Note that if [generic scary three letter agency] wants to spy on you it's already quite easy for them to do so (see FISA, CALEA, NSLs, Sugar Grove, etc).
>Note that if [generic scary three letter agency] wants to spy on you it's already quite easy for them to do so (see FISA, CALEA, NSLs, Sugar Grove, etc).
It's not really about spying.
It's about a government bureaucracy having the power to control your identity.
If Visa cancels my card I can get an AMEX. The CIA has limited reach here.. the alphabet soups can't easily freeze my bank account.
But if the government controls my ID card, they can shut me down utterly and I have no recourse aside from the broken judicial system.
The simple fact of the matter is that corporations such as Visa and HSBC and Equifax are more trustworthy than the government.
Giving the government the ability to authenticate humans online is giving them WAY TOO MUCH UNCHECKED POWER.
http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/ns_tic.pdf
Note that if [generic scary three letter agency] wants to spy on you it's already quite easy for them to do so (see FISA, CALEA, NSLs, Sugar Grove, etc).