Re: dbdebunk 'Quote of Week' comment

JGE wrote:
> ...

> ...There are many situations where one needs to store information about people

   where one has no right to ask for and the
> person has no obligation to deliver, their SSN. Also, is not the SSN simply
> an artificial key, generated by the government? As such, how does it differ
> from the lovely primary key or 'identity' that Access is so generous to
> provide? In principle, rather than in scale.
>...

i thought that the long message about IDENTITY being an exposed PHYSICAL indicator was more mystical than logical. i'd say your message is closer to natural logic, even if Access is flawed. don't claim to know the answer, since the question, if i've got it right makes no sense, ie. which should we prefer, a generated key, or a 'natural' one? all depends on the situation. my own opinion at the moment is that databases don't have to be global to be useful. in fact, local databases may be safer. a few months ago i was handcuffed by an Oregon state trooper who thought i was using stolen plates. fault of a database that didn't recognize canuck plates. on the other hand, i was released about an hour later after the canuck db was consulted. shudder to think what would have happened had there been only one, wrong, db.

pc Received on Fri Aug 19 2005 - 04:14:47 CEST