Lit Identification in the Galaxy. How does it work?

I have been reading quite a bit about the EU lately, and I have realized something...

You need a ton of paperwork, background checks, aptitude tests and all that crap to get an arm's license or an starship captain's license. Each starship has its own signature signal so the vehicles of known criminals can be easily recognized. You are legally required to download the information from your astronavigation computer when you land at a port so the Bureau of Ships and Services can keep updated their astronavigation charts, but that also allow to know where you have been.
There is a lot of control.

However, that system has a big, gaping hole: Half the planets in the Outer Rim are either inhabited by relatively primitive species that keep their own governments or are settled by small colonies that don't have any real government or bureoucracy or are mob-controlled anarchies. Think of Tatooine. Think of Endor. Think of Dathomir, of Dantooine, of Yanibar, of Fhost, of Ergesh, of Osirrag, of Biitu, of Gamorr...etc.

There are trillions of people who are part of the Galaxy, but whose identity, their birth, death and criminal record isn't recorded anywhere...

How did the Republic manage that? I have seen nothing implying that there were restrictions to the movements of those people. Could a guy like Luke, who probably doesn't have any kind of indentification or birth certificate board a ship and travel to Alderaan or Chandrila or Coruscant without trouble?

And if that's true, how do they avoid criminals throwing away their papers and assuming a fake identity? I doubt that they check the face of every person arriving to a starport and compare it to the faces of every known criminal in the Galaxy.

And how do they do the background check for people like Luke when they ask for a starship captain's license, if those have no papers?

So, what do they do? when a person arrives to a starport and claims to come from Tatooine, do they take a photo, fill some data, compare those with the record of all known criminals and if he or she isn't there they start a new record and hand him or her a tourist identification?

How easy do you think is for a person who wants to disappear to create a new identity and start a new life in some other planet?

 

Very good question -- though I guess the realistic answer would be "it works because Space Opera =/= Science Fiction".
But of course that shouldn't stop us...

Here's what I would do:

Spoiler

If I were in charge of the Republic (or the Empire, for that), I think I'd settle for something like subcutaneous ID chips, each with a unique number (something like 20 digits should do it, at least for a while) to which an individual string based on the carrier's DNA is appended upon implantation -- so you can both scan the person's ID and, when in doubt, check if the ID chip actually belongs to that person by cross-checking their DNA.
Of course it would be impractical to try and chip EVERY being within Republic space -- so the ID chips would be given out at first contact with Republic (or planetary/sector/whatever) institutions. Like, if you want to vote, or rent a starship, or go through customs, or whatever, you need to have an ID chip; and if you don't have one already, you can get chipped at each of these Citizen Contact points. Every spaceport, every tax office etc has a cache of ready-made ID chips for quick-and-easy injection.
That, I think, would solve the problem. Of course inventive criminals would be able to find ways around that; but that can't be entirely avoided in any scenario. Of course lots of sentients would go through life without ever getting an ID; but as long as they don't require anything from the authorities, the authorities don't need to notice them.

 

Yup, but nothing in the movies suggest that. I wonder if any novel or RPG sourcebook mentions the issue.

I guess at that point George Lucas still hadn't decided that Tatooine was a lawless world controlled by space mobsters and regularly raided by Tusken Raiders where (human) slaves were bought and sold in violation of the Republic/Empire's laws.

Shmi and Anakin and many other people were illegally kept as slaves. There obviously weren't any Republican authority keeping track of people in Tatooine.

 

Very, very easily. I figure even someone high-profile could probably pass it off. Big bloated governments like the Republic and Empire often had issues with this. It ironically may be less of an issue if they had multiple interstellar governments like they do post-Legacy. The Fel Empire, for example, would have an easier time managing it's space alone and detecting who goes in and out than if it has to manage the entire Galaxy.

 

1. The primary ship manufacturers will ID all their ships and report them to the government and all public sectors. The Corporate Sector? Did that survive? That will have access to ID records.
2. Stop anywhere that is in that union of ship ID places without one and the authorities will be all over you. You will have to get an official ID and/or pay a fine.

 

Yes, I have read about the starships' identification system. The problem is the people; how do they keep track of them?.

 

Even starships must be really hard to keep track of, there must be trillions of trillions of starships across the entire galaxy. Keeping it under control on a local level is probably not that hard, but on a galactic level? Damn near impossible.

 

Well, the Republic had about one quadrillion of citizens, so the starships would probably number something in between trillions and dozens of trillions.

The RPGs describe how they keep track of starships. Any hyperdrive destined to a starship that is going to cross the Republic's space must receive a signature signal when built, that is recorded in the Bureau of Ships an Space's computers. Each sector's authorities keep track of the movements of starships within their territory with the help of those signals (the signals are recorded when the starships lands on a spaceport or is approached by a patrol craft). If you commit a crime, the authorities send an alarm ordering to stop your starship.

That alarm also goes to the rest of the Galaxy, but it takes time for the starports and patrols from other sectors to update their databases, so you have some time (days to weeks, or even months) to get rid of that starship.

The Bureau also keep track of the captain's licenses. When you obtain a license, the local authorities send it to the Bureau's office in Coruscant, and from there the information is sent to all sectors. Same goes when you buy a starship.

So, if you legally own a starship, the authorities know that. However, if you buy a starship, it may take some time until the information is updated in sectors other than yours.

 

This is a galaxy spanning civilization. They have a galactic holonet. The ID numbers might be HUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE in a galaxy of quadrillions of beings, but their processing speed dwarfs ours like a mountain to an ant.

 

I realise that came from a sourcebook, but it's so granular in detail it feels less space opera-y and more like the annoying tendency to conflate our world with a space fantasy world.

 

Actually it's probably worth noting that this is where real world allegories and sci-fi don't suit the space opera setting of Star Wars, which some authors (coughheavyhandedallegorcailwaronterrorstufffromkarentravisscough) never understood. Yes, in practical terms, there's a lot of ships which would create a logistical headache to maintain records, search, update etc etc (even if you take it as given, which you should, that their processing power is exponentially greater than ours as per VLM's post you still have the limits of the human brains who amend records). But it doesn't matter. What matters is one ship - the protagonist's craft.

If I'm running my players through an RPG, their ship is the most important one, and what matters is how long as GM I decide to make it take the Imps to marry up their transponder with any outstanding notices they may have.

SAme goes for fanfics (ew), novels, short stories, comics, video games, or TV shows. Space Opera is about a hero or group of heroes; other stuff doesn't matter.

So if you look at the above explanation - fine, it makes sense, but the logistics don't matter (how many queries can the central database handle at once, from all over the galaxy? Doesn't matter!). All that matters is you explain enough that there's something behind the curtain and off you go.

 

The fact that Tatooine celebrated Palpatine's defeat makes me think he worked at least some of his not-very-nice influence there, and probably other far-flung worlds too.

 

Yeah... sadly also pretty much the case here on earth, not on that scale by any means, but there are just places where it is less of "an issue".

Doubt it managed at all actually, sure you need ID (a Passport) to go from civilized planet to civilized planet, those would get issued by your own home planet, if it was able to, otherwise I assume it should be pretty easy to fake some ID (need to check as I am sure the RPG guides go into it when covering IDs)

Pretty sure Luke does have ID, Tatooine is surprisingly organized under the Empire, though as a Rebel he will likely get some fake ID by the Alliance.

They can´t actually, though getting off a civilized planet is actually pretty hard unless you find someone who is able to smuggle you out or just blow past the law, like Han did Luke and Obi-Wan. Though the people on the Death Star certainly very quickly knew that the Falcon was the ship that ran the Tatooine blockade when they check the ship.

Only wanted people, just because you messed up back home, doess not mean every planet in the galaxy will consider you a criminal, though the Empire did indeed maintain this impressive feat
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Imperial_Enforcement_DataCore

Luke really should have papers, he almost went to the academy after all ^^ though in other cases you organize ID or you drop a really big bribe and hope no one ever spots it.

Will probably depend a lot on the local authority, if they are very strict, detain and question until they figure out what to do. If it is the Empire, properly off to the labour camp with you for violating some part of the Imperial Penal Reference by running around without ID, properly a "Quad", of course if you can´t pay that, have fun, and even if you can pay they might want to check if you are a “productive member of the Empire” i.e. check if you paid your taxes, if you can’t prove you did, off to the labour camp.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Imperial_Penal_References
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Imperial_Revenue_Codes

Pretty easy, at least until the Bounty Hunter come knocking Which btw. would need to show you their IPKC because otherwise there is no way you for you to know if they are actually licensed
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Imperial_Peace-Keeping_Certificate

 

According to the Imperial Sourcebook (hooray for ancient sources) the HoloNet is actually a very cumbersome and expensive medium, maintained more on ideological than practical grounds (to further galactic integration and promote the image of a unified galaxy) by the OR but falling more and more into disuse... until the Empire closed it down altogether and only later reused parts of it for military purposes.
So on that background, I find it hard to imagine that the HoloNet served as this sort of administrative communications backbone. In contrast, I rather like the concept that IG Lancer described, with information spreading slowly across sectors, maybe some of it via local subspace beacons, but most of it transported physically on regularly scheduled infrastructure transports and then downloaded into the local database. It fits in with the old-fashioned flair of Star Wars technology, and it definitely makes for better storytelling.

 

They can speak virtually instantly using it. It doesn't have to be a backbone, but would certainly play a huge part and is apparently hardly slow.

 

Yeah, I think that concept might be as much a product of the time the Imperial Sourcebook was released as anything. Works written after the time the internet became a real "thing" have generally portrayed the HoloNet as more similar to it than not.

 

Definitely true, especially considering all the instant cross-galactic holoconferences we see in the PT. Though Vader's chat with Palpatine in TESB is already hard to make sense of in science-fiction terms, with all that optical interference but no noticeable lag.
Still, even if the HoloNet is/was like the Internet, the GFFA just doesn't strike me as a place that is as informationally integrated as our civilization. Even in the new canon, I get the feeling that the Emperor's attempt to centralize control of everything is not something that's easily accomplished. And like I said -- it's just way more interesting to follow C-3PO and R2-D2 on their quest to deliver the Death Star plans to the Rebels than it would be to follow a data packet on its way through a few thousand massless HoloNet relays.

 

That wouldn't be an issue, I doubt the Death Star plans would be put on the Holonet. It's like Obama putting the launch codes on the internet.

 

There seem to exist several "levels" in the HoloNet. Vader and the Emperor can speak face to face as through a phone, but it is mentioned that, at the planet Fhost, in Wild Space, they watch programs with a lag of several months.

We don't know how the HoloNet works. It can't be normal electromagnetic waves, since those would take years to reach even the closest star system. I think they send the information through the hyperspace somehow.

But travel through hyperspace isn't instantaneous, just very fast, and it must follow some "routes". Maybe it's the same for information: They send the waves through hyperspace routes (maybe they keep beacons permanently in hyperspace, and those radiate the information?) and the government keeps the best, fastest ones, while sectorial governments must do with slower ones, and private people only has access to even slower ones.

 

More like al-Qaida operatives e-mailing each other the launch codes.

 

Just under 100 quadrillion actually:

http://geekosity.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/endnotes-for-star-wars-essential-atlas.html​

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A galaxy 100,000 light years across containing 400 billion stars became the baseline in the years before the Atlas - see, for instance, the New Essential Guide to Alien Species. The 2nd Edition Star Wars Roleplaying Book from West End Games is the most-specific source about the extent of civilization. It says that at its peak the Republic included "over a million member worlds, and countless more colonies, protectorates and governorships. Nearly 100 quadrillion beings pledged allegiance to the Republic in nearly 50 million systems." Shatterpoint is similarly specific, stating that the Republic has 1.2 million member worlds and the Confederacy of Independent Systems 1/10 of that number - which would be 1.32 million member worlds between them. But that's during a time in which Republic authorities has broken down in much of the Outer Rim and Hutt Space has swollen to include worlds as far coreward as Gyndine. The numbers used in the Atlas chapter were arrived at by postulating that the Empire reclaimed much of the lost Republic territory and incorporating the WEG portrayal of the Empire as having dramatically stepped up exploration and colonization.​

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though many will be living on "colonies, protectorates and governorships" rather than full member worlds.

 

I have searched the Wookieepedia about galactic communications, and it seems to be like this:

Comlinks: Normal radio devices. Every device we use to communicate in the real world (TV, radio, cell phone...etc.) would fall in the comlink category. A comlink usually had a range of 50 km on itself, but it could reach planetary range with the aid of satellites and wired nets.

Subspace transceiver: Faster-than-light radio communication devices. They have a range of a few lightyears only (a Star Destroyer's subspace transceiver had a range of 100 lightyears). They were used by planets to communicate with their neighbours and big starships used them too. There was a sort of Subspace transceiver "Internet", with news, programs, messages...etc., being passed from star system to star system until reaching its destination, but it could take hours to days for a message to cross the Galaxy. Also, it wasn't very safe (it could be easily hacked) and sometimes messages that crossed long distances got lost or corrupted, so people used courier ships for important stuff.

Holonet: Instantaneus communication through hyperspace. ****ing expensive, it relies on a net of relay stations tethered in hyperspace. It could be used to transmit sound and images only, not "heavier" information packages (you could watch a movie in real time, but you couldn't download it in minutes). Some ships had hyperwave transceivers, but they were VERY expensive, and during the Empire the HoloNet was nationalized and reserved for military and for high ranking administrative use only.

 

I cannot imagine the possible limit of Rule 34 generated by 100 quadrillion beings.

 

Quite right.

The SWU should more resemble a future 18th century world than an allegory for post-year 2000 Earth; which requires us to remember (or know) a time when all information wasn't instantly accessible on a pocket sized device.