[LINK] Hacker backs DNA database

[richard@auscoms.com.au]

While identity theft is a heinous and disruptive crime, having it would be
better than the incredible intrusion involved in DNA as authentication. 

Already, authentication (via registration) is routinely demanded before you even
know whether or not you want a transaction -- you can't get as far as browsing
prices without membership. It's not too hard to envisage a world in which I buy
a book online, and even though I've paid for it, I can't read it without
repeating my authentication ... an intolerable situation.

Let's imagine another notion, that of the thin client appliance as home
computer, with all software at the service provider -- now, are we to consider
that with my credit good and my computer paid for, I then have to prove my right
to use it?

While we're touting the wonders of digital, could we also look at whether we're
helping create a world in which our freedoms are seriously curtailed? All in the
name of "our own good", of course.

Richard Chirgwin

____________________Reply Separator____________________
Subject:    Re: [LINK] Hacker backs DNA database
Author: "Damien Miller" <djm@mindrot.org>
Date:       17/10/00 10:58

On Tue, 17 Oct 2000, Tony Barry wrote:

> A US hacker believes the explosion of the Internet has led to an 
> explosion of identity theft. That's sparked debate about whether DNA 
> could be used to confirm a computer user's I.D.

Says Kevin Mitnick, just released from a US jail:

> "I think the government has to establish some sort of central
> database that uses biometric identifiers, such as your DNA, that
> can label you as you. This might eliminate a lot of identity theft,
> because anyone can apply for credit by supplying information over
> the phone."

What did they do to him in there?!?

-d

-- 
| ``We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on | Damien Miller -
| a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the | <djm@mindrot.org>
| works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, / 
| we know this is not true.'' - Robert Wilensky UCB / http://www.mindrot.org