During the last two years, the U.S. Federal Gov’t has, by fiat, taken over many things and they have proposed to take over many more.

The automotive industry. The finance industry. The health-care industry. Now they propose to takeover the you industry.

The Department of Homeland Security has issued a proposal for a “National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace”. In effect, DHS proposes a strategy to deal with the critically pesky issue of having to remember all those darn passwords. To remedy the situation the government “suggests” how they could “facilitate” a system for managing your identities.

What could go wrong?

They propose that the system could be used not only for the IRS to track your very important refund but to be used by all websites for commerce. This all sounds vaguely familiar.

Rev 13:16 And he shall make all, both little and great, rich and poor, freemen and bondmen, to have a character in their right hand, or on their foreheads. 17 And that no man might buy or sell, but he that hath the character, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Now of course, DHS assures us that there is nothing nefarious in the Gov’t trying to control, I’m sorry, facilitate a system that the private sector is already actively working on. After all, we all know that truly great innovation on comes from the Gov’t. Now, of course, I am not really suggesting that this particular proposal is the fulfillment of this or any other prophecy. However, when that prophecy is fulfilled it will likely take the form of an equally innocuous memorandum. Liberty is not often taken by guns but rather by such memos.

Back to the proposal.

One of the suggestions of the paper is that your government facilitated national identity could be linked to your cell phone, to your pharmacy, to your credit cards, your bank accounts, and your blog entries and comments . No, nothing to worry about here. DHS asks us to “Envision It!”

Envision It!

An individual voluntarily requests a smart identity card from her home state. The individual chooses to use the card to authenticate herself for a variety of online services, including:
· Credit card purchases,
· Online banking,
· Accessing electronic health care records,
· Securely accessing her personal laptop computer,
· Anonymously posting blog entries, and
· Logging onto Internet email services using a pseudonym.

Yes, I can envision it.

Here is wisdom. He that hath understanding, let him count the number of ways this could go very very badly.

I take it as axiomatic that when the government manages your identity, you cease to have one.