Homeland Security to require License to get on the Internet

[SteelCrysis]

Lots of problems with this.

On the surface, there's appeal to being able to ID people using the net for illegal purposes, no denying it.

I have to wonder if this would be like anything else that requires ID though and the people who want to skirt it do so with fake IDs. (digital in this case)

I also wonder what the fallout would be for people who DON'T use the net for illegal purposes with their identity stored online in a database that would be the worlds biggest target for hackers.

"This guy Rollo says he spent over a hundred grand on cars in the last couple years, his house is probably a good one to rob!"

"This guy Rollo thinks he's better than everyone and that the government should not give us a house, food, and a HMO to hang around drinking cheap beer and watching daytime tv, lets go slash his tires!"

What they propose might well end freedom of speech on the internet for the 99% of people who use it for legal purposes to make it (possibly) harder for criminals to use it. I say "possibly" because last I checked people illegally buy pot, guns, sex, etc so I'm not convinced they can do what they say. Lots of people drive without licenses or legal license plates as well.

None of the pitfalls you list don't already exist with license plate databases, yet I don't see you or anyone else calling for their abolishment. This is including the pitfall of police databases of license plates getting hacked. And the last time I checked, police license plate databases haven't ended freedom of speech, so you're not making any sense.