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Java is everywhere: which is probably the understatement of the century !!. But anyway, considering that VMs of every shape and size proliferate in today's world, it should be relatively simple to fashion some creative solutions using the Java platform. For example I was reflecting on the registration sticker on the license plates of the cars which need to be pasted on every year. The cops then do a visual surveillance on the sticker and if they an expired sticker they stop the driver and maybe issue an odd ticket or two.
Now instead of all this sticker business, the cops can have an embedded VM in their hand held radar guns which can scan a bar code on the car. This bar code will have the license plate number data and possibly the VIN number encoded in it and this will uniquely identify the vehicle. This information can be used to index a database in the DMV which will then check whether the registration is paid up or not, in real time. The payment itself will be made electronically or otherwise and entries will be updated into the DMV server.
The same concept can be extended to the license as well: the driver's license is currently used both as a mechanism to validate our driving skills and also as an ID. Instead of physically carrying this piece of plastic around, we can show up at the DMV for a driver's test, passing which, our results are updated into the DMV database. Then we walk away and start driving our cars: now when a cop stops us, he will use the above embedded VM to do a retina scan or a fingerprint scan on us, and this data will be used to index the DMV database thus pulling up our credentials. Inexpensive devices based on the Java platform can be installed in all malls and grocery stores, 7-11s etc so that we dont have to carry any other id with us.
After all our retinas and finger prints uniquely identify us more than the piece of plastic. The same concept can be extended to the credit card as well, so that whenever we do a purchase of groceries in Safeway, for example, we just scan our retina or finger prints on a device at the checkout stand, which will now index into both an id database and a bank database. If the id check matches and there are funds in the bank account, a debit is done in real time and we walk out of the store. Thus fraudulent transactions can be reduced to a large extent and other associated benefits accrue.
So ultimately we wont need any physical id mechanisms at all other than that we have by nature. This will simplify transactions and security enforcement a great deal.
