Citizen.wired.net

The Internet is not solely about commerce, it is primarily a communications medium. I favor free market mechanisms for determining technology and economic objectives, and I think there is a point at which we, the buyers and users of products, have to assert ourselves en masse. These ID schemes and control architectures that have the business community so hot to trot are simply not in our best interest, and we need to make it clear we don't want them, won't use them, and sure as hell won't pay for them.

In the end businesses won't do anything people won't pay for. It's the most simple and elegant control mechanism in society. If we end up with this stuff we've no one to blame but ourselves.

Privacy News from Wired News - Get Ready for New ID Standards.
The Liberty Alliance, a direct competitor to Microsoft's Passport online identity authentication system, will unveil its system on Monday. [ ... ]
Privacy advocates, however, say the creation of a single identification standard will make it easier for businesses to profile Internet users for marketing purposes.
"They want identification data to find new marketing avenues," said Chris Hoofnagle, legislative counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "What it means for the individual is more spam, more direct mail, more telemarketing."
Hoofnagle said a single Internet ID also will place individual financial data at greater risk for disclosure over the Internet.
"It's like using the same key for your house and your car and your safe deposit box," he said. "Compromise that one key and all the golden eggs are compromised."

[Privacy Digest]

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