Monday, April 11, 2016

National ID System

National biometric Identification of all citizens in a nation.

It is happening elsewhere.  India for example.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-10/india-s-audacious-plan-to-bring-digital-banking-to-1-2-billion-people

National ID is riding in on the wings of a digital cashless monetary system which requires that every user of the monetary system is registered and identified.  Everybody uses money.  If the only money that can be used is digital every citizen must be registered to use it.

"So far, India's attempt to assign every citizen a unique 12-digit number associated with a person's unique iris, fingerprint or facial features, is succeeding—just last week, Aadhaar reached its milestone of registering 1 billion people. With more than 80 percent of Indians enrolled, it gives the payments system a solid base to build on."

Yes, but.....don't know about India but business is a citizen my friend in the USA.

India is aiming at a universal citizen ID that can be used for purposes other than digital cash but the rest of the users of digital cash are businesses.  Universal biometric level ID should be, must be also applied to business as well.  All business entities dealing in digital currency, which is the only currency of a country, must also be equally identified to an equivelent  "biometric level".  The link does not speak to that.  Maybe it is happening but the subject of a different story?

It is exactly the model for the USA to follow.  Biometric ID of every citizen necessary for any currency transaction in a system where the only currency is digital.  "Citizen including an business entity.  Application of the universal system goes beyond currency.  It becomes a replacement for telephone numbers for individuals.  SSN numbers.  Employee ID numbers.  Medical records, Census etc.  At the business level it becomes the universal Federal ID.  Or if administered by the state must comply with minimum Federal data requirement mandates.

Privacy?  A non issue.  Everyone remains secure in their papers but like our names our National ID is public.  Linking info and the nature of the info is a matter of privacy.  Privacy is always subordinate to a legal need to know and who may know and tests of probable cause.


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