Posts by David Bell 6 4 publicly visible posts • joined 19 Jun 2009
Ayn Rand summed up the UK's current Criminal Justice System beautifully when she wrote
"Dr. Ferris smiled. . . . . ."We've waited a long time to get something on you. You honest men are such a problem and such a headache. But we knew you'd slip sooner or later - and this is just what we wanted."
"You seem to be pleased about it."
"Don't I have good reason to be?"
"But, after all, I did break one of your laws."
"Well, what do you think they're for?"
Dr. Ferris did not notice the sudden look on Rearden's face, the look of a man hit by the first vision of that which he had sought to see. Dr. Ferris was past the stage of seeing; he was intent upon delivering the last blows to an animal caught in a trap.
"Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We want them broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against - then you'll know that this is not the age for beautiful gestures. We're after power and we mean it. You fellows were pikers, but we know the real trick, and you'd better get wise to it. There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted - and you create a nation of law-breakers - and then you cash in on guilt. Now, that's the system, Mr. Rearden, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with."
Simple solution, a plastic card with name, date of birth, a photo, and your unique identifier encoded in an RFID chip as well as on a barcode and in numeric form.
At a basic level you can prove ID by matching the picture to the face, you then know who it is and what age they are.
If the burden of identity is greater, authorised people can then scan the barcode/read the RFID tag or even key in the id and up pops a picture from the database that can be confirmed to match, or not match the picture on the card - this avoids the use of fake cards where identity/proof of age is a legal requirement. In the case of licensed premises, their access-level would also return the age (meaning even the most ape-like doorstaff could controll access - they wouldnt have to do the "subtract date of birth from current year maths".
Everyones driving entitlements could be tied to their ID number, meaning we dont need to carry a second photo card, with access to that database being limited to those who need to access it only, the same for police records, even medical records.
We could even allow people access to their OWN records on theses systems, meaning that if I change my address, I can go online and do that (and as it doesnt physically appear on any documentation) it can be changed at zero cost to the end user as nothing needs to be physically changed.
No real privacy concerns, except the cross-referencing of Databases being easier, as long as there is a strong way of limiting the searches that can be done from the ID number, but that can be done in hardware, as mentioned above, a simple card reader with a display at the door to a nightclub or on the bar in a pub, put the card near the reader, check the face matches the card/person presenting and get a colour coded (red for underage, green for over) indicator.
Shouldn't even cost the earth, just a simple database with a few tables and columns in it and a networked system to be able to check back to base from.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2025
