robotic technology: Obama's Orwellian Internet I.D. Proposal Ready for Road Test ...

The announcement of the?Obama Administration's?NSTIC (National Strategy for Trusted Identities In Cyberspace) in January, 2011,?caused even generally Obama friendly journals like the Washington Post, and New York Times to spectculate about the emergence of a national identity system on the web, and some observers?even mused about the Orwellian aspects of the proposal.

The government claims it is acting merely to protect and serve the people. The administration claims?the NSTIC proposal would address identity theft problems by creating one secure identity for each internet user. The program, the administration assures,?would be voluntary, and not just governmental, but a partnership with the private sector.

Critics, however, claim that entering the system will only be voluntary until individual government agencies, such as the IRS, require?an NSTIC id?to conduct business on line. And how could government agencies not require use of a system they had developed and promoted. This mere internet id morphs into a more general i.d. when used by the social secuirty administration, or for renewing passports on line, or applying for various licenses.

Perhaps multiple passwords for various uses online?are a bother but when a user id or password is compromised?the?loss is limited. But, if the NSTIC id is compromised than the identity damage?could be?total. Marc Rotenberg, of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, sees a real risk of "'hyper' identity theft."?Further, given the government's unfortunate record for on line security any assurances about NSTIC must ring hollow.

But does the?government sponsored id system look a lot like a license to surf the information super-highway? A license to speak.?It is not unreasonable to assume that a problem with NSTIC could lead?no internet use.?And while the government denies it that the fear is shared?by a wide range of critics on the left and right.

Why should the government limit the system to the web? If it works why shouldn't?a variation of NSTIC?be applied more generally to provide identity safe market and governmental transacations. Perhaps that why some fear the proposed internet id could be the basis of a broader national identity system.

Still, the system has its defenders such as Leslie Harris at the Center for Democracy and Technology who denies the system is a "national id card" and describes the administration's efforts as an attempt to provide leadership for innovation in the private sector.

And given the government concern with net neutrality and fairness. Could the id system be used to ration speech in the name of fairness. Could it be used as? base to regulate or limit the time, place, and manner of?individual?use on the web.

Now despite broad ranging concerns for privacy, and government licensing of internet use, the Administration in a statement by Commerce Secretary Gary Locke?May 12, 2011, to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced?that?the administration?intends to move forward with the program taking it to a testing phase in route to full implementation.

In the spirit of we're from the government and we're here to help you, Locke urged Americans not to worry about threats to privacy or free speech, and to be happy with a new improved safe internet provided by a public private partnership. Don't? listen to the "conspiracy theory set" Locke argued. The new i.d. system, the administration argues,?will make the internet safe by providing a uniform and safe system of identity.

Secretary Locke's reassurances about protected anonminity and privacy?were underminded by statements from Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Md)?who boasted of the syetem's potential contributions to law enforcement and who was reported to argue that civil liberties concerns should take a backseat to improved security.

Both Google, and Facebook, and other private sources are and were?working on real voluntary identification?systems. These private sector players have high incentives to insure a safe internet and overall have a record of working for a secure internet environment.

The government's internet security record is a disaster. Everyone knows about WikiLeaks. But do you remember how the?Los Alamos Laboratory loss sensitive records, or how?the National Archives and Records Adminstration lost : a.)?personnel records of Clinton administration employees; and later B.)?a hard drive with records of 75 million veterans?on it.

Sadly a government private partnership is far from reassuring. The last effort at this was TSA failed verified traveller program. But this Id system is far more ambitious.?A partnership?perhaps sweeping enough to?reduce the governement's independent ability to protect consumers from private actor abuse while reducing both the ability and likihood that private actors, pigging out on their slice of pie, would resist government misconduct.

Could the proposal?mean increasing government participation until? free market solutions for internet security and privacy are substantially eroded. While, the actors may remain private under the ID scheme, they act in the context of a government sponsored system. Each player's role is assigned and regulated by the government which sets standards, and allocates market participation, if not share. Has the government in picking participants?once again acted to pick winners and designate losers in the market.

In the past a new superior security devise or program could be adopted by millions of individual users and literally sweep the market transforming the landscape. In the future, will security ultimately be a matter of governmental fiat?

It isn't comforting to remember that even the Chinese government backed down from a similar proposal in?the face of protest. But you don't have to join a conspiracy subgroup to wish this program ill. It may be that a NetWorld.com column was right when it described NSTIC as just "a great example of rampant, over-reaching, ignorant, and ill-conceived political foolishness."

And the best advise on this matter may?come in a?January Washington Times editorial?when it urged Congress, the Tech industry and the American people to run as far and as fast as they could from this governmental offer of assistance.

photo credit:?baldphoenix

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