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From: jmlang@water.UUCP
Newsgroups: can.general
Subject: Re: University-wide Finger
Message-ID: <1056@water.waterloo.edu>
Date: Sat, 25-Jul-87 16:31:32 EDT
Article-I.D.: water.1056
Posted: Sat Jul 25 16:31:32 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 25-Jul-87 18:35:24 EDT
References: <3601@watvlsi.waterloo.edu> <1473@watcgl.waterloo.edu> <1051@water.waterloo.edu> <8707241453.AA03690@ephemeral.ai.toronto.edu>
Reply-To: jmlang@water.waterloo.edu (Jerome M Lang)
Distribution: can
Organization: U. of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 47

In article <8707241453.AA03690@ephemeral.ai.toronto.edu> lamy@ai.toronto.edu (Jean-Francois Lamy) writes:
>In article <9903@orchid.waterloo.edu> rbutterworth@orchid.waterloo.edu (Ray Butterworth) writes:
>>I have never understood why so many Canadians are paranoid about
>>identity numbers.  I would find life much simpler if my SIN, my
>>[...]
>>It would make things a lot easier for everyone (except for
>>illegal immigrants, welfare fakes, tax evaders, library book
>>thiefs, wanted criminals, etc.).
>
>Correlation of huge databases would be greatly facilitated by unique IDs.
>This raises interesting questions wrt the presumption of innocence that
>underlies our legal system.

There is also one major problem, and that is the one that worries me most.
No matter how competent the maintainers of a data-base are, a substantial
number of records will contain errors. These might be of the "obsolete"
nature: info that is no longer relevant. They might be address changes
that are not yet done. In general, transactions not yet processed. Plain
entry errors. Malicious errors. etc...

I remember seeing an article showing the cost of reducing the number
of wrong entries from 8% to 7% as phenomenal. As a rule of thumb, 1 entry
out of 12 has some errors. And that is in the best of worlds.

I do not have any qualms about somebody having accurate information
about me (within reason, that is.) I do have serious misgivings about
wrong information about me, especially when I don't know about it until
I try to get a loan, or a job with the RCMP or... If you think that this
will not happen to you, think about the last time you move. I am still
getting mail for somebody that lived in my current apartment so long
ago (more than 2 years) that the lady next door doesn't remember who
it might be (and she's lived there for eons). I wonder where my mail
ends up. Remember, 1 record in 12 about you contains an error.

Having a unique identifyer allows EASY computer match on wrong information
about me. And these are costly, time-consuming, etc. in order TO
PROVE THAT I AM INNOCENT. The onus, and expense, should be on the
other side of the fence: but in many cases that is too expensive,
they will investigate if there is a complaint.

I try to not give any information unless I know what it will be used for.
For instance, the bank does need to know about my credit record before
approving a loan to me. The bank does not need to know the size of my shoes.
-- 
Je'ro^me M. Lang	   ||    jmlang@water.bitnet        jmlang@water.uucp
Dept of Applied Math       ||			  jmlang%water@waterloo.csnet
U of Waterloo		   ||  	 jmlang%water%waterloo.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa