Well, it’s been busy of late and that’s been part of why I haven’t posted recently. I’ll also admit to be being lazy these last few days as I’ve been sucked back into playing WoW. It’s actually been a fun time waster. K is visiting family for two weeks so I’m in bachelor mode. As fun as it is, I do miss K being here. It’s too quiet and I miss all the snuggles, hugs, kisses and, well.. you get the idea. Life has been pretty good this past little while. I’d say that I’m passing about 80% of the time now. And I’ve begun to use my chosen name but still need to get the official name change done. I’m still not looking forward to this because of the number of documents that I have to change: birth certificate, passport, SIN card, SSN card, credit cards, work visa, etc. I can see why there is a huge advantage to doing this early in life. Once your world footprint is out there, it’s hard to adjust it after the fact. But the sooner I start, the sooner I can finish it.
One thing that is about to change (starting August 15, 2009) that concerns me is that all government ID that is used for air travel within and into/out of the US will have to have match and full names will have to be used on all travel. For most people this isn’t an issue but identifying someone’s name, date of birth and gender does seem like a bit of an invasion of privacy. Sure, I’m certainly public about who I am but that doesn’t mean that everyone has to know it. People who come to this blog know me through one manner or another. I don’t tell strangers I’m transgendered/transsexual unless I’m outright asked and even then, it’s still my prerogative. This will effectively out me and others. Let’s be clear about something. While this is couched by the Department of Homeland Security as a method of identifying terrorists this really isn’t. It’s almost akin to security through obscurity (that is, if we hide it then it will be secure). The assumption here is that terrorists are truthful as to who they are. Names can change, birth certificates changed, etc. If you truly want to be secure, educate the populace as to what to look for; have a better foreign policy that doesn’t deliberately go out of its way to piss off others and a variety of other options.
If organizations want to be more secure, have more inspection tables and more thorough inspections. Require people to be checked-in, luggaged and in the terminal an hour before the flight leaves. Anything later should mean taking the next flight. In an information age where anyone can be anybody, it makes sense to remove that dependence on actual paper ID and rely more on the person themselves. It’s more about what a person has with them that is questionable than their identity when it comes to security overall. The only benefit to truly tracking identity is to track where people are going, assuming that their ID is valid, in an attempt to find illegal immigrants or to try to be pre-emptive (although that is nearly impossible to do unless one can read minds).
I think once I get my name changed on my passport, I will get Nexus to make my travel between Canada and the US easier. The only reasons I go between the countries is either for work or to visit family. Doing the whole custom thing over and over again is getting old. Welp, enough writing for today. Time to play. Have a great rest of the day.