Re: FAQ: How Real ID Will Affect You

Sure -- I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm willing to deal with the

> resulting fallout if I get in a fight in a bar or with my landlord or > whatever.

I don't know your personal circumstances, but I can't help but wonder if you don't realize the long term import of the situation.

If you're young or single, it may not seem like a big deal. But life can surprise us as we get older. Things that were easy and we took for granted can become difficult. We may find ourselves out of job for an extended period of time and in debt, for example -- I've seen it happen to many good people.

Anyway, when money and circumstances are tight, the last thing you need is someone throwing up a 10 year old incident in your face. You'll be even more upset if the facts are wrong but you can't challenge them.

"Bait and switch" works on prospective employees and vendors, too. You're offered a job. You walk in on your first day and they "discovered" something in your past, which nullifies the employment offer. Oh, but maybe they'll still hire you, but at a lesser title and pay. If you're hard up for a job, you're screwed and have to take what you're given. There are unscrupulus managers and owners out there who will pull that stuff, especially in a lousy economy where job seekers are vulnerable and mgmt is under pressure to keep their budget low. When I entered the job market, I talked to some sleazy employers, but fortunately at that time it was a good job market and I had the capability to turn and walk away. Today the market isn't so good and kids coming out of school are loaded with debt.

What I'm not willing to deal with is the same fallout because somebody > else (with the same name) had one of the above issues happen. > In this respect, a universal ID is a good thing, names simply aren't > unique enough.

First off, no matter how responsible we are, EVERYONE of us has some skeleton in our closets. Many times it was not at all our fault, but the skeleton is there just the same. Other times we made a stupid choice or acted irresponsibly.

So, it's not a question of "someone else's" troubles haunting us, but our own.

Second of all, date of birth, a common identifier, is not unique either. Further, the existing data collection system on adverse information is SLOPPY. There is garbage out there. You may be in default of a credit card you never even had (as happened to me, as a result of an unsolicited mailing many years ago sent to an inaccurate address.)

Third, identify theft is a growing problem. If someone intentionally steals your 'essence', you're really screwed. Suddenly, you're "unique ID card" has you down as a criminal.

Until relatively recently, the personal-info databases out there focused basically on accounting and credit issues. But cheap computing and e-commerce has enabled them to collect far more information. (ABC News ran a troubling documentary about this recently.)

Go to your town hall. There's a guy in the corner entering into a laptop every permit request or citation. It's public record. Again, until recently the stuff remained buried in filing cabinets too hard to dig out and consolidate. No more. It IS collected.

The point is that personal information, friendly and adverse, IS being collected about you and being distributed.

Whether the other issues are significant enough to be concerned about > or not is another question altogether, but in my opinion, the benefit > outweighs the risk right now.

WHAT benefits?

How do you benefit when prospective landlords are told that you had a dispute with a prior landlord? How do you benefit when prospective employers are told you were arrested in a protest demonstration?

As to "security", any college kid can show you how to get a passable fake ID card; even high school kids got 'em now. With a little bit of money, a quality ID may be had.

I'm sorry to sound so cynical, but I have enough gray hair to have seen the real world and how it works. I know history, too, and know how corporate blacklists ruined people. Pat's take on this issue is correct.

If someone familiar with the information industry and today's corporate/political culture can offer a counter argument, I'd like to hear it.

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hancock4
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