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PRIVACY 101, LECTURE III

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                    PRIVACY 101, LECTURE III
                   IDENTITY INFORMATION RISKS
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Sender: owner-privacy101@c2.org
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"What's your name?"  The most common question used to invade
your privacy.  "Who are you?"  Another version.  "Papieren,
bitte!" -- from the World War II movies.

It seems everyone wants to know who you are.  Why?  They want to
judge you.  To determine your guilt or innocence your worthiness
or unworthiness for some purpose based on your past activities
as documented in their memories or databases.

Those of us in the US are in the middle of a long-running debate
about whether or not the government should impose a national ID
card of some kind.  Australia recently defeated one (for now) as
did Holland.  The French police have started a system of street
ID checks in an attempt to find illegal aliens.  They are
converting what is nominally a voluntary ID system into a
mandatory one.

Identity-based information systems whether as simple/complex as
the county sheriff's brain of the last century or as
complex/simple as the data-mined, supercomputed, profiled data
sets of this; hold enormous risks for individuals.  Let's see
what these are.

1)  That others will find out who you are.

The primary risk.  As we move through life, we accumulate a lot
of "baggage."  From our pre-natal medical records through the
probate of our estates there is a lot of juicy information
attached to us.  In addition to physical records, there are the
personal views of us formed by everyone we meet.  We may not
mind some of this information being shared with some other
people, but most of us would like to exercise *some* control
over it.

The one thing that links all of this personal information
together is, of course, the person.  You are the "key field"
that connects all of this disparate data.

I am not speaking only about formal documentation of our
activities but also your reputation in the community and general
information about yourself.  Much of this information when
stored in a networked database is available to thousands of
people spread out over uncounted future years.

2) That others will find out what you are.

A big part of your identity extends beyond your "name, rank, and
serial number" to include your racial or ethnic heritage,
religion, political beliefs, hobbies, and other interests.  All
of these aspects of your identity can cause you problems in
certain times and in certain places.  It doesn't matter what
characteristics you possess.  You name one, and I'll give you
and example of when and where persons with that characteristic
were punished.

It doesn't matter who you are.  You've got something to hide.

3) That others will find out what you used to be.

You have to be aware that when you protect your identity you are
not just guarding against the release of *current* information
about you.   You don't just have to worry about your place in
the *current* social environment.  You are also making a bet
that that environment will not *change* for the rest of your
life.  This seems a pretty sure loser of a bet.

"Are you now or have you ever been a smoker/gun owner/lothario/
carnivore?"

As I like to point out, when I was born smoking was a virtue and
sodomy a vice.

(Note for those incapable of reading English -- the above
sentence implies *absolutely* nothing about my view of either
smoking or sodomy so no nasty email please.)

Your social/legal surroundings are sure to change whether you do
or not.  Are you willing to bet your life that some fact about
you or activity you engage in will not render you unpopular in
forty years.  You certainly are making that bet.

4) That others will find out who your children/grandchildren
are.

Remember -- you are not protecting yourself alone when you
preserve the privacy of your identity.  Even though the US
Constitution prohibits "punishments that work a corruption of
the blood" (punishments that extend to descendants) vendettas of
various kinds are not unknown.  Most of the world's people live
in countries where there are laws or strong traditions that
"visit the sins of the fathers upon the sons."

This works in both directions, of course.  If your identity is
linked to that of your parents and grandparents, you may find
yourself "punished" for their sins.

5) That others will mistake you for someone else.

In addition to worrying about your own information trail, you
have to worry about being mistaken for other people.  Digitally-
stored information is usually not based on any personal
knowledge.  Just like last year's sci.crypt postings, digital
information about you just sits somewhere.  It may be searched
for juicy tidbits but it is rarely verified or modified.  Any
errors are very hard to correct.  You'd better hope that no one
makes any mistakes.

This problem will grow in future years as the authorities deploy
"profiles" as a method of identifying miscreants.  Since a
profile system is guaranteed to produce plenty of "false
negatives," a fair chunk of the future population may be forced
to prove their innocence from time to time after they fit some
future IRS/Inland Revenue tax cheat profile.

The Risks

And what are some of the problems that can occur when people
link together disparate information about you?

You know the possibilities:

1) Death

2) Imprisonment

4) Loss of property

5) Loss of standing or reputation in the community

6) Loss of professional licenses and permissions

7) Loss of income

What to do

In future lectures, we'll teach you how you can integrate
identity privacy into your daily life without having to vastly
alter your habits.  One hint from Barry Reid, author of "The
Paper Trip":  Give the government the paper it wants, and it will
give you the paper you want.

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(c) 1994, Frissell and Sandfort
          332 Bleecker St., #F-34
          New York, NY 10014  USA

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