Letters to the Editor
-
Biometircs and Magic
Memo to Fraud Guy:
I see you liked my posting; or maybe you did'nt. A lot of people don't.
Biometrics Anchors a person's identity. Once the fingerprint is in the record the identity of the person cannot be changed or "ripped off". The idea that an illegal alien would have a set of 10 finger prints glued on is not even laughable. Besides getting caught will net a stint in the hooscow too boot.
Secure or tamper proof ID cannot be altered and it can be verified electronically to confirm that it is indeed the ID that was issued to that fingerprint. The technology has been here for a while now and it is being perfected everyday.
Combine that with a 4 digit code (better yet make that 6 digits) and you now have a system that is 99.99999% un- breakable. The mass fraud that is committed by 12 to 20 million illegals cannot continue once this link in the chain has been rectified. That is a good thing; at least that is what 85-90 % of American's think.
As for the AG not prosicuting tax fraud I beg to differ. One of the reasons I have a highly paid accountant do my taxes is that small business owners are less likely to get audited if they file with an accountant
(By the way, the IRS uses profiling to do most of their audits. They don't waste time with small fish and they
target certain classes of tax payers especially small
business owners, something that never seems to bother
the ACLU types. Maybe it is racism?)
Let's face it, it will work and I am right.
-
Memo to Khan
--Biometrics Anchors a person's identity. Once the fingerprint is in the record the identity of the person cannot be changed or "ripped off". The idea that an illegal alien would have a set of 10 finger prints glued on is not even laughable. Besides getting caught will net a stint in the hooscow too boot.--
The issue is, that only one fingerprint (most people use their right index finger) is needed. Proof of concept that defeating such methodologies has been around for years.
--Secure or tamper proof ID cannot be altered and it can be verified electronically to confirm that it is indeed the ID that was issued to that fingerprint. The technology has been here for a while now and it is being perfected everyday.--
--Combine that with a 4 digit code (better yet make that 6 digits) and you now have a system that is 99.99999% un- breakable. The mass fraud that is committed by 12 to 20 million illegals cannot continue once this link in the chain has been rectified. That is a good thing; at least that is what 85-90 % of American's think.--
See above; as soon as we create a technological means to defeat a fraud method, either a technological method to defeat the means will be created, or a new fraud method will be created. Example: Chip and PIN in England was supposed to stop fraud cold over there (IIRC, one study claimed it would cut fraud by 90%) Guess what, the last report I saw had card fraud increasing less than two years into the program.
Why is this so? In part, any technological solution will take so long to roll out to cover a target population, that there will be plenty of time for tech savvy crooks to develop countermeasures. That is why Patch Tuesday is so popular with crackers online--they now have kits to take the info with the released patches and plug them into an exploit that can be out the same day, well before most businesses and many individuals can patch their computers and networks to protect against the exploits. In addition, many exploits are now being released into the wild just after Patch Tuesday, in order to give crackers the maximum exposure before the next month.
This brings me to another point. Fraud is a business model. The grey market is a significant proportion of the world economy, and just like any other business, the fraudsters adapt to changing legal and market forces to maintain and increase their profits and viability. They will find ways to supply illegal immigrants with false ID and other tools to join our society.
--As for the AG not prosicuting tax fraud I beg to differ. One of the reasons I have a highly paid accountant do my taxes is that small business owners are less likely to get audited if they file with an accountant (By the way, the IRS uses profiling to do most of their audits. They don't waste time with small fish and they
target certain classes of tax payers especially small business owners, something that never seems to bother
the ACLU types. Maybe it is racism?)--
Actually, I wasn't talking about tax fraud. Many immigrants are actually at a net loss for taxes, because the payroll taxes they contribute to their stolen identity are held by the government, WHICH KNOWS THAT THESE FUNDS ARE NOT FROM THE ORIGINAL IDENTITY. If they used your ID, you would never know, unless through some fluke you saw a strange item on your credit report. The government could likely already track such false filings, but somehow, doesn't. The money from these uncollectable Medicaid, Social Security, and other taxes are held by the government, and makes up a decent proportion of these programs "trust funds".
In addition, the IRS prefers to go after small fry, because they do not have the resources to defend themselves against an audit. That is probably why your accountant helps you out, because your accountant will have to help defend you due to his professional licensing. Do you know one of the biggest groups targeted for auditing? Poverty level people filing for Earned Income Credits? They make so little that the government has a program to give back their taxes, but targets them heavily. Somewhere around half of the Fortune 100 pay net tax rates hovering around 0%, but somehow we never have the resources to audit them.
--Let's face it, it will work and I am right.--
I have many more examples I can give you, but I think these cover the basics. Unfortunately for your assertion, having had to defend against fraudsters, crooks, and other criminals for the past 15 years, I can tell you that there is no magic bullet, and that human ingenuity will compromise any foolproof method that a human can devise. Because it will only stop the fools.
Nota Bene
12 years ago, I attended a Secret Service seminar about the new fraud prevention techniques that credit card companies were rolling out. I had just read the PR blurb that stated that this technology would stop the majority of credit card crime being committed at that time. The Agent advised the fraud professionals at the seminar that they fraudsters were two years ahead of the technology THAT HAD NOT ROLLED OUT YET, and that five years previously, they were one year ahead of the previous technology. I actually don't think that they are more than that two years ahead of the curve now, only because they have found it to be easier to just buy the solutions off the shelf as companies roll out new security methods and others roll out countermethods.