Multiple SINs Options

[shadowbod]

Firstly, apologies for filling the board with my questions, but I've only just created my account and it seems I have a lot of pent-up stupidity! :)

Secondly, my question...

Taking it as read that most 'runners have multiple SINs, can all these SINs be stored in one commlink and easily accessed on-demand, i.e. simple action, or is some complex process needed to swap between numbers?

Thanks.

[GrinderTheTroll]

SINs are used to establish accounts, licenses, etc. You have the passwords to these accounts, so as long as you can "login" to your own accounts, I see no issue with using the same commlink.

Just like pulling out a different credit card, you can "hand" someone whatever ID, license, bank account you like. It's whens someone decides to access your stuff without your permission that they might find out more than you'd like.

Ultimately all the datatrails lead back to your commlink, so 4 SINs in typical use might make it 4-times faster to find out who you really are.

/my 2-cents.

~GTT

[Brahm]

[Backgammon]

Hmm... I don't have my books with me, so no page references but... there's a section, in the SIN description, that states "SINs are stored on a commlink and encrypted".

To ME, this suggests that SINs are stored in a special place on commlinks with built-in encryption. That suggests to me, 1 commlink = 1 SIN.

However, as a GM I'd be flexible on the subject, allowing runners to run a simple program to swap active SINs on a commlink.

[neko128]

[GrinderTheTroll]

[Dashifen]

[hobgoblin]

if you want to look at something RL thats strangely similar to this, take a look at the infocards system that microsoft is developing. its kind of like a software wallet, but unlike normal "wallet" style software, this have a defined interface between client and server...

[Backgammon]

[Azralon]

My assumptions have been that each commlink is registered to one owner (one SIN). Each owner can have multiple commlinks, much like anyone today could own multiple cellphones or computers.

If Bob wants to sell a commlink to Steve, then obviously Bob has to be able to transfer ownership to Steve by some sort of official re-registration process.

Bob probably calls the commlink manufacturer and says "I'm Bob Guy, system identification number UCAS8675309, transferring legal ownership of commlink serial number IC81680085 to Steve Dude. My secret question is 'What is my pet's name' and the answer is 'Lofwyr.'" After a verification process by the tech support phone jockey, Steve gets on the line and goes through his song and dance to get the comm registered to him. Now that comm is linked to Steve's SIN instead of Bob's.

Or, of course, the hacker can probably go in and do all that on the down-low.

[hobgoblin]

i would find it more likely that the comlink carrys your SIN(s) in "secure" storage. only that with a runners comlink, he can pick what SIN he wants to show to a query. just like you can pick any of your cards in your wallet to id yourself as long as there is a picure of you on it, attached to a name and so on...

and when a SIN is selected, the querying party then tests this by checking diffrent goverment and private databases. not enough matches and the system alerts the operator of a problem...

remember, a comlink can change accessid at a moments notice. if each had a embedded serial, that action would be useless unless one could go in and change the serial...

yes it makes the system needlessly inecure, but hey, its not the comlink itself thats your id, its your SIN data that it happens to carry...

you could probably say that the reason for it being easy to change accessid is that the corps wants it that way. makes it easyer for the teen's to drop by the local NEOnet shop and pick up a new comlink when the old one is no longer fashionable :P

[GrinderTheTroll]

Multiple Commlinks sounds like a hassle, too much for me to force runners to have multiple ones, unless they want to split up the datatrail.

I'll leave it up to them. :vegm:

[DireRadiant]

Opinions are mine only...

SINs and Commlink
SIN = Identity Account, think Driver License Number, but more stuff
Commlink = Phone, Computer, PDA etc.

What happens during an ID check?
- ID Checkers commlink asks your commlink for the Number.
- Your commlink sends over a SIN number.
- ID Checkers commlink takes that number and asks some third party system (database commlink) for details on that number.
- ID Checkers commlink gets back from third party data showing that the SIN belongs to an asiatic Troll, with red hair, blue eyes, 8 feet tall and approximately 400 kg, age, date of birth, education and professional history.
- ID Checker looks at you, you aren't a troll, but an elf with furry blue skin. ID doesn't check out.
OR
- ID Checker looks at you, you are a troll who matches, but is still suspicious.
- Id Checker asks, "Where did you go to school?", "Where do you work?", "Where do you live?"
- You answer it all correctly.
- ID Checker is still suspicious, and asks you to pee in a cup.
- After biometric comparison also matches data from third party, ID Checker says "Okay, I guess you really are so and so."

You can carry multiple SINS, but only one should be active and supplied in response to requests.
The data to support the SIN is carried by a third party, not the ID checker.

Yes, if someone wanted to go through billions of records and check for duplicate DNA and other Biometric samples they can, but it would take a long time, and how does the ID data holder know which one is incorrect? You can't just delete both without a lot of trouble. It requires investigation and verification, resources and time and money to resolve, it's far easier to wait for one account to get flagged as suspicious by some other activities and then deal with it.

Yes, for forensics investigations, biometric data could end up matched against your "fake" SIN biometric data. This is okay. If you committed a crime you know about and know you blew your cover, you won't be where your SIN says you live, you'll get a new one.

When you get a new fake SIN and need to supply Biometric data that matches to you, why aren't you discovered immediately as matching serial killer X profile? Well, that's why you are paying the big bucks to a hacker. When the hacker puts you into the system they skip that normal step of regular new SINs where new SIN biometric data are run against outstanding biometric forensic data to alert authorities. However, if you are caught by law enforcement and they run you through to purely match you against past forensic Biometrics, they will likely get a hit. But notice this is triggered by them already having caught you. You can presume that for a SIN that already exists they do not have a process that continually goes around matching criminal biometric data against all active SINS. Because, hey they already checked last week and it was okay wasn't it?

[Shrike30]

I'd allow players to unscrew the back of the commlink, pop out the chip that has little details like your SIN and bank accounts and the like on it, and pop in a new one.

[neko128]

There's another option for SINs besides a third-party database, one that's used commonly in modern systems; encryption. The rules already say somewhere that SINs are heavily encrypted, right? Under that assumption, there's no particular reason why you couldn't encrypt a large amount of that third-party data into the SIN itself. I mean, we know that the SIN has references into databases from the bit about making fake SINs, but that doesn't necessarily mean those databases are used to store information about the bearer; it could mean the equivalent of a single person having records in the IRS's databases, the social security database, the DMV database, the Draft Office database, their medical insurance carrier's database... Not identifying data, but data that's linked to it and suspicious if absent.