would this Deter you from buying used gear????

This is simply an desensitizing excercise to get people used to requiring marks and identifiers. The ultimate result will be you will be required to have marking and identification, on your personal body. After all, how else will they be able to "know for sure" that you are not a terrorist? ID cards can be lost, counterfeited, or misplaced. The only sure way is a permanent mark or chip implant.
If anyone has any discernment at all, they know where this is leading, and why.
Doesn't anyone find it troubling that because there are a couple of "boogiemen" running around, that we all have to conform to tracking systems, and police-state militarization? It is so painfully obvious that the terrorism is being used as a "plausible reason" to implement the control measures that would otherwise never be accepted by the public.
If anyone knows anything about the "Hegelian Dialectic" this activity is a transparent as a plate-glass window.

You also have to consider what it will do to the resale value after the 2nd resale. If you are selling it with your info on it thats one thing but I wouldnt buy it from the person after you because I would be worried its stolen.

Yes, it would deter me from buying used gear. Broubin, brings up a very good point. A drivers license was never meant to be a form of identification. It doesn't presently work well for purposes of identification. As such we should discourage any attempts to use it as a form of identification.

Bravo to those who recognized the identity theft problem. I recently attended a neighborhood crime prevention talk hosted by the local constabulary. Its representative warned us not to use our cars as briefcases for personal documents to prevent identity theft. That driver's license number should make a nice bonus for the box of blank checks that will be stolen with it. Hey, I'm freaked that Paypal knows my credit card and bank account numbers!

So yes, I'd be peeved to get any gear that was non-original, identity-defaced or otherwise.

Want to discover the latest ultimate TWEAK...well then, read on to the bottom! But first....

1. Your average thief is probably not going to give the time of day to some high-end stereo gear since they are looking for things they can easily carry, and turnover quickly. The average person takes one look at my 300B's and says something like: "I didn't know they made tubes anymore" or "Are those things antiques?"

2. OK, lets say you have some fancy looking Plinius amps that are screamnig $ to a thief, do you think they are going to take the time to look it over for the engraved DL or SS #, or do you think they'd really care if they did notice it? My guess is that the average burglar is in a big hurry, desperate, or both! Even if they did notice your hand-scribed artistry on the back of your gear, do you think that they will then leave the house they've broken into to look next door for stuff that isn't marked...and then tell all their criminal friends not to bother with your house...or perhaps it will go onto the Internet Burglars Database under "Don't Bother"

3. So the thief takes your valuable Plinius with engraved ID on it, and then has the cahones to actually sell it to a pawnshop, or off the street to someone else.....how likely do you think it will be that that very Plinius will be coming back to you via your average overworked metro Police department? ..And, at that point, since you really don't know where it's been, or what it's been through, do you really want your Plinius back?! I assume since you can afford a Plinius and associated components in the first place, that you probably have insurance on them!

4. What any of this has to do with snipers, or violent crime in general is beyond me!?

Oh, one more thing; the previous owners of the LaScala's in my home system had engraved his drivers licence number on the inside of the horn box, quite visible from behind. It did not in any way deter me from buying them from him, nor was I pre-disposed to lowball his more than fair price for them. It does amuse me a bit to think of a burglar trying to move those 130 lb speakers the size of dishwashers out of my house! Granted, I may be an exception where that's concerned. But I have to add, those speakers still sound pretty amazing in spite of his dremel-tool signature!! Come to think of it, the other LaScalas I've listened too don't sound nearly as good. On my internally-engraved LaScalas the soundstage is not only wider and deeper, but goes higher and lower as if the performance broke through my floor and ceiling! Perhaps etching those letters changed the internal resonances of the horn cabinet! The question is, would the improvements be significantly altered if one were to engrave an entirely different ID into the cabinet? Perhaps I'll start an auction here on A'gon with the winning bidder obtaining a stenciled pattern of this guy's engraved signature...maybe it will work on tube amps too!!