‘One Ring to rule them all, and in the darkness bind them’
I lived in China for 10 years without a National ID Card.
This was tough… The first time it was an issue was day 2 when the TA at the school I worked at had to get me a mobile phone on her ID card, then the bank account. I was always a second class citizen there however welcoming the country was overall.
China went through incredible growth in the 10 years I was there and ID technologies also increase rapidly from online banking dongles (which I couldn’t get because no ID card) to face scans to pick my kids up from school (which didn’t work because I was White :o). Every method of ID is inherently flawed.
In the case of Iris scans, how long until iris transplants are possible. What of people with damaged eyes.
What of modern day slavery? Cuckooing where someone controls someone else. Breaking of encryption algorithms. Accidents/attacks resulting in blindness (the old film example of cutting of a finger for the door scanner), How long is that iris valid after death :/? Or simply loosing your phone :/.
What of those who don’t want to or can’t be part of this system? I struggle with things like social media because I’m kinda like bi-polar… Sometimes on a high or low… I have to delete all my social media accounts sometimes to avoid screwing up friendships or work. This removes me from society. I can’t have a ‘linked in’, even a job that matches my skills, which actually makes everything way worse because I end up with no peers and big ideas with no direction.
What of fraud? I have seen people get around systems in some crazy ways, like perfectly legal ID with different names, used for different banking. Bizarre workarounds because countries operate differently. Will China or Russia or North Korea accept the ‘Sam Altman World ID’?
What of those who have to get police protection or political asylum.
Is there actually safety in NOT having a ‘World ID’… The systems of governance we have in the world today with different countries set at odds and keeping systems separate.
Always there will be those who get around the systems, the grey areas. This isn’t ALWAYS bad.
We change as we age but generally family and friends recognise us… IDs give us degrees of separation… They can give us freedoms… They can also put you in chains.
‘The right to a private life’, ‘The right to be forgotten’ these are phrases that resonate with me. Just because I am different, or even different at times, it doesn’t make me wrong. Is technology right because the largest group of people have it?
ID can open up opportunities. It can also shut them down.
It’s impossible to know the risks until they happen either way.
Privacy is a scarce resource. Don’t loose it. Don’t assume that it exists. Respect it. Remember people are not perfect. They can make mistakes (not all for bad meaning but some).
Perspective sheds light on many things… Yet it doesn’t penetrate reason.
If the whole world gets an Iris scan, they may have to say goodbye to my perspective. haha I hear you cry finally we cracked it!
On a dark note and I hate to say it data seems to = money 