Will mandatory, verifiable Internet ID's soon become the law of the land in
the United States? According to information revealed last week at the
Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research by White House Cybersecurity
Coordinator, Howard Schmidt, and U.S. Commerce Secretary, Gary Locke, that
certainly seems to be the case, although both men deny that this is
eventually what is going to happen with Obama's "trusted identity" project.

I was just reading an article on the CNET website entitled "Obama Eyeing
Internet ID for Americans" in which this plan, called the "National Strategy
for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace", is discussed by CNET's political
correspondent Declan McCullagh.

In the article, Mr. Locke is quoted as saying "We are not talking about a
national ID card. We are not talking about a government-controlled system.
What we are talking about is enhancing online security and privacy, and
reducing and perhaps even eliminating the need to memorize a dozen
passwords, through creation and use of more trusted digital identities."

In Mr. Locke's opinion, the fact that Internet users will have to memorize
fewer passwords -- as if we all really do that -- is supposedly a good
thing. Personally, I couldn't disagree more. It is the very fact that I can
choose dozens of different online aliases, each with their own unique
password, which protects my privacy and security, and not the other way
around. By having only one Internet ID and password, we are in fact making
ourselves considerably more vulnerable to hackers and other unscrupulous
individuals. Furthermore, how in the world is one's privacy being enhanced,
when his name will be attached to only one identity if this system is
implemented? Such a system will make it that much easier for the government
and online businesses to track our activities all across the Internet. Quite
frankly, I already get enough spam in my in box.

For his part, Mr. Schmidt claims that one will still be able to retain his
or her anonymity and pseudonymity on the Internet. Schmidt states "I don't
have to get a credential, if I don't want to," and adds that it is unlikely
that "a centralized database will emerge."

It is the view of this writer that when government officials say one thing,
they usually have plans to do the exact opposite sooner or later; but in
order to sell an idea to the general public, they have to paint it in a
positive light. When the Social Security system was first put into effect,
similar pledges were made. Now, as we all know, one cannot engage in any
kind of meaningful business activity unless he or she can provide a Social
Security number, and they are now provided shortly after birth. So much for
being a voluntary system.

While Mr. Schmidt claims that one doesn't have to join the "trusted
identity" project if he or she doesn't want to, what he doesn't reveal are
the personal inconveniences that one will begin to experience online if he
or she does not join the new system. The very same thing happened when
credit cards, followed by smart cards and debit cards, became popular.
Nowadays, it is virtually impossible to conduct one's online personal
business without them. It isn't difficult to foresee the same thing
eventually happening with the "trusted identity" system. One will simply be
out of the loop if he or she refuses to join the new system.

Concerning Schmidt's claim that no centralized database will emerge, all we
have to do is look at previous government projects and pledges in order to
quickly determine that like Locke, Schmidt is blowing a lot of hot air for
public consumption, and nothing more. The US Government loves databases; and
I suspect that it has a lot more of them than you or I are privy to.

The Internet has already been sufficiently ruined by greedy and annoying
entrepreneurs. We don't need to make things worse by having the US
Government become more involved than it already is. If George Orwell were
alive today, what would he think?

We cannot allow a few loose cannons to be used as an excuse to further erode
our online freedoms, and in this writer's view, that is exactly what the US
Government is trying to do with the "National Strategy for Trusted
Identities in Cyberspace". Isn't this exactly what has happened with the
so-called "war against terrorism" and the "Patriot Act"? In the so-called
name of "protecting us", our freedoms have been sliced and diced ever since
9/11.

We, the people, are innocent until proven guilty, but the government is
slowly but surely taking the opposite view, and no longer trusts its own
constituents. It is beginning to treat us all like criminals, when no crime
has been committed. Enough is enough.

You may still be able to find the original CNET article at the following
URL:

/news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20027800-281.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody



Jeff Snyder, SysOp - Armageddon BBS  Visit us at endtimeprophecy.org port 23
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