A short snip about Schneier's new book. This is how hackers can help prevent a police state. Thinking critically about security mechanisms that control but don't secure. For example, at Defcon, John Q. Newman, an expert on identity fraud, made a very interesting case that "national ID cards" were really LESS SECURE then the existing system. They merely serve the purpose of database centralization. If there is only one card to forge, then all of the resources in the forgery community get aimed at that card, and it falls no matter how strong it is. If there are many cards to forge, resources are spread out and forgeries aren't as good. Canada is learning this the hard way with their new national birth certificate. Lets not make the same mistake.

Counterpane: Crypto-Gram: November 15, 2002