Re:Email addresses are not good 'permanent' identifiers for ...
by bluefirebrand on Sunday December 31, 2023 @01:09PM
(#38826101)
> They restrict people to a single immutable identity
This is a good thing because this is what people have, one single immutable identity.
What you've identified are problems with assumptions about the relationship between various things and identity.
A key one is the relationship between name and identity. Two people can have the same name but aren't the same person. A person ca change their name but they haven't become a new person.
I can do anything I want to myself honestly. I can color my hair, have a sex change, lose weight, gain weight, have height augmentation surgery, get piercings grow a beard, change my name, whatever, but I'm still the same person. That is immutable. I still have the same mother and father, the same birthdate, lived in the same places, attended the same schools, studied the same things, etc.
My identity as far as the government is concerned is still tied to a single number. Yeah, they make it hard to change a lot of the other stuff related to that number (for good reason), but ultimately they are pretty good at knowing who I am based on that number.
This is a good thing because this is what people have, one single immutable identity.
What you've identified are problems with assumptions about the relationship between various things and identity.
A key one is the relationship between name and identity. Two people can have the same name but aren't the same person. A person ca change their name but they haven't become a new person.
I can do anything I want to myself honestly. I can color my hair, have a sex change, lose weight, gain weight, have height augmentation surgery, get piercings grow a beard, change my name, whatever, but I'm still the same person. That is immutable. I still have the same mother and father, the same birthdate, lived in the same places, attended the same schools, studied the same things, etc.
My identity as far as the government is concerned is still tied to a single number. Yeah, they make it hard to change a lot of the other stuff related to that number (for good reason), but ultimately they are pretty good at knowing who I am based on that number.