Cross Referenced ID Databases, A lesson from real life Options

[Xirces]

Now that in the real world we're embarking on a single Europe wide compulsory (no matter what the govt. say) ID scheme with biometrics I find it interesting to compare to the world of shadowrun.

One specific feature caught my eye in a piece I read a few weeks ago - that of actually cross checking the database for duplicated records. Effectively this would mean that once an iris scan has been used for ID for a person then the same iris could not be used again. This seems like a quite good idea for maintaining the integrity of the database and preventing fraud.

In the real world this is going to make identity theft an order of magnitude more difficult than would otherwise be the case and prevent people from maintaining more than one identity.

Does the SR SIN database perform anything similar? - judging by the number of runners with multiple fake IDs I'd guess not...

On that note - what are the (in game) impications of multiple IDs? I can imagine a runner getting arrested. The LS Officer takes the runner back and they ID him...

"Says here that you're Mr John Stevens, is that correct, boy?"

"Sarge! There's a second result on the search"

[Bearclaw]

Many of the people here seem to believe that there would actually be a different SIN for each country, so you wouldn't have to worry about that. Just fake being some one else in Tir, and you can bank as them anywhere in the world.

Yet another whole in the each nation with it's own SIN theory.

[Game2BHappy]

That's a good point Xirces. We have been using fake ID's as rather disposable elements of a job, but there is no reason they wouldn't track down the new ID of that same fingerprint. Since most uses of the IDs do not involve cellular scans, shadowrunners would need to overcome fingerprins & eye scans at most IIRC.

Would the advent of cybereyes and cyberhands require the system to ignore some matching "prints" since many people will have the same brand eye/hand? Could this be used to get around this?

If not, cybereye mods, fingerprint mappers, contacts, fingerprint gloves, etc might get a little more popular in our game. :)

[Xirces]

I'd never actually thought about the effects of cyberware on biometrics.

Just how does one have a *simple* (as in, attached to a credstick) scan of someone who (potentially legally) has cyber eyes and limbs? Presumably you'd end up looking at serial numbers as the only unique feature, which would then mean that black market stuff or second hand stuff provided invalid information (after all if I bought illegal cybereyes I'd make sure that the serial was removed).

I can only assume that if you were caught, the cops would assume that you were SINless scum until you could prove otherwise.

Actually, thinking about it, it would make the retinal mod even more useful - a different retinal pattern for each of your IDs...

The point about different country/corp and SINs is a good one - BBB does say that they "cross polinate" BUT presumably there are corps/countries that do not share information.

[Dog]

I think that the practical applications of such a system are what makes them work for shadowrunners.

If Lone star checks your ID for imperfections, ie: does it appear fake? Is he going to take even the five or ten minutes to run it against all other databases that your ID might be kept under to see if there's a flaw? Depends on how much trouble you're in I guess. If I get stopped for speeding, he's gonna look at my level two ID, check it against the LS database which will tell him if I'm wanted for murder somewhere or have a lot of unpaid parking tickets, then write my level two ID a ticket. If I look like an okay guy, why would he bother with anything else. A periodically self checking system would tie up a lot processing power, so how often would they do it. Once a year? How long do you use your ID? Isn't that what Scramble IC is for?

I would just account for this in the numbers that are already there, maybe allow a modifier for the amount of time (like in physical searches) or for the investigator's suspicions (like in social skills) to influence what the target is for spotting a fake ID.

But maybe that's how it works already. I avoid reading rule books.