Am I wrong to be disturbed about this?

[Primula Baggins]

I guess I don't see how a public, up-front database that's guarded and vetted (if it is) is going to do anything but greatly speed up the expansion of the secret database(s), assuming they're there. All RealID does is force everyone to come up with the same information, and force them to put it all in one convenient spot. Oh, and pay (probably a lot) for the privilege.

Once the data is all in one nice place it's easy to move elsewhere, for other purposes, to databases that aren't guarded or vetted in the public interest. I see no reason to believe that isn't exactly what will happen.

[Frelga]

I agree, Prim. Not only that, but a multi-purpose database like this must be set up for easy access from thousands, hundreds of thousand points if it is to be used to verify everything about everybody. Security? Confidentiality? Forget it! And all those points, will they create their own copies, so fixing mistakes will become impossible? Of course they will!

You see, V, all those evil secret schemes you are worried about, they are bad and scarifying, of course. But they do require a government with an intent to use them for the evil. This database, is perfectly capable of inflicting great damage on the innocent population even if implemented with the most innocent of intentions.

[yovargas]

That attitude, that the gov is now beyond the people's control or their will, makes me very sad. You're probably right but I'll keep hoping you're wrong.

[vison]

Now and again it happens that the investigation of a terrible crime gets all fouled up because the various police forces don't have an integrated data system. Everyone hollers that they should, that there should be a national registry of sex offenders and murderers, etc. What it usually comes down to is not a lack of data, but a lack of the will to cooperate. The info is all there and can be shared at need, but they don't want to share. These territorial squabbles cause a lot of the problems with cases of mistaken identity, etc.

[Frelga]

If you thought a super-linked government database would be secure and convenient:

Hackers compromised dozens of Department of Homeland Security computers, moving sensitive information to Chinese-language Web sites, congressional investigators said Monday.

Investigators pointed a finger at a government contractor, saying the firm hired to protect DHS computers tried to hide the incidents from the department.

The article identifies the contractor as "Unisys Corp., which has a $1 billion contract to safeguard DHS computers." and which "vigorously denies" the allegations.

"We know where it [the information] was taken from, but we don't know what was taken. We only know how many megabytes was taken," the staff member said. "Everything was on the LAN A, which was an unclassified network. To the best of our knowledge there was no classified information [taken]."

While they claim that the stolen data was not classified, they don't say that it was not confidential. I mean, there must have been something fun about it if someone put it on Chinese websites.

[solicitr]

Not really. Something between 75-90% of intelligence work boils down to keeping up with publicly available, unclassified information- boring old stuff like wheat production and college faculty appointments. Back during the Cold War, the majority of KGB types at the Embassy in DC were occupied full-time maintaining clipping files of newspapers and magazines.

If a computer system is designated 'unclassified' that 's just what it is- no info on the system has been classified Confidential, Secret, Top Secret, or (naturally) higher.

My principal worry here is not that the Chinese may have learned something we don't want them to know (doubtful)- but rather that they are well on the way to developing a powerful cyber-attack capability which in theory could wreak utter chaos on the economy and government.

*******

The flipside of RealID is this: how are we to deal with states like New York, which has decreed that beginning in January it will issue driver's licences on a no-documents, no-questions-asked basis? Should such a DL be adequate ID for airline travel or access to military bases? I don't think so.