Undercover, is it still possible in SR4/a? Options

[Snow_Fox]

I thought this the other day. how much more difficult is it to be undercover in the SR4 world where people walk around with their com units broadcasting who they are? Before that you could dress the part and a glib tongue could get you a long way, now you've got to go a lot futher to be believable.

[Angelone]

It's still possible, just requires more work. You need a solid fake SIN and good social skills.

[Vegetaman]

But once you *get* undercover, who is going to suspect you aren't who you say (or look like) you are? If you can get undercover, it would be most advantageous.

[Eratosthenes]

There was a news story this week about how difficult it's become for CIA and other undercover operatives, now that many countries are tying biometric data to passports. Before, all they needed was a new fake passport, but now any country using something as simple as fingerprinting passengers will know that so-and-so's entering on a different passport than they did last time.

[nylanfs]

Actually it might be a bit easier as in if your "identity" is already on display the general populace will tend not to look any further. A good example would be from Gattaca, if you look and act like you are supposed to people overlook inconsistencies.

[kigmatzomat]

In a world of biosculpt, cyber and gene therapy, biometrics like fingerprints, retinal patterns, even age and some genetic markers are adjustable. Retinal patterns are non-existent for people with cybereyes and serial numbers are replaceable. Heck, several people could be adjusted to share a singular identity.

It also depends on how paranoid the megacorps are about other corps identifying their staff. A name and biometric data can be mathematically combined in a way that can be verified but that prevents a database search. Meaning that there wouldn't be a fingerprint database or even a biometric database, there'd be an international "identity" database. Steve Jones and David Smith could be the same person but would have completely different hash files and you couldn't use just his finger prints to find either name entry. however once an agent uses the David Jones alias, he is stuck with it in that country/megacorp until he can get his biometrics re-adjusted as they know all the raw elements that went into the hash.

There would be some incentive to move in that direction as a global biometric databases would create the roadmap for foreign operatives' biosculpt.

[Elfenlied]

I think it's possible:
Deep Cover/Judas Quality -> Proof even to mindreading magic
High rating fake SIN/Erased Quality -> Erased erases everything but the info you need to function. In this case, all electronic traces of your past self are deleted
Biosculpting surgery/Personafix -> The first is to change looks, the second to fool behavorial pattern analysis, e.g. gait analysis. The latter might not be needed depending on how you read Deep Cover.
(Extended) Masking -> This one is mostly for awakened characters. Mask your astral signature to become unidentifiable.
Hacker backup/good hacking skills -> Creating the papertrail needed to make your new ID believable.

This should cover the basics, I believe. It's definitely doable, but requires some amount of work, like it should.

[kzt]

It also depends on how paranoid the megacorps are about other corps identifying their staff. A name and biometric data can be mathematically combined in a way that can be verified but that prevents a database search. Meaning that there wouldn't be a fingerprint database or even a biometric database, there'd be an international "identity" database. Steve Jones and David Smith could be the same person but would have completely different hash files and you couldn't use just his finger prints to find either name entry. however once an agent uses the David Jones alias, he is stuck with it in that country/megacorp until he can get his biometrics re-adjusted as they know all the raw elements that went into the hash.

No he isn't. You said it's a hash of his name and the biometrics. So he becomes Dave Jones, and the hash changes and you can't tell that you issued him a visa under a different name. But that is totally and completely insane. Are you suggesting doing that for police records, so that you can't lookup a criminal record if a thug gives you a fake name when he's arrested?

[Eratosthenes]

No he isn't. You said it's a hash of his name and the biometrics. So he becomes Dave Jones, and the hash changes and you can't tell that you issued him a visa under a different name. But that is totally and completely insane. Are you suggesting doing that for police records, so that you can't lookup a criminal record if a thug gives you a fake name when he's arrested?

In reality they'd take the biometrics, the supplied documents, and any other information and do separate searches for each. If different individuals show up for each one, then there's definitely a problem.

With the confusion of the Crash, hackers, and as others mentioned cyberwear, biosculpting, genetweaking, and nanodisguises, its still possible for someone to use a fake identity. Maintaining it would be difficult, however, as eventually it'll get blown.

At least they don't seem to appear to have come up with a way to record astral signatures.

[ShadowDragon8685]

At least they don't seem to appear to have come up with a way to record astral signatures.

A mage with eidetic memory could come close. But the weak link in that chain is that it's one mage, who is vulnerable to bribery, blackmail, and bullets.

[Halinn]

vulnerable to bribery, blackmail, and bullets.

The three B's. Good guidelines for dealing with any bureaucratic official.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

In reality they'd take the biometrics, the supplied documents, and any other information and do separate searches for each. If different individuals show up for each one, then there's definitely a problem.

With the confusion of the Crash, hackers, and as others mentioned cyberwear, biosculpting, genetweaking, and nanodisguises, its still possible for someone to use a fake identity. Maintaining it would be difficult, however, as eventually it'll get blown.

At least they don't seem to appear to have come up with a way to record astral signatures.

You can now take pictures of an Astral Signature. Recording it is just a simple step beyond that. Should not take too long for that to be a reality. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[kigmatzomat]

No he isn't. You said it's a hash of his name and the biometrics. So he becomes Dave Jones, and the hash changes and you can't tell that you issued him a visa under a different name. But that is totally and completely insane.

It would be...if that's what I said.

I said that the international database would be of hashes, meaning that Ares would only share hashes with Renraku and vice versa. Think of this as the visa/passport database as well as what hotdog carts, stuffer shacks, and many stores would use.

Each corp/country would retain raw data as I said, once you use a given identity in a locale, that company/country will then be able to associate you with that identity from then on until he can get his biometrics re-adjusted as they know all the raw elements that went into the hash.

At international/megacorp borders, anyone who has never entered that corp/country with their current biometrics could have several identities to choose from and that the destination country couldn't tell how many identities they had.

[HaxDBeheader]

It would be...if that's what I said.

I said that the international database would be of hashes, meaning that Ares would only share hashes with Renraku and vice versa. Think of this as the visa/passport database as well as what hotdog carts, stuffer shacks, and many stores would use.

Each corp/country would retain raw data as I said, once you use a given identity in a locale, that company/country will then be able to associate you with that identity from then on until he can get his biometrics re-adjusted as they know all the raw elements that went into the hash.

At international/megacorp borders, anyone who has never entered that corp/country with their current biometrics could have several identities to choose from and that the destination country couldn't tell how many identities they had.

Some of the confusion is because we're leaving unstated the key differentiating factor in this discussion: is this a feeble hot dog stand ID checker or an omega-grade black site ID checker? Most likely somewhere in between, of course, but that scale exists for a reason.

Low-end ID checkers won't effectively search for other IDs, they'll just try to validate the one presented (WAY less resources required to perform the check)

Mid-range ID checkers will first check the ID for validity & match, then perform various flavours of invalidation checks. These checks will be much longer and will only be able to operate quickly on "in-house" databases, needing an "authorization & response" turn-around time for external databases and thus only checking posted biometrics (wanted criminals, high-profile figures, etc). By analogy, do you think that 2011 Germany can search Russia's biometrics databases? Or do they just get to search the biometrics that Russia shares (criminals & public figures they don't want impersonated)?

High-end ID checkers would use illicit backdoors/informants/stolen copies of biometric databases. This would make them the most likely to find multiple IDs so if you're going into one of those with an ID that has a chance of passing (rating 6?) you better have an explanation for why you have a couple rating 4 IDs elsewhere...

In this way a good quality ID will have one or more "local zones" where it has been used and biometrics have been associated with it. Biometric capture and thus "ID localization" would generally only apply for uses against mid-range ID checkers such as "legal" purchase of restricted items, non-perfunctory ID checks from police, etc.

The true multi-ID afficianado will have fake biometrics to go with the fake IDs.
If they stick to one active ID at a time they they will either change their biometrics or scrub biometric records for invalidated IDs. One of the sourcebooks provides rules for scrubbing burnt IDs, I forget which one.

[HaxDBeheader]

IEach corp/country would retain raw data as I said, once you use a given identity in a locale, that company/country will then be able to associate you with that identity from then on until he can get his biometrics re-adjusted as they know all the raw elements that went into the hash.

At international/megacorp borders, anyone who has never entered that corp/country with their current biometrics could have several identities to choose from and that the destination country couldn't tell how many identities they had.

Note another wrinkle this can provide for enterprising GMs: If a group knows your ID biometrics and is watching, it MIGHT be able to detect your biometrics being used with a different name in a different locale. They are unlikely to warn the competition but they will tuck that bit of info in their pocket for later investigation...
Easiest example would be a 'friendly' border where they register 'Bob Walks-on-Shore' leaving Salish territory but their surveillances detects "Welcome to Seattle, Mr Dewitt" from the UCAS side.

Mr Walks-on-Shore's activities might be retroactively examined more closely and he might show up on the 'suspicious activities' list the next time he crosses the border complete with a more thorough biometrics capture and validation.
Depending upon the GM's style it could be as simple as "We're having some problems with the biometric match sir, can you just step through this machine and we'll collect fingerprint, retina, blood type, DNA, and an implant scan for validation" or as unpleasant as "Aw, man. Sorry Mr Walks-on-Shore but you won today's body cavity inspection lottery. I hate these almost as much as you do; I sure hope you didn't eat anything spicy"

Even if they believe his 'Bob Walks-on-Shore' ID is real it won't fill them with happy puppy thoughts to know that he's using a fake ID in Seattle.