ID card rollout begins

[Matthew Pemble]

Wendy M. Grossman wrote:
> The other thing I'd pointed out (and have been saying publicly for 
> years) is that although people get very emotional about 
> compulsory-carry laws, any argument about these is a red herring 
> because with biometrics incorporated into the card you don't need to 
> require anyone to carry the card - just equip the police with handheld 
> reader/verifiers. Very few people leave home without their 
> fingerprints or irises.
I beg to disagree.  Assuming (dangerous but there we go) a competent 
registration scheme for the initial issue of the card, the biometrics 
should (but don't hold your breath) be good enough to _authenticate_ a 
person (assuming they are not a blind bricky) to their card.  On the 
other hand, it is extremely unlikely that there will be enough 
discrimination in the biometrics to accurately _identify_ somebody 
uniquely within the whole database.  The 'Birthday Paradox' in effect, 
if you will.

Now, if the police were looking for a specific person and were comparing 
everybody against that one data set - then (although still not 
necessarily unique) they may well be able to sort them from the herd if 
they use other information to select the right areas to check (as 
opposed to just wheeling us all in through the checkpoints).

Matthew