You can say what you want about today’s all-in-one devices and applications, but they usually have enough attractive features to make most users happy. My universal inbox, for example, lets me receive all my voice messages, emails, instant message queries, and the two faxes a year I still get. The so-called “God Box” promises to give users access to telephone, video, and IP service providers. And yet, these multifunctional systems are merely a prelude to the next place where we’re going to see the all-in-one phenomenon become evident: personal identity.
Down the road, your personal identity will be tied to an all-in-one digital identity card that provides some combination of access to your driver’s license, passport, credit/debit card, checking account number, and medical history. And it’s the Internet that will be the glue between these various parts of your identity.
It’s pretty clear we’re heading toward a future where a single card will have all your information for health insurance, the Department of Motor Vehicles, and shopper’s clubs, to name a few. A personal card bound to you will become your mechanism for conducting every type of transaction imaginable -- how you pay bills, register your vehicle, and manage all your day-to-day stuff.
And don’t let the recent congressional debate over national ID cards and homeland security obscure the larger issue. Everybody, regardless of stature or wealth, has to be connected to some system or some network -- which in most sectors means the Internet.
For the past few years, technology companies, like Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Novell Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL), have been moving in that direction by developing “InfoCard” technology to simplify and improve the safety of accessing and sharing personal information on the Internet. In fact, the personal identity card concept appears to be gaining momentum in the U.K. A recent poll by ICM Research says 54 percent of British respondents think a government proposal requiring citizens to apply for a personal identity card is a good or very good idea, while 42 per cent disagree.
Although the issue of identity protection may spark a debate in some circles, it shouldn’t be a problem for a neighbor of mine. Even though he’s in his early 40s, he still lives with his parents. He’s never had a credit card or filed an income tax return (OK, so maybe his problems go beyond the lack of a digital identity). He realizes he’s going to be in a big jam if he ever wants to buy a house and a lender starts trying to run his credit report.
My neighbor has circumvented this problem by always dealing in cash. But even with that, his risk goes up, since some cash transactions get reported when they hit a certain dollar threshold. More than a few alarms would get triggered at the state and federal level if he paid cash for a house.
But even down the road, I don’t think cash will be what it is today. In the last three weeks, I haven’t used cash for anything. Parking garage, convenience store, fast-food restaurant -- I paid for it all with a credit card. And now you don’t even have to sign for a bill less than $20.
While I expect retailers, insurance companies, and law enforcement to advocate a singular approach to identity, privacy experts will decry the trend. It not only makes it easier for the government to go snooping, but such a rich cache of personal data makes a tempting target for identity thieves. Security will have to be air-tight for this sort of future, not just with encryption, but with legal protections that can’t be circumvented by secret tribunals or fear-mongering politicians.
The expediency of Internet access in this all-in-one personal identity outlook is bound to expose many of the hazards we’ll face. To reduce potential risks of using an all-in-one card, access to its data or history needs to be rendered impossible without the live, physical presence of its owner. Maybe that means a fingerprint or voice recognition component. Such protections are essential to any sort of singular digital identity. Convenience without controls will never fly.
I put forth the idea that I would like a card that would allow me to verify my voting record. I didn't say that such a function should be mandatory nor public. Given the option, I would volunteer for a card. Why? Because the benefits of my being able to verify that my vote was actually counted, outweighs any damage that might occur to me based on someone's misuse of that data.
Honestly, I am WAY more concerned about unauthorized people snooping in my medical or financial records than my voting record, and these systems are almost public access they are so insecure.
To generally protect personal information and identity, I think that all data in the financial, medical and voter databases should be referenced by a number and only under certain circumstances would some identity verification process be allowed to link your name and identity to the number that represents you in the system.
The point is that there are compelling needs and uses for such a system. If we the public are an active part of the design process and if we can promote proper safeguards to insure that data is not actively compromised (like it routinely is today), then we can improve the overall data security of the system. What we have now is essentially no data security at all. We need to improve the status quo and a national identity policy and infrastructure with lots of public input on the process could accomplish that nicely.
Yes, we all see it coming. The good and the bad of it, but the bottom line is the info is not safe unless you have never gave it to anyone. If you can say your safe then you have no life, no credit, no mail, no taxes, your never sick because you have never been to a medical office, bottom line you probably have not been born. I once heard that the only way to think about protecting yourself against ID theft is to assume your info is in the hands of a thief and to propair the fixes needed to correct the problem and monitor your info. Just keep inmind if it is on a pc anywhere, it is known by more then the person it belongs to and the person it was given to. So in short, don't worry, don't fear, just protect and propair. Bill
Basically, this is what Real ID is, and it is a dangerous move. Read up about it. It is enough to scare the pants off of the average person......that is if the average person even is aware what is being planned for them. Those that do know, are almost all against it.
Problem is, these id programs are being done quietly, as those trying to push it through know that the public in general will not accept it. Also, look at other "ID" programs that are being rammed down our throats.
NAIS is one. Yes, it is livestock related, but it will affect everyone, again in a negative way. These id programs are being sold to the public without the public knowing the actual truth behind them. They tell the public what they want to hear, but do your research, and it is a completely different ball game.
Government, state, federal and local, are getting out of control with this. A national ID is not inevitable if we, as Americans, are willing to fight it. But you can't be afraid to stand up.
With NAIS, it is already being seen from results of similar programs in other countries that the program will be a disaster. Although the people having to be part of these programs see it, the governments will not admit that there are major problems and have actually caused many more problems then they solved. Real ID will follow suit.
You can discuss the fact that these programs will all be secure, when in fact, your security is not of any concern to those who are putting these programs together. They want your information, and will do and say whatever it takes to get it. And once they have it, don't fool yourself that there will be any great security involved.
The best thing would be, instead of saying a national id is inevitable, decide to fight it. By the way, I have not used a credit card in years, just cash and checks. It is GREAT!
I agree... the more we dependant we become on plastic we enable the credit card companies to become a silent partner in everyones business.
I was told that some states were looking to outlaw "better price for cash as opposed to credit" . Apparently some people looked at it as an unfair business practice.
Ken: You would LOVE to see a card that tracked your voting record?
How bizarre. Kinda flies in the face of that whole Secret Ballot guarantee, don't it? There may be others who would also LOVE to see your voting record. And they may not be the kind of people you'd want to invite to dinner.
The personal information now out there in the e-info space has been so far impossible to secure. Multiplying the info will not make it any less vulnerable. Especially as people are more and more positively welcoming intruders into their midst. (Google-targeted advertising? We LOVE it!)
If it's out there, it's potentally accessible to anyone.
I too think that some form of "smart" or data rich, internet tied identification is inevitable. Once the security issues are addressed to the point that the average joe will have confidence that the system can be trusted, the only barrier to widespread adoption will be the "compelling need" for the tech.
This may come in the form of a government mandate (with a healthcare reform initiative or an identify theft prevention initiative), or it may come in the form of an initiative from private enterprise that is both in their interests and their customer's.
Imagine if such a card/system could deliver a 20% reduction in credit card fraud? How long would it take for the large financial companies to embrace it? Imagine if such a system reduced medical malpractice due to patient misidentification and improper medicine deployment by a significant margin? How long would it take for insurance companies to champion such a system?
Add some enhanced features and capabilities for the end user such as enhanced payment options (radio scan) or medical record portability (making those pages of forms to fill out at a new doctor's office obsolete), and you have something that people will also get behind.
Personally, I would LOVE to see a card that tracked my voting record (for personal use) and interfaced with a national system to do voter initiated audits (Was my vote counted? Compare my personal voting record against the public record that was captured by the voting machine). Power in my hands and piece of mind as a result.
I know a lot of people fear abuse of the "all-in-one" card idea, but given the current rampant abuse in data sharing that is already taking place, I think addressing data security and privacy issues as a result of development of such a system would be a net benefit and would be embraced by privacy advocates that might otherwise object to such a system.
As I mentioned, I do think that this is inevitable and will happen in the near term. As such, it is important that we participate in the process of developing this system so as to insure that adequate safeguards and privacy is maintained. Hmmm. Maybe this would best be addressed as an open source project to insure maximum transparency and public input/participation...
The one thing that worries me about the diminishing use of cash in transactions is the fees involved with convenience. If I go to the local convenience store and buy a soda for $1.25 and use a credit card to pay for the transaction the retailer has to pay a per transaction fee plus a percentage of the sale. The long-term effect of this situation is that prices will increase so that the retail doesn't take the hit. Perhaps this price adjustment has already been compensated for. We may be approaching the days where strictly cash transactions carry a lower price than more convenient purchases.
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