meta-roj

it seems to be “big brother” day here at meta-roj. ah well. might as well run with it….

from joi, Japan – Chips may be implanted in imported dogs. it’s important to track the dogs, but someone’s going to complain that these dogs being treated like princes, while billions of other humans have to go through life without chips.

Cancer Patient Grounded at Fla. Airport

Airport security screeners refused to let a cancer patient board a flight home to Denver because they said she no longer resembled her identification photos.

Cancer Patient Grounded at Fla. Airport

[Athena] LaPera spent most of Tuesday trying to resolve the issue only to be told during a conversation with a federal Transportation Security Administration employee in Washington that she needed new photos and a doctor’s note to explain her changed appearance.

something to keep in mind when you read a proposal for mandatory biometric id – the failure mode is hackable with nothing more than new pictures and a “note from your doctor.”

and there is no way to address the mysterious [not] matching consonant problem.

it’s a technology demonstration. it’s a statement. and it’s open to much interpretation.

the new york times has the story [registration may be required] that reason will be putting customized satellite images of subscriber’s homes on the cover of each copy.

Nick Gillespie, editor in chief of Reason

Our story is man bites dog. Everybody, including our magazine, has been harping on the erosion of privacy and the fears of a database nation. It is a totally legit fear. But they make our lives unbelievably easier as well, in terms of commercial transactions, credit, you name it.

earlier this month, british home secretary david blunkett released a lot of information on the new british id proposal.

great britain will assemble a database of biometric information using fingerprints, iris scans and face maps. once there’s a big fat database with all this stuff, they’ll roll out new id cards.

i have big issues with biometrics. it’s something i keep saying, but the biggest problem i have with biometric-based identity is that once the chosen biometric is compromised (and they will be compromised), there’s no way to “revoke” the key.

let’s say, for example, that my fingerprint is used in an id scheme. and let’s further say that i’m careless about where i put my fingers, and i leave little oily fingerprints all over the world. some nice gentleman comes along and lifts one, and is off to the races (perhaps, literally). a physical object – like a card is easy enough to replace, and any system reading the card can be flagged so that the “lost or stolen” card is invalid, but my fingers are a harder issue. so now what? do i go to the home office and ask for replacement fingers replacement eyeballs and a new face?

there’s also the related issue of people who, through the natural variety and horrible accidents that accompany life as a human, aren’t equipped with recognizable fingers, eyeballs or faces.

both of these cases illustrate that any system that relies on biometrics must also have a “backup” mechanism available – something that works for people with compromised fingers, or no fingers at all. and if you’re going to build this huge infrastructure to support biometric ids, and it has to have an accompanying huge infrastructure to support non-biometric ids for all the exceptions in the world, then why would you build both? wouldn’t it be more economic to build the non-biometric system and use it for everyone?

“using multiple identities is one of the most common practices of those involved in terrorist activity.” of course, what this ignores is that we all use multiple identities all the time. but that’s some deeper philosophy than i want to get into right now.

people much smarter than i can probably shed more light on the technical esoterica.

for now, watch your fingers.

chips aren’t just for princes anymore

wired is reporting on chips for kids

(ok, that’s a classic british headline)

the australian herald sun is reporting that “Prince Harry could be fitted with a surveillance microchip during his year in Australia.”

now, say what you like about princes playing polo and having bad tempers (that’s in there too), it’s just nice to know that the chipping of humans is starting near the top.