity ecosystem" for the Internet. Gobbledygook.
Hmm a system where a person is given a number and needs to use it to buy goods and services. Where will Americans have heard of that before? Oh, that is right Revelation.
"And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."
Our guess is that Obama will have some problems selling this one to the Bible Belt.
This is so wonderful , Oh how I love Obama , because he first loved me.
but u all, the food situation is not near as dire as our need for safe water to drink and cook with.
it is time to stop blameing and start taking action n preserving all we can. for it is truly the servival of the fitest.
laying blame only waste energy. energy that we need for healthier things.
It is currently impossible for a singular entity to shut down an individual's ability to conduct their online affairs. The same won't be able to be said if and when all content and transactions are effectively verified by a single entity.
This idea also creates a single point of failure for the entire internet. An attack (digital or physical) against this system can paralyze all domestic commerce.
http://www.eutimes.net/2011/01/obama-orders-military-to-prepare-for-spring-food-riots/
Now it all makes sense, doesn't it? Are you scared yet?
The challenge is to keep an element of privacy for ourselves in our real lives.
"...he causeth all, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads..."
I guess that's just relating simply to fingerprints or iris reader! (if nothing else) Pretty close guess by those ancient soothsayers (and given the vagaries of translation from ancint texts) I reckon... Not exactly 'a mark' but once those bits of info are all on record for everyone you'll cetainly be 'marked'... if you step out of line!
And if you don't submit to your 'details' being recorded:
What no fingerprint record? What no iris scan? Sorry mate no food for you... oh and no medicine... oh and no insurance... oh and (soon) no water either mate! ...
"Sorry -- but computer says you don't 'actually' exist! Let us help you with that...(take him away lads)"
Who needs nano-chips anyway?
(In the hypothetical words of Robert Webb)
J.J. Rousseau
You people are such a laugh riot!