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[wdg3rd]

Something like that.

[enemyofthestate]

I think there would be identity "cards" in a TPB universe.  Just not government issued cards.  Banks, for example, would want to be sure you are who you say you are before giving you your money.  I imagine they could even be quite anal about it.  The possibility of getting shot for making a mistake if a pretty strong deterrent to making one.

The problem with government ID is that the records are available to anyone with a badge and everything possible is cross referenced to it.  There is no way to break traceability as a transaction is made.  In that respect a a highly secure (actually trusted) identity system can actually enhance privacy.

SSL and TLS are examples of systems that could do it.

[Leviathan]

Well, anonymized banks do and would try to work off metrics like the numeric signature.  But yeah, essentially even if someone is using identification cards (like a grocery store discount card, or a video rental membership card), it doesn't even have to have real information attached to it.  But, there's nothing against me getting twenty store discount cards using that fake information. 

And in a way, that does make social/economic ostracism more difficult.  If transactions are anonymous, or if starting a new name is easy, it's possible to simply restart engaging in commerce after committing a serious crime and not paying for it by initiating a new identity.  Granted a security company may run checks before taking on a client to ensure he or she won't hurt the bottom line.  But the limitation is that a name is unreliable.

[KBCraig]

And in a way, that does make social/economic ostracism more difficult.  If transactions are anonymous, or if starting a new name is easy, it's possible to simply restart engaging in commerce after committing a serious crime and not paying for it by initiating a new identity.

I don't think ostracism has ever been expected to be total and universal. It's not meant to be "You can never work again!", just "You can never work again around here where people recognize you."

[Monkt]

I was reading through the graphic novel and I noticed something that supports my theory. On page 32 when Win is looking through the phone book each name has what looks like a username next to it.

http://www.bigheadpress.com/tpbtgn?page=32

[Sean Roach]

Uh.  Yeah.  The first three letters of each leading word are capitalized.  That's not a code, that's a poor-mans version of a vanity phone number.
It also matches up with the way phone numbers used to look.  I'm told my 563 prefix used to be LOcust-3 prefix.  5(JKL) 6(MNO)-3.

Ask someone who used a phone in the 50's.

[Rocketman]

Anyone who remembers the old television show Hee Haw from the 1980's should remember BR549.

[wdg3rd]

Uh.  Yeah.  The first three letters of each leading word are capitalized.  That's not a code, that's a poor-mans version of a vanity phone number.
It also matches up with the way phone numbers used to look.  I'm told my 563 prefix used to be LOcust-3 prefix.  5(JKL) 6(MNO)-3.

Ask someone who used a phone in the 50's.

Actually, the practice continued well into the '60s.  I well remember 69 being short for OXford in Whittier, CA.

[KBCraig]

The famous Glenn Miller swing song "PEnnsylvania 6-5000" is  a great example.

It's the phone number to NYC's Hotel Pennsylvania, which was a popular concert and dance venue. It's claimed to be the oldest number in continuous service, since 1919.

[terry_freeman]

What do you suppose the incidence of fraud on internet polls is?

Proxies in TBP could use the same mechanisms as e-cash; just like an e-check, it would be possible to repudiate one's e-proxy, and/or transfer it to another representative. Since the default action of Congress is to do nothing without unanimous or near-unanimous consent, it's hard to "stuff the ballot box" to cause harmful action.

One might say, let's stuff the box and cause it to take no action, but if there is genuine interest in doing something ( for example, going to war against the Hamiltonians, as a matter of self-defense ), nothing prevents a large coalition from doing that on their own nickel. The Hamiltonians could deny Congress unanimous consent, but could not prevent other forms of voluntary action by large and powerful subgroups.

Suppose that the Hamiltonians do stuff the ballot boxes, elect a President to their liking, and begin to enact taxes, legal tender laws, conscription, fractional reserve banking, or other such horrors. The folks in TPB, being contrary and independent critters, would refuse to accept the new Hamiltionian currency; would stick to hard-currency banks; would treat tax collectors as thieves; and as for conscription, it's hard to conscript heavily armed sentients who don't object to shooting members of a press gang.
 

[Frankjc3rd]

Anyone who remembers the old television show Hee Haw from the 1980's should remember BR549.

I associate Hee Haw with the late 60's and early 70's rather than the 80's. 

Phone exchanges would have had numbers that short and were probably expanded as time marched on.

[Rocketman]

I checked.  It ran from 1969 to 1992 so technically we're both right.