I recently went to a discussion of US visas presented by the Pearl Law Group and the Digital Moose Lounge. Sandwiched in between details of labour-sponsored green cards and H1B quotas, the presenting lawyer digressed into a number of points on avoiding problems with the Department of Homeland Security. In particular, he pointed out the importance of maintaining your current address with the authorities.
It sounds simple, right? I should just fill out a form and they’ll know where I am. And of course this form has an appropriately cryptic name: an AR-11. So, one form and I’m done right? Uh, not exactly.
You see, one form to update your current address would be too easy. No, no, we also need you to fill out a form with the Social Security Agency to update your address with them. And then there’s also the Department of Motor vehicles.
On the one hand, it makes sense: only certain agencies should have access to certain personal information. But then again, if all that information is the same, do we actually gain any real protection of our “privacy”? Consider how many pieces of identification you have in your wallet or purse right now – and then figure out how many of them exist only to match your name, address, and birth date against some random agency’s identification number. Go ahead, take your time to figure out the answer.
I’ll give you a hint: all of them, right?
Just how secret is my address anyway? It’s posted on my contact page. It’s in the phone book. I’m all for privacy, but only up to the point that it doesn’t require me to spend my evenings filling out change of address forms in googlipicate. I don’t want Big Brother any more than anyone else, but I also don’t want a real-life incarnation of Brazil either. If a big, bad national ID database needs to exist to match my face (in the public domain) with my name (in the public domain), and address (in the public domain), then damn the Orwellian consequences as long as I don’t have to fill out any more damn forms. The path forward is clear: National ID me up!