Verifying identity is a much simpler problem than establishing identity.
They didn't care to figure out if the Sean Byrne of County Sligo actually existed before putting the name on the list. I doubt they would bother verifying an ID number.
Plus, going back to my point about the list being full of foreigners, how do you verify the validity of a foreign ID number and address? Maybe Ireland is going to comply with a US request, but many other countries won't, and you are now back to square one.
Not bending to the US might be less convenient at times but if you bend for them you will eventually be bending for China.
It's fine to propose a solution but if people aren't convinced just throwing an aphorism grenade at them isn't productive.
> In both cases the courts called for better matching. Compare the date of birth. Compare the middle name.
> There is no version of that available to me. The listing has no date of birth to compare. No middle name and no passport number, because the person doesn’t exist. A screening system that does its job perfectly will still flag me, forever, on the only two facts the record contains: a common Irish name and a country.
These systems operate by matching as much information as possible. If the information isn’t there but the rest matches (even if it’s just a name) it flags in the system.
> Failing that, the actual person can prove that they don’t belong on the list by verifying their identity.
Sounds like you should tell the author. They’ve been living with this problem for 6 years but I’m sure your zero experience with these systems or trying to deal with it will help him immensely.