Uncategorized – Bredemarket

Planning is Overrated. Ask Guns N’ Roses.

You know that I make a big deal about the step before content draft creation where Bredemarket asks questions and creates the plan. But sometimes that isn’t necessary.

Some music managers insist on a pre-programmed planning session to truly engage the target audience.

As American Songwriter notes, Guns N’ Roses didn’t put up with all that.

“I was f—ing around with this stupid little riff,” Slash recalled to Q Magazine in 2005, via a Guns N’ Roses fan archive. “Axl said, Hold the f—ing phones! That’s amazing!”

And that finger exercise, a guitar version of a Bach invention, was the birth of “Sweet Child O Mine.” The band continued to develop the riff into a complete song.

Or almost complete. Producer Spencer Proffer thought the song needed a breakdown at the end.

According to Slash’s autobiography, written with Anthony Bozza in 2007, Axl Rose listened to the demos on a loop, then started muttering “where do we go?” to himself, thinking things over.

And you know what happened next.

Sweet Child O Mine.

Remain open to sudden inspiration.

Light? Yes.

The picture accompanying this post was taken in a medical facility in Palm Desert, California.

For purposes of this post, ignore the “creative” punctuation and capitalization.

I want to concentrate on the word “light.”

If I were creating this sign, I would have chosen the word “soft,” as in “Keep your conversations in soft tones.” Concentrating on the volume.

Then again, people in medical waiting rooms may be stressed. It’s critically important that the patients, caregivers, and others are NOT stressed (to the extent possible).

And that won’t happen when the conversations are…heavy.

“I hurt.”

“I hope these chemo treatments are successful. The hassle of chemo isn’t worth it if the cancer comes back.”

“My insurance is a mess, and so many things aren’t covered. Insurance isn’t worth it.”

“At least you have insurance. I can’t afford it, and can’t afford to pay for this visit.”

So I guess the sign writer was correct. If you are in a medical waiting room, keep your conversations in LIGHT tones to reduce the stress on everyone else.

Now about that-Capitalization…

KYP (Know Your Publisher): Flattery Will Get You Everywhere

Jobseekers and independent contractors are ideal targets for fraud, but they’re not the only ones.

As Phyllis Chesler notes, writers are also prey to the fraudsters.

“[T]he most extensive scam imaginable was launched against me and against many other writers….

“Two women (or two men? Political prisoners in China–or Nigeria? Or even in Iran?) emailed me. Each impersonated a real editor and a real literary agent. This began on April 23rd and continued on through April 27th or April 28th. They appropriated the name of Marilyn Kreztner at Blackstone Publishing and Caitlin Mahony at William Morris Endeavor….

“Please understand: Given the realities of publishing, most writers are a desperate lot. And oh-so-vulnerable to flattery. If a publishing person praises our work–we melt. We glow. Writers specialize in Big Dreams.”

And despite some lingering suspicions, Chesler sent some of her work to both people. But before she could send $700 for an editorial consultant to “improve” her work, Chesler had already contacted the real Blackstone Publishing and the real Wiolliam Morris Endeavor and confirmed that these were not the real Kreztner or Mahony.

If you’re a writer, you must check the site Chesler recommended, Writer Beware. It include a detailed post about this sort of scam, including examples of the scammer communications.

Reminder: while I write books, mine aren’t sold by publishing houses. Visit my Gumroad site to purchase my ebook, “Proving Humanity: The Six Factors of Identity Verification and Authentication.”

Four pages from "Proving Humanity: The Six Factors of Identity Verification and Authentication" by John E. Bredehoft, Bredemarket. Click on the image to purchase.

Chain of Custody Failures Can Destroy Your Legal Case

DNA evidence is well-validated. But if you think DNA is the perfect evidence to present at trial, think again. It may not be.

Yes, DNA evidence is scientifically based and can be presented in court under certain circumstances.

But as Forensic’s Blog points out, two issues may derail the use of DNA and other forensic evidence.

Chain of Custody

What is the “chain of custody”?

It is the DOCUMENTED trail of every person who accessed (“touched, moved, or stored”) a piece of evidence. The documentation is chronological and ideally logged in real time, not hours after the fact.

What could go wrong?

Let’s say that at 1:23 pm, Diana placed a piece of evidence in a locker and locked the locker. Then at 3:53 pm, Denis went to the locker, which was unlocked, and removed the evidence from the locker. Defense attorneys will have a field day with that, and may pressure the judge to state that the evidence is inadmissible because of possible tampering by an unidentified person.

Cross-Contamination

Closely related to the chain of custody is the possibility of cross-contamination. In the case of DNA, this happens when DNA from a crime scene is mixed with another person’s DNA.

I’ve told the story of the mystery female criminal whose DNA was found at crime scenes in three different countries over a decade. The only problem was that the woman’s DNA was found on the burned body of a MAN. Eventually the authorities figured out that the woman worked in a packing center specializing in medical supplies…and that her DNA had contaminated the medical supplies and ended up in the crime scene samples.

How to Minimize Errors

Forensic’s Blog suggests several ways to avoid chain of custody issues and cross-contamination. These include established and enforced procedures for handling, packaging, and labeling data; separating tasks; and establishing zones of exclusion at crime scenes.

In addition to establishment and enforcement, education is essential. (Sorrye.) Not only for the forensic professionals gathering the evidence, but for everyone who deals with the evidence…including biometric vendors and their customers.

If you need assistance in creating educational content for proper evidence handling, Bredemarket can help. Talk to me.

Bredemarket: Services, Process, and Pricing.

In-person mDL Acceptance is Weak. Online Acceptance is Weaker.

Perhaps it’s different in Louisiana where the mDL is long established and supported, but in California the only place where I’ve used my mDL is at a TSA checkpoint. And last Friday I couldn’t even do that because the reader was down.

But at least mDLs are available to a large number of people. deepidv provides this good news…and the bad news.

“As of mid-January 2026, the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators tracks 21 US states plus Puerto Rico issuing ISO/IEC 18013-5 compliant mobile driver’s licenses. That includes California, New York, Virginia, Arizona, and most of the largest population states. Industry analysis puts the figure at roughly 41 percent of Americans now living in a state with an active mDL program, and 76 percent in a state where the program is live or in development.”

So at least many of us can get mDLs. But as I noted, it’s a challenge to use them in-person, despite a standard outlining how it can be used.

“ISO/IEC 18013-5 covers proximity presentation. The mDL holder shows the credential to a verifier device that is physically nearby, typically over Bluetooth Low Energy or NFC. That works for airport security, in-person retail age checks, and traffic stops.”

But it’s a greater challenge to use mDLs online.

“It does not work for online onboarding because there is no proximity. For online flows, the standard is ISO/IEC TS 18013-7, published in 2025, which defines remote and online presentation. Adoption of Part 7 is, in the words of the people building these systems, “limited and inconsistent.””

This is where the benefit of decentralized identity falls apart. In a decentralized identity system, the user controls where the identity is stored. (I have two California mDLs on my phone, because decentralized is very decentralized.)

deepidv has concerns with this:

“Device-side verification means the cryptographic check that establishes whether the credential is authentic happens in an environment the relying party does not control. A rooted phone, a compromised app, a tampered SDK, a man-in-the-middle on the verification flow, all of these break the trust model. The relying party is being asked to trust a yes-no answer it cannot independently verify.”

deepidv describes server-side verification, as well as other issues with mDL adoption, in its LinkedIn article.

Though not referenced by name, deepidv cites Regula’s support of server-side processing:

“Malware, rooted phones, tampered apps: User devices such as smartphones can pose risks to identity verification, as these environments are difficult to control against fraud.

“Regula says it has a solution. The identity verification firm has introduced server-side reprocessing of mobile driver’s license (mDL) data in its document reader software, Regula Document Reader SDK. The capability means that mDL data is processed on the backend in a controlled, trusted environment rather than relying solely on user devices, which also helps preserve the integrity of the identity signal across the verification flow. Data captured on the user’s device is revalidated through a PKI check and signature verification on the server.”

But will the decentralized identity people insist that server-side verification is evil? And how will the decentralized proponents convince others that a decentralized identity is really really secure?

If your company has a decentralized or centralized solution and you need to communicate its benefits to prospects, Bredemarket can work with you.

Stop losing prospects! Use Bredemarket content for tech marketers

The May 6, 2026 List of PAD 3 Conforming Solutions

Update to the April 2 version. Added Shufti.

Vendor	Modality	Confirming Lab	Link/Date
Aware	Face	BixeLab	November 2025
BioID	Face	Tüvit	August 2025 (1) (2)
FaceTec	Face	BixeLab	October 2025
Incode	Face	iBeta	February 2026
Oz Forensics	Face	BixeLab	March 2026
Paravision	Face	Ingenium	September 2025
Shufti	Face	iBeta	April 2026
Yoti	Face	iBeta	January 2026

The “Open to Work” Effect

Jobseekers, including myself, have endured endless debates about the pros and cons of LinkedIn’s “Open to Work” green banner. While these debates seem to have died down, there are still arguments about whether the green banner does more harm than good.

The good? Legitimate employers know that you are open to work.
The harm? Scammers, AI-powered resume writers, and other ne’er-do-wells also know that you are open to work.

Customers won’t find you unless you buy this shady service

But this is not confined to jobseekers.

Bredemarket receives an uncounted number of telephone calls, from multiple numbers, all of which begin with the same question: “Am I speaking to the business owner?”
The caller then offers a free consultation regarding your Google Business listing and your Google voice search results.
And when I bother to take the calls, they are disappointed to hear that Google yanked my Google Business listing (Google never told me why, but I assume it relates to the fact that I do not physically conduct business at my UPS Store mailing address).
And that it was the best thing for me when Google did that.

You don’t walk up to my office and request a retainer or hourly services or small projects. You contact me by various means and we talk, you in your office and me in mine. Even the local customers aren’t going to drop by, especially since my City of Ontario business license prohibits me from meeting customers at my home.

Anyway, all these cold callers are NOT part of Bredemarket’s target audience.

And the myriad of Google Business Listing advisors are just one of the types of people who have no interest in buying my services.

How to attract real prospects

So I create Bredemarket’s content to attract identity, biometric, and technology marketing professionals. Two recent examples:

Advent International Plans to Sell IDEMIA Public Security

Amadeus!

Proof of Humanity Does Not Prove Identity

Uniqueness is not identity.

Oh, and I also create content for wildebeest fans.

Clifford Stoll Was Wrong AND Right

A former coworker reshared the story of Clifford Stoll investigating an accounting error and discovering a Cold War spy network. But a few years later, Stoll was wrong about the emerging Internet…and also right.

Stoll shared his views in a 1995 Newsweek article that was an amusing read after the fact.

Replacing your daily newspaper?

For example:

“The truth is no online database will replace your daily newspaper…”

Stoll lived long enough to see the decline of printed newspapers in the early 21st century.

Electronic books?

Another one:

“How about electronic publishing? Try reading a book on disc. At best, it’s an unpleasant chore: the myopic glow of a clunky computer replaces the friendly pages of a book. And you can’t tote that laptop to the beach. Yet Nicholas Negroponte, director of the MIT Media Lab, predicts that we’ll soon buy books and newspapers straight over the Internet. Uh, sure.”

Let’s pick this one apart piece by piece.

A book on disc? What’s a disc?

Yes, to some the myopic glow of an electronic book isn’t the best experience, whether on light or dark mode. But a traditional printed book cannot be read at all when you turn the lights off.
Stoll assumed that you would always need a laptop to read an electronic book. He did not envision dedicated electronic reading devices that were smaller than a laptop…to say nothing of “smart” phones with an “app” called “Kindle.”

Speaking of Amazon Kindles, you CAN buy books straight over the Internet. And music also, from a company that is no longer called Apple Computer.

So Stoll was not perfect. But he anticipated some things that we still struggle with today.

Unedited data!

“What the Internet hucksters won’t tell you is tht the Internet is one big ocean of unedited data, without any pretense of completeness. Lacking editors, reviewers or critics, the Internet has become a wasteland of unfiltered data. You don’t know what to ignore and what’s worth reading.”

While many companies from Yahoo to Altavista to Google to Wikipedia to OpenAI have tried to solve this problem, it is not fully solved.

And then there’s the biggie.

Isolation!

“What’s missing from this electronic wonderland? Human contact. Discount the fawning techno-burble about virtual communities. Computers and networks isolate us from one another. A network chat line is a limp substitute for meeting friends over coffee. No interactive multimedia display comes close to the excitement of a live concert. And who’d prefer cybersex to the real thing?”

Today’s world is actually worse than the one Stoll envisioned. Not only have I conducted most of my interactions with people over chat boxes and screens. But in 2026 we are now interacting with “HAL 9000” non-person entities…and we may not even know that they aren’t human, but synthetic or deepfake identities.

Despite the benefits of remote interactions—they’ve kept me (and my former coworker) employed—Stoll’s warnings about this new world remain valid.

Wrong but right

So I wouldn’t laugh at Stoll’s derision over the emerging Internet. If you were alive in 1995, be honest: did you anticipate THIS?

You Don’t Need To Give Your Writing Contractor a Detailed Briefing Book

Theory is great, but it’s not reality. And that applies to the relationship to a company, like yours, and its writing contractor, perhaps someone like me.

You already know that you can’t just go to a writing contractor and say “write stuff.” But by the same token you don’t have to create a detailed brief and a detailed style guide. Yes, writers would love that, but if I insisted that clients give me a detailed briefing I wouldn’t have any business.

So Bredemarket helps its clients. I ask YOU the questions. Here’s a quick video about my seven questions.

The seven questions I ask.

I’ve also written a book about the seven questions, which you can download here. (And this book, unlike my book on the six factors of identity verification and authentication, is free.)

So don’t worry about developing a detailed briefing book. We will work together to determine the content you need.

Let’s talk about your needs. I’ll make it as easy as possible.

How Do Privacy Professionals Feel About the SECURE Data Act?

How should businesses, governments, and individuals treat private data? In the United States, the answer varies from state to state, and even from city to city.

A proposed national solution to the hodgepodge of differing state and local privacy regulations is the so-called SECURE Data Act.

Privacy

But how do privacy professionals feel about it?

I knew that CalPrivacy opposed the bill, so I wanted to see how Daniel Solove regarded it.

“Congress’s latest foray is a new bill called the SECURE Data Act, a piece of garbage cooked up by Republicans as a gift to industry in a climate where the public is deeply concerned about privacy, outraged at the harms tech is causing, and yearning for ways to hold Big Tech accountable.

“I can’t stress enough how awful this bill is. On balance, if passed into law, it will do dramatic harm to privacy. It will leave people less protected than if it didn’t exist. I’d call it more of an anti-privacy law than a privacy law.”

Um…I don’t think Solove likes it.

Preemption

One of the huge issues that privacy advocates have is preemption. To ensure uniform privacy across the United States, the proposed SECURE Data Act preempts any state laws that exceed its protections. Therefore the privacy protections in states such as California, Illinois, and Texas could be revoked.

Of course, this is a classic struggle in state-federal relations. The staunchest states’ rights advocate will suddenly switch sides if they agree with a federal regulation, and vice versa. Citing one example, gay marriage began as a states’ rights issue when only a few states supported it, then became a federal rights issue.

Another example is the federal drive to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education. This has not happened yet. And it never will, once the powers that be realize that its elimination will allow blue states to teach whatever they want.

Secure

But let’s go back to the title of the bill, the SECURE Data Act. Upon seeing the title, the average voter would assume that the bill secures our individual privacy rights.

But the privacy advocates believe that the bill actually secures the right of entities to do what they want with our personally identifiable information, with minimal restrictions.

I think the bill’s title may have been written by Eric Arthur Blair.

(Image by Google Gemini. Sorry, Ontario Canada; Gemini may make mistakes.)