OMG. Eugene Kaspersky wants an Internet Passport because he says "anonymity causes security headaches and should be outlawed".
This is madness. The social repurcussions are surely obvious, while it's not clear what problem it might solve.
Most cybercrime is actually linked to an excess of arbitrary identification, with inadequate safeguards. For the average user, anonymity in reality has become a luxury. The simplest credit card purchase requires an inordinate amount of identifying
information to be divulged, to total strangers, who then pass it all onto third party processors no one has ever heard of.
Verizon Business reports that hundreds of millions of personal records are compromised every year, fuelling a rampant black market in illegitimate IDs.
I say to Kaspersky, anonymity would be a blessing! To solve cybercrime, we don't need any new passport, rather we need to protect the identities we already have against theft and abuse.
And on a pragmatic note, if businesses and governments alike remain reluctant to invest more than a few cents per user on authentication, what makes anyone think that a new "Internet Passport" would attract the security it would deserve?
Stephen Wilson,
Lockstep.