superfluous high-tech graphic

Bruce Schneier, a respected security expert and cryptologist, writes about the Real ID legislation that was recently passed in the US. This guy is really sharp about the technological and mathematical side of cryptology, but he doesn’t forget the social and practical issues either.

His main point is that a universal ID system will make people feel safer without actually delivering any security benefits. When people feel like they can rely on a system, they will often let their guard down in other areas. This would be worth it if the system actually helped make things safer. But as he points out:

“Proponents of national ID cards want us to assume all these problems, and the tens of billions of dollars such a system would cost — for what? For the promise of being able to identify someone?

What good would it have been to know the names of Timothy McVeigh, the Unabomber, or the DC snipers before they were arrested? Palestinian suicide bombers generally have no history of terrorism. The goal is here is to know someone’s intentions, and their identity has very little to do with that.”

Unfortunately this bill passed with few people noticing it since it was tacked on the back of a military spending bill. (Whoever came up with the idea of bundling completely unrelated laws in the same bill obviously wasn’t thinking clearly.) And the fact that it “gives authority to the Secretary of Homeland Security to unilaterally add requirements as he sees fit” [*] doesn’t make me feel much better. More info here.