Re: insidious biometrics, identity crises

[Robin Berjon <robin.berjon@xxxxxxxxx>]

Elaine -HFB- Ashton wrote:
> Finland also is rather rabid about checking IDs when using any form of
> credit or bank card, something which has impressed me tremendously since
> it was /exceedingly/ rare in the US or the UK. I don't have any
> statistics, but I would guess that such kinds of fraud are pretty unusual
> here because of that. 

Yes, same here. I must say that that is one of the top reasons why I am not 
frontally opposed to the principle of ID cards. I was fairly appalled at how 
trivial it is to get a credit card in the US -- replacing the SSN with a TIN 
(Tax ID Number, which anyone can get with almost no serious check) -- and then 
use that as ID for just about anything except getting into bars and clubs. I 
believe identity stealing is such an issue in the US in part because of that (I 
had only heard of it once or twice in France).

> Besides, now that giant chunks of the Baltic are devoid of oxygen and life
> which subsequently gives off more SO2 than all the sewage St. Petersburg
> could produce, you might get the idea that the oceans are dying and, well,
> when that happens national IDs will be pretty low on the list of concerns.

Oh yeah, and if we survive that we'll roast to death. I do wonder how the field 
of biometrics will survive the accrued mutation in the human species.

--
Robin Berjon <robin.berjon@xxxxxxxxx>
Research Engineer, Expway        http://expway.fr/
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