Internet Freedom is Doomed.

[Shevanel]

Well, it's been doomed for quite awhile now, but especially now...

http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/09/o...rnet-id-for-a/

President Obama has signaled that he will give the United States Commerce Department the authority over a proposed national cybersecurity measure that would involve giving each American a unique online identity. Other candidates mentioned previously to head up the new system have included the NSA and the Department of Homeland Security, but the announcement that the Commerce Department will take the job should please groups that have raised concerns over security agencies doing double duty in police and intelligence work. So anyway, what about this unique ID we'll all be getting? Well, though details are still pretty scant, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, speaking at an event at the Stanford Institute, stressed that the new system would not be akin to a national ID card, or a government controlled system, but that it would enhance security and reduce the need for people to memorize dozens of passwords online. Sorry, Locke, sounds like a national ID system to us. Anyway, the Obama administration is currently drafting what it's dubbed the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, which is expected at the Department of Commerce in a few months. We'll keep you posted if anything terrifying or cool happens.

[starfish]

I read about that last night. My understanding is that it will be voluntary, so I am doubtful that it will take off.

[British Lad]

Will not effect me, sorry

[Ridiculous]

I'm pretty sure this will just make it incredibly easy for identity theft to occur. You'd have access to everything as soon as you had access to one.

And doesn't Google toolbar already have auto-fill field options to automatically fill in username/password fields, for sites that don't already remember your account? I'm pretty sure the real reasons for this are completely different (i.e. internet browsing habits being monitored and easily linked to a real person).

Anyway hopefully New Zealand doesn't do anything like this.

[Nat3]

Voluntary? Everything starts that way... then it won't be voluntary...>.>

[midwestblues]

This won't work.

[RedState]

Don't see how this could work well

[Shevanel]

Not saying it will work, but our privacy IS getting targeted more and more each day >_>

[Steve712]

I'm very worried, because lately the US has had a very heavily influence on Canadian policy, especially security policy.

[Revan]

Thank God I'm in Canada...at least thank God for now..

[Ichi42go]

Okay people calm down. Not to sound rude or anything, but NEVER trust engadget to put up the full story.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/...ies-cyberspace

"The NSTIC, which is in response to one of the near term action items in the President’s Cyberspace Policy Review, calls for the creation of an online environment, or an Identity Ecosystem as we refer to it in the strategy, where individuals and organizations can complete online transactions with confidence, trusting the identities of each other and the identities of the infrastructure that the transaction runs on. For example, no longer should individuals have to remember an ever-expanding and potentially insecure list of usernames and passwords to login into various online services. Through the strategy we seek to enable a future where individuals can voluntarily choose to obtain a secure, interoperable, and privacy-enhancing credential (e.g., a smart identity card, a digital certificate on their cell phone, etc) from a variety of service providers – both public and private – to authenticate themselves online for different types of transactions (e.g., online banking, accessing electronic health records, sending email, etc.). Another key concept in the strategy is that the Identity Ecosystem is user-centric – that means you, as a user, will be able to have more control of the private information you use to authenticate yourself on-line, and generally will not have to reveal more than is necessary to do so."




In other words, it's not like EVERY citizen must use authentication to access the internet... It's just to prevent identity theft and what-not. In order for it to be something REQUIRED, the entire planet would have to agree to it, because the U.S. doesn't house every site and server. I don't think we should worry about this. Engadget went overboard saying "that would involve giving each American a unique online identity." Doing so would be impossible, and would really make the wonders of Wifi obsolete. It just means you use the same account to pay your phone bill as your mortgage and taxes is all.