An often overlooked fact is that IDs *never* prove who you are.

What they do is "prove" (to the extent that you can trust their
authenticity) that the issuing authority *believes* you are the
person (or ship) that the ID says you are (or that they have their
own reasons for wanting people to believe you are who the ID says you
are).

This is a very important difference that very few people ever
realize.

With the transponder bit, the ship likely got issued some sort of
registry code when it was built. Think VIN on cars. This might even
be embedded in the frame or hull in several places. But if folks go
looking for *that* you're pretty much hosed already.

The ship's *name* would be tied ti the ID# somehow. Renaming a ship
may be a bit complicated.

"Salvaging" a hull to get a vaild ID# might be a not-uncommon
practice.

Dealing with extensive damage that got one or more of the ID#s could
be a problem as well. It's not like they'd want it to be *easy* to
replace or replicate the ID#s.

Not sure how to tie this to the transponders though.

--
Leonard Erickson (aka shadow)
shadow at shadowgard dot com