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Message no. 1
From: Paul Jonathan Adam <Paul@********.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: False IDs
Date: Sat, 8 Jul 1995 08:53:55 GMT
> The best kind of fake ID is a real ID that has your picture but is not you.
> Not all that hard to get- a lot easier than creating a whole false history.
<snip>
> The original can be from anyone around your age, the most common bieng
> some infant death case whose birth certificate you get, or stealing an
> identity wholesale from some person recently deceased. Unfortunately, files
> of photos and scaned retinas and prints are becoming more common, and would
> probably have to be changed by decking or bribary in SR.

There's an answer to this... You were born in a hospital in Wyoming that was
burned out during the Indian Wars. Or you're from Aztlan. Does the UCAS
government have access to Aztlan's computer systems? Or your records were
wiped out in the Crash of 2029 (Lynch being 34 makes that a lot easier...)
Having a credible reason for records being unavailable helps a lot.

So does an alleged military background that hints at "do not ask questions".
Like, during Vietnam, this person spent his three-year enlistment in the Naval
Lavatory Paper Repository in Kansas... where he earned three Purple Hearts
and a Silver Star. Details available from the Department of Agriculture,
where records of his "crop surveys" undertaken during service are stored
(requires approval since some material is classified).

The problem is that with the massive increase in computerisation, the
assumption is that all this stored data is freely available. If it's
available, a decker can change it: if it's locked up behind firewalls,
legitimate access is harder to get, especially at the lower levels.

Is a Stuffer Shack SINchecker going to access your CIA files? Nope.
Live sensibly and a Rating-4 ID is plenty good enough: we've never had
a Rating-8 broken. Part of it is that a fake ID that is invalid for payment
is still flagged as "debtor" and rapidly becomes acceptable: stores don't
care who you are as long as your cash is good.

Creating them? I'd guess it would be tough, but possible... say a month
or so of hard work and serious hacking to build the data trail. On the
other hand an ID you or your friendly decker crafted, rather than bought
off the peg, is better fitted to you when the reader queries it and wants
to know which high school you went to.

The best way to break a fake ID was in "In The Line Of Fire" when John
Malkovich's character opened a bank account and said he was from
Minneapolis: he thought that was a safe bet since he was in Los Angeles.

"No kidding? So am I! Gee, what a small world. Which school did you go to?"

That incident was what let the Good Guys(tm) save the day in the end...

Much more personal than a red light on the reader machine...

Given you can buy a Rating-8 ID with an availability of 72 hours, though,
I'd guess the pictures, fingerprints, retinal ID and DNA scan must be
fairly easy to add as finishing touches. But for the price you could get
selling them, I'd say four days per Rating point seems about right for
time, plus the risk of being caught in someone else's system.

--
When you have shot and killed a man, you have defined your attitude towards
him. You have offered a definite answer to a definite problem. For better
or for worse, you have acted decisively.
In fact, the next move is up to him.

Paul J. Adam paul@********.demon.co.uk
Message no. 2
From: Tarek Okail Tarek_Okail@**********.com
Subject: False ID's
Date: Fri, 21 May 1999 16:20:20 -0400
Sean--
Wonderful things. I know I've had characters with a false
ID or two, but the really good ones are darn expensive. I've never
had any character *earn* enough nuyen that he could afford both a
good false ID *and* the permanent lifestyle to go with it. After
all, without a permanent lifestyle, the records of the false ID
would show long periods of inactivity followed by short periods of
intense activity; a clear tipoff that something's not kosher here.
With a permanent lifestyle, you've got investments and income,
you've got property and property payments, you've got bills and
you've got bill payments all showing continuous activity for a false
ID. Which makes it almost good as a real one, in terms of ID checks.

Shadowmage
Message no. 3
From: Oliver McDonald oliver@*********.com
Subject: False ID's
Date: Fri, 21 May 1999 16:52:39 -0700 (PDT)
On Fri, 21 May 1999 16:20:20 -0400, Tarek Okail wrote:

> Wonderful things. I know I've had characters with a false
>ID or two, but the really good ones are darn expensive. I've never
>had any character *earn* enough nuyen that he could afford both a
>good false ID *and* the permanent lifestyle to go with it. After
>all, without a permanent lifestyle, the records of the false ID
>would show long periods of inactivity followed by short periods of
>intense activity; a clear tipoff that something's not kosher here.
>With a permanent lifestyle, you've got investments and income,
>you've got property and property payments, you've got bills and
>you've got bill payments all showing continuous activity for a false
>ID. Which makes it almost good as a real one, in terms of ID checks.

Squatter lifestyle as a permanent is pretty cheap actually, low isn't that bad either.
Lets
face it, if you have to fall back on a false ID because your real one is 'hot' you are
probably going to want to slip through the cracks, that high lifestyle is going to have to

go.

Me, I live on my false, and if that get's burned, well, oh well. I go do legal things on
the
real id, until I can arrange another false id...

-----------------------------------------------------------
Oliver McDonald - oliver@*********.com
http://web2.spydernet.com/oliver/
-----------------------------------------------------------
Space. The Final Frontier. Let's not close it down.
Brought to you via CyberSpace, the recursive frontier.

"that is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may
die."
-H.P. Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu."

ICQ: 38158540
Message no. 4
From: Strago strago@***.com
Subject: False ID's
Date: Fri, 21 May 1999 21:22:56 -0400
Tarek Okail wrote:

> Sean--
> Wonderful things. I know I've had characters with a false
> ID or two, but the really good ones are darn expensive. I've never
> had any character *earn* enough nuyen that he could afford both a
> good false ID *and* the permanent lifestyle to go with it. After
> all, without a permanent lifestyle, the records of the false ID
> would show long periods of inactivity followed by short periods of
> intense activity; a clear tipoff that something's not kosher here.
> With a permanent lifestyle, you've got investments and income,
> you've got property and property payments, you've got bills and
> you've got bill payments all showing continuous activity for a false
> ID. Which makes it almost good as a real one, in terms of ID checks.
>
> Shadowmage

Where did you get the information about the false IDs and their ratings?
We've had to fudge numbers. I don't recall now what they were.

--
--Strago

The gene pool in the 21st century needs a deep cleaning. I am the
chlorine.

SRGC v0.2 !SR1 SR2++ !SR3 h b++ B- UB- IE+ RN++ sa++ ma++ ad+ m+ (o++ d+)
gm+ M-
Message no. 5
From: IronRaven cyberraven@********.net
Subject: False ID's
Date: Sat, 22 May 1999 20:46:08 -0400
> Wonderful things. I know I've had characters with a false
>ID or two, but the really good ones are darn expensive. I've never

How much do you pay for them in your group? My group was never able to
find official prices, so we went with 10K/level for a full ID packet
(driver'slicense, draft "card", medical data, a passport, limited carry
card for a pistol and light armour, and one or two pieces of bogus "depth
ID" (gym memberships, maybe a news clipping, that kind of thing)). Is that
price low?

>all, without a permanent lifestyle, the records of the false ID
>would show long periods of inactivity followed by short periods of

Use them all but one of them frequently. Have things like forged and
recently "stamped" traveler's "papers", airplane ticket leftovers,
etc, if
you are worried about patterns of activity. Rent squatter's quarters, get
a couple magazine subscriptions in each name (sent to different addresses),
It won't hold up long, but it will get you out of temporary trouble.
The one you don't use, you don't activate until you MUST disapear. It
should be stashed someplace secure, complete with lotsa cash, some clothes,
and a datachip. The chip is loaded with a high powered program that ONLY
installs your new ID into the system, records your "death", and damages
nothing else. It needs to be set up so you can stick in any public access
terminal, and have it be done in about three minutes. That set up is
expensive, but worth it.

>you've got bill payments all showing continuous activity for a false
>ID. Which makes it almost good as a real one, in terms of ID checks.

It becomes a real one, for all intents and perposes. Just don't pay for
Harry Belmont's coffee in a Seattle Stuffershack with Harold Buchanan's
cred when Mr/ Buchanan is listed as having just left for LA by tube train
twenty minutes ago. (Always have a HOT cup of soycaf with you as you
travel about town. It is a hell of a weapon both against people and
electronics, it is right in your hand, and no one will think too much about
it.)



CyberRaven Kevin Dole
http://www.Geocities.com/Area51/Dimension/4151/welcome.html
"Once again, we have spat int he face of Death and his second cousin,
Dismemberment."
Message no. 6
From: grahamdrew grahamdrew@*********.com
Subject: False ID's
Date: Fri, 21 May 1999 19:52:59 -0400
IronRaven wrote:
>
> > Wonderful things. I know I've had characters with a false
> >ID or two, but the really good ones are darn expensive. I've never
>
> How much do you pay for them in your group? My group was never able to
> find official prices, so we went with 10K/level for a full ID packet
> (driver'slicense, draft "card", medical data, a passport, limited carry
> card for a pistol and light armour, and one or two pieces of bogus "depth
> ID" (gym memberships, maybe a news clipping, that kind of thing)). Is that
> price low?
>
<snip>

The official rules are in the Neo Anarchist's Guide to Real Life (almost
the last page). The cost is dependent of rating, as shown below:

1-4 Rating x 2K
5-8 R x 10K
9-12 R x 50K
13+ R x 250K

Sounds like your players were getting a steal. This is only for a false
credstick, but that's pretty much a false SIN. It's crossreferenced with
otherdatabases, so it's got the same system really. The actually rules
for utilizing the credstick rating are in the already mentioned
sourcebook.

--
If a device is designed to do one thing really well, it can be
redesigned to do many things badly.
-Paranoia
Message no. 7
From: Scott Wheelock iscottw@*****.nb.ca
Subject: False ID's
Date: Sun, 23 May 1999 00:35:09 -0300
"And now, a Channel 6 editorial reply to grahamdrew."
] The official rules are in the Neo Anarchist's Guide to Real Life (almost
] the last page). The cost is dependent of rating, as shown below:
]
] 1-4 Rating x 2K
] 5-8 R x 10K
] 9-12 R x 50K
] 13+ R x 250K

It's also in SR3, p. 239. The prices are different though.

Rating, Cost
1-4 = Rating * Rating * $1,000
5-8 = Rating * $5,000
9-12 = Rating * $10,000
12+ = Rating * $50,000

Availability equals Rating, and Street Index is 1, since they're
illegal anyway.

-Murder of One
Message no. 8
From: Gurth gurth@******.nl
Subject: False ID's
Date: Sun, 23 May 1999 11:22:05 +0200
According to IronRaven, at 20:46 on 22 May 99, the word on
the street was...

> How much do you pay for them in your group? My group was never able to
> find official prices, so we went with 10K/level for a full ID packet
> (driver'slicense, draft "card", medical data, a passport, limited carry
> card for a pistol and light armour, and one or two pieces of bogus "depth
> ID" (gym memberships, maybe a news clipping, that kind of thing)). Is that
> price low?

Yes. Before SR3 came out, the prices were spread out over several books:
ID prices are in Sprawl Sites and The Neo-Anarchist's Guide to Real Life,
while permit prices are in Sprawl Sites and Shadowtech. SR3 puts all these
prices together in the SR3 main rulebook (which is where they should be,
IMHO). Note that the prices in SR3 are different than those in the other
two books.

Anyway, SR3 page 273 explains legality and permits, while page 239 has the
costs for credsticks and fake IDs. For 10K, you'd be able to get a rating
3 fake ID (good enough to buy groceries with, but I wouldn't use it when a
cop asks you for identification) plus a few permits, not much more.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
I never seem to be able to finish what I
-> NERPS Project Leader * ShadowRN GridSec * Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
->The Plastic Warriors Page: http://shadowrun.html.com/plasticwarriors/<-
-> The New Character Mortuary: http://www.electricferret.com/mortuary/ <-

GC3.1: GAT/! d-(dpu) s:- !a>? C+(++)@ U P L E? W(++) N o? K- w+ O V? PS+
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Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998
Message no. 9
From: Sommers sommers@*****.umich.edu
Subject: False ID's
Date: Sun, 23 May 1999 10:29:52 -0400
At 07:52 PM 5/21/99 , grahamdrew wrote:
>IronRaven wrote:
><snip>
>
>The official rules are in the Neo Anarchist's Guide to Real Life (almost
>the last page). The cost is dependent of rating, as shown below:
>
>1-4 Rating x 2K
>5-8 R x 10K
>9-12 R x 50K
>13+ R x 250K
>
>Sounds like your players were getting a steal. This is only for a false
>credstick, but that's pretty much a false SIN. It's crossreferenced with
>otherdatabases, so it's got the same system really. The actually rules
>for utilizing the credstick rating are in the already mentioned
>sourcebook.
>

Shadowrun 3, Pg 239. Gives all of the rules for obtaining them , how much
they cost, how hard they are to identify, etc. Pg 238-239 describes the SIN
and how SINless function in society (or don't) and also hw credstiks work.

Bout time that the main rulebook had something in it so central to most
runners..

Sommers
Insert witty quote here.

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about False ID's, you may also be interested in:

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