Why SINs are a bad idea, at least to my point of view. Options

[kzt]

so thats the "real" problem here, that nothing thats part of the person ties the number to said person.

therefor, when a person is declared dead, it becomes a war of words about some person or other belonging to the number or not.

The "actual" identifier that AIFIS uses seems to be the FBI number. This is what the fingerprint record appears to be actually linked to, that is the primary key. As people can use multiple SSNs, names, etc these are not suitable for use as a primary key.

As the cops often solve cases after the perp is dead, the people running the database don't really care if the person who has these fingerprints is dead or not. What matters to them is that the fingerprints probably belong to FBI number A and that FBI number A is tied to the following other data....

[kzt]

SINCentral still exists, but it's in their favor to make more money by contracting out, allowing for loopholes, and giving corps the ability to make some people appear or disappear.

Nobody outsources a critical service that is required to be reliable to an organization that is untrustworthy. Your customers will cut you off at the knees. See the example of what happened to CardSystems. They went out of business 3 months after their customers found they were violating the user agreement and facilitating fraud. Corporation compliance offices and government regulators have no mercy for people who steal from them while being paid to perform a very sensitive and security critical function.

[Earlydawn]

SINs, as I see them, are not a central truth database. They're basically just a government anchor for other data. Your SIN has some fairly basic information about you, like your legal name, gender, some general details akin to what you'd find on a driver's license, if you're a federal criminal, and your picture. Then, data such as a driver's license, permits, tax records, and bank information is then tied to that number, both in terms of hard copies and what you keep on your comlink.

[kzt]

My personal point of view is that once you have an id that has valid biometrics you are done. That's your permanent ID. You can't ever get another valid biometric ID (from anyone who talks to the issuer of the original) or use another biometric ID wherever the original is valid. It will always produce the original ID if they run the biometrics.

However, not many places actually do do that, or can do that. They verify that you match the biometrics on the card, not you match the real biometrics that are stored in the main database. This is for reasons of cost and security. Only a very few places are allowed to run those checks. So don't get arrested and booked.

And don't ever burn your real biometric ID. It makes air transportation, border crossing and several other things kind of painful.

[Knight takes Bis...]

One could assume that every one gets one SINs, that is updated when needed. Nationality would be listed amongst various bits of information, along with metatype, age etc., and used for cross referencing identification. This, of course, doesn't mean that there aren't loopholes. No system is without fissures in it's construct.

[Knight takes Bis...]

Typo correction: One could assume that every one gets one SIN....

[Cthulhudreams]

To be fair, that's rather speculative, isn't it? I'm sure that many countries and corporations attempt to set it up so that there's one master SIN that is modified as needed rather than issuing multiple SINs to a single entity. Of course, whether they're successful in having a somewhat unified system or not is another issue entirely.

The one SIN system has problems too - who do you trust to be the orginating authority? It cannot be someone you might ever have a disagreement with, because if it is, they can just wipe all your identify infomation out, set it on fire, and spit on its corpse, and now no-one on your team can identify themselves. Plus does anyone in tibet or china actually have a sin then?

If there are multiple copies that actually have the capability to be different, you can very well end up with my multiple ids situation

It's really rather weird. Especially when you consider how fake SINs interact with the system.

A rating 6 fake may/should/might get you onto a suborbital, something that requires biometric identification. But even if it doesn;t, you use thumbprints to authorize basic purchases. So when I buy an R6 'fake' (or even an R1) why can I actually discard that identity? It should always remain traceable. Heck, they should be able to cross reference with their own database once they figure out that I'm faking and find ALL my ids. But they cannot, so the question is why not?

The only reasonable explantion (and this isn't particularly reasonable, but its all I've got) is that everyone and there dog is an issuing authority, and won't disclose their databases to outsiders. So when lonestar asks if this person is who they claim to be, all they can do is send a bundle of biometrics and name infomation to Horizon, and Horizon returns with 'yes' or 'no' - and nothing else, not wanting to help lonestar.

This neatly prevents lonestar picking up DNA and running it through everyone and their dogs database, because they need a name otherwise no-one will talk to them. If they have a name (say they have a list of people who went into the area) they can just ask everyone one after the other (thats only about 100 requests) until they find the issuing authority.

This allows you fakes easily - you just invent a new name, a hacker fradualently issues a fake from some arbitary issuing authority (say, some NAN council, or australia, or really whatever.) and then you re-use the same biometrics.

It's sort of the only explaination I can see for fake sins, and sins, and biometrics working. I'm open to suggestions however

[The Monk]

I've always thought that SINs are an abstract method of identity. What I mean is that there are so many places that a person can be from and so many unreliable agencies out there that the only way to verify if someone is who he says he is is to follow the data trail his life has left behind. So running someone's SIN is like running his name through a search algorithm, if the computer can generate enough hits specifically enough hits through large agencies such as banks and stable government beuracracies then that person and his SIN is real.

A patrol car with a weak computer and only a few minutes to work will generate only a few hits even with a legitimate SIN so a low rating fake SIN may work. A powerful computer will be able to generate mountains of data in a few seconds so only a high rating fake SIN will be able to fool it.

So even if a SIN started off fake the more you use it the more "real" it becomes. This SIN will track where you live, work, shop, play, etc. If someone is trying to track you down using a fake SIN and all of the data trail of that SIN is fake then that person will most likely not find you. That's why a real sin is a disadvantage. This SIN can be used to track down people you know, places you've been, even your family members or friends and ultimately you.

[Tzitzimine]

In my games a SIN is similar to a passport. The concept is universal. If it's issued by Ares, it's still valid for MCT, Horizon, the UCAS, CAS, Caribbean League, etc... Like a MAC address from LinkSys is the same as one from NetGear, D-Link, etc... Just one more universal standard.

Yes, the military does keep DNA on record of all it's members supposedly for identification of remains. But as that article points out, if that's the case why not dispose of them after departure from service? And why would you let them be used for any other purpose? Well, there are a set of rules in place to be able get your hands on DNA data from that database. Currently they are fairly stringent, but I'm sure that will slowly change in the future to become easier and easier.

As for being "dead" it really only effects government programs to the degree of being a "life altering event". Most companies keep their own records and don't have access to the SSN database except for external queries and background checks. IF you owe Visa money they will still come after you even if the SS administration says your dead! "I WANT MY 2 DOLLARS!!!"