I've seen a couple of posts touch on this subject, but most of it didnt contain too much detail... now there possibly isnt much detail out there, and I might need to fabricate it if need be (And it all might be entirely un-needed), but I wanted to get other peoples thoughts on this... well simply, because details could be useful, and as someone said in another post, it might make for a good adventure hook or similar.

(Most of the following is based on Wookieepedia, and what ive read on the forums, and is intended to be a breakdown of what I understand)

*Ships have transponder IDs, that identify the ship, its name, captain, crew, etc

*This ID is collected and collated by the Beauru of Ships and Services (BoSS)

*BoSS keep records of Ship IDs, Registration, Captains Flight Certifications, Ship Modifications, Armaments, Hyperspace Lanes and Navigational Data

*Captains (Registered Spacers) are issued a BoSS Datapad that contains information about the ships legality, crew and cargo.

<All the above is from Wikipedia article on BoSS>

*The Falcon had multiple identities.

*The Transponder Codes were 'burned into the sublight engines that transmitted the ships name, owner, type, and other information

OK.

Now, forgive me, but I am from Britain, so I am having to use the British terms and organisations here:

BoSS would essentially be the DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency)

Transponders are basically number plates

The Authorities (Police, aka, local autorities in game), use ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) that checks if a car is stolen, taxed,

insured, who the registered owner is... if all is ok, no problem... if there is an issue, it flags up and you get pulled over.

So, lets apply this to the game... you drop out of hyperspace in a core system, the authorities pick up your transponder ID, and its checked against the BoSS database.... if all is OK, you are good to go... if something is amiss (Noted as wanted, registered as stolen, registered as scrapped etc), they pull you over.

Obviously, on the rim, this is less of an issue, people are not looking as closely, the authorities are fewer and less well equipped.

Would people agree with this analogy?

The Transponder itself:

It seems this would be a device of some description, as it can be modified, changed, whatever.

Would you need more than one transponder to have multiple identities?

Would you simply flip a switch to change what ID is being transmitted?

Would you need to have a 'fake captains ID' for each 'ship ID' since BoSS keep this on record?

I would imagine 'stealing' a destroyed ships ID would be a good way to go... much like cloning a licence plate for a car, except noone knows the

original car is scrapped.

I would also imagine cloning an active ships ID could potentially land you in trouble eventually, as you slowly start to appear in two places at

once.

I would assume you would need to know who the 'cloned' ships captain is/was so your deception stands up to scrutiny.

So... The Falcon had muiltiple identities... I am assuming Solo would also have had fake IDs to go along with those IDs?

Changing you Transponder.

OK, so you want to change your ships ID... becuase you are wanted, just stole it, or something else nefarious enough to require you to hide your

tracks.

You need what?

Some computer guy to change what the transponder is transmitting - On your ship.

Not easy by the sounds of it... very basic cover, would probably only pass scrutiny if you are signalled and asked to ID yourself, and say you are

Captain Duet, of the Century Seahawk... OK, that matches the Transponder, carry on.

But hang on, we just ran that by the BoSS database... and you're not the registered captain! (Well I only just bought the ship.. hmmm OK)

But hang on, that ship was registered as destroyed 6 months ago! (Ahh... well, that was a misunderstanding, the damage wasnt as bad as I expected,

the paperwork must be in the syste,.... hmmm OK)

But hang on, the BoSS database says you just docked at Coruscant! This is Alderaan!! (What? Really?? Someone must be... er... inpersonating me!)

......... Nope, you're coming in!! This is too suspicious! (Awww nuts... now im gonna be late delivering these thermal detonators... awwww nuts!)

OK!! So, you need better cover... you need a Fake ID that isnt a cloned ID.

So you need someone to also hack into BoSS to create a fake file that matches your fake ID. Or three.

THAT cannot be easy at all! So it is certainly going to cost a pretty penny.. especially if its an old ship, and they log activity... such as landing registrations at various ports. (As someone else mentioned in one of the other threads I read.. a 'paper trail'

Now the Falcon was an OLD ship, so for a good 'history' to exist, someone would need to create 60 years worth of back story (Assuming 0 BBY), what kind of quality would that need to be? Just a list of dates and places?

So... as someone said in one of those other threads, I think a previous RPG placed the cost of changing a ships ID at 6-10k credits. I would guess double that for 2 fake IDs, and triple for 3, and so on and so forth.

OK so... ramble over... Is this a good representation of what people feel Transponders, Ship IDs, and Fake Identities would be? Would anyone add or change any of it?

---

As an aside, if my players have stolen the Kryat Fang... would one of them require a 'BoSS Certification to be 'Licenced to Pilot a Starship' in the more 'Civilized' parts of the galaxy. And therefore be the 'Registered Captain and Keeper' of this vessel, under whatever name and ID it is going by currently?

You see... this could be an entire subplot in itself... the Ship may well be registered to Trax... or even Teemo... and registered as stolen, so clearing its name, and faking its ID might be somthing to underpin an adventure of some sort.

Assuming it isnt so expensive, or complicated, that simply selling it on the sly, and buying a ship legally would be easier... assuming any of the crew are a 'Registered Pilot' and isnt wanted of course (Ahhhh complications!) (Would having a bounty on your head, say from Teemo, cause issue getting registered... would BoSS publicise your arrival somewhere, if they know you are wanted?)

Aplogise for the long post.. I now expect no replies as its so long!

Cheers for anyone who did read and does reply!

RD

I think in-setting, BoSS has a huge data backlog and can't access everything quickly, or easily, if ever. It's also so old, hierarchical, and byzantine that even Palpatine was loath to tear it down and replace it, because that would be anything from a gigantic pain in the ass to impossible. So you're not looking at something like a cop's "look up license/registration in car" computer system, because of the vast bulk of info. I wouldn't make it near as point-and-click as, say, an NSA database might be. And BoSS wouldn't deal with things directly, it'd be Imperial or local authorities querying to BoSS for their records, and at that point personality and politics come into play...

In other words, BoSS may not have enough incentive to give the Imps everything they ask for, because it's inconvenient for BoSS and the high-ups at BoSS know the organization isn't going anywhere. And they probably care much less about Random Anti-Piracy Captain X requesting info than they do if Grand Moff Tarkin does, for practical and political reasons.

I don't know that captain information is really important, nor is ship name. That could change rapidly. The transponder code is sort of like a license plate, I'd say - and like real license plates, could be spoofed.

So essentially, while the DVLA don't personally track vehicles, the Imps (Police) would be resorting to having to ring, and wait for the information to be provided.

This i have no issues with, I just like to nail down some details, as I know my players would ask.

Systems keep their own records as well as boss. If you haven't been flagged recently in a nearby system or ever in the current system you will probably not draw any undue attention. Getting info from Boss could take months unless its a priority and then it could take days and days would be if the emperor asked. And since the Empire has restricted access to the holonet unless you committed a crime against the empire you don't really have to worry about your face appearing all over that for being a wanted fugitive either.

Communication across systems isn't fast unless you have the right equipment and that is expensive. Generally only the military could talk from coruscant to else where without delay.

That being said if someone wanted to spend the time and track down the ship it could take a long long time going through boss but they could see if the ship kept going back to the same planet and wait out there for it.

Some related ideas here.

What Ksha said.

Some additional notes just to help paint a clearer picture of BoSS:

They handle the records of virtually every ship in the empire (just think about that number)

Every time a ship changes captains (not owners, captains) an update has to be sent to BoSS. So when a short rage commercial commuter shuttle docks, and a new captain gets on board, the shuttle company sends an update. (Just think about that number)

BoSS doesn't have total holonet access, so updates are pushed out regionally, so records of an infraction on corascant might not reach tatooine for months (and that's after the months it takes to process the data work). Likewise an infraction on tatooine will take months to reach BoSS, months to process, months to get into an update, and months to get to dantooine.

So you can see why ships credentials are just sort of one minor thing. An imperial sector intelligence update is probably more reliable and up to date, if not as detailed...

(also check page 384 in the CRB)

Transponders are imbedded into sublight engines. I think of them more as VIN numbers. You need to be obviosuly looking for them for them to appear, but they are unique to each ship.

For every ship you have a transponder that is registered with BoSS that includes the Ship name, the type of ship, the Captain, maybe even weapon load-out and other pertinent information. As you go further from the core the BoSS information gets updated slower and slower mainly due to the unreliability of the holonet. Most starports and imperial customs will just make a cursory check of the BoSS datapad the current captain gives

For my players and how i had them deal with the Krayt Fang, was to first find someone to modify the engines, basically scrubbing the old transponder and creating a new one, then forging a new registry for the ship, often explaining that the engines were replaced, or heavily damaged from the previous ship being used as a cover. Then it was just a matter of going to the local BoSS building and using the forged ship registry to register it under a new name and captain. It ended up costing almost 10K credits and the ship was in dock for 3 days. Not to mention the bribe needed to the Spaceport official to ignore the fact you were having major work done on Sublight engines that looked to be fine.

When you come to a new space port, most are not going to care and just log you in. At imperial space port them MIGHT have on record some class 4 or 5 infractions within the same sector, might be a few weeks or months before a class 3 is logged in other sectors.

Transponders are not a plate or a VIN code. From all the language and the use of the term they probably based the concept on real world transponders such as used on aircraft. The fact that the falcon had 'multiple' transponder codes pretty much assures it.

Here is in-the-nutshell what a transponder is and does:

• While most radar can detect a target it cannot identify what it is. It is a blip.
• But ground stations, especially airports need to be able to separate and identify which blip is which.
• To do this they use a combination system that has an Interrogator at the ground station and Transponders on the aircraft.
• The Interrogator has a directional antenna that is usually synchronized with or mounted on the radar antenna so that any returns it receives matches up with the radar signal displayed.
• The Transponder has a omnidirectional antenna and transmits in all directions.
• As the Radar Sweep moves through the sector, the Interrogator sends out a query pulse that automatically causes all Transponders to respond with an identification pulse. If the Transponder is on, it will respond period. The Code returned is what the ground station uses to identify what the answering aircraft is. They can’t see it so the only thing they have to go on is the code.

The IFF modes are:

1 Mission Code

2 Unit Code

3A Identification Code

3C Altitude

4 Crypto-Encoded Challenge Response

5 Crypto-Encoded Challenge Response for Mode S

S Multi-Information via 24 bit address.

Modes 1-4 are used for normal Transponders and Modes 5 and S are a newer type designed to reduce the number of codes needed.

Of all of them, civilian aircraft generally only use mode 3A and 3C.

The code entered for modes 1, 2, 3 and S are all done by thumbwheels with different codes reserved for different functions. The thumbwheels have 0000 to 9999, but I believe 7777 is the highest code. Each air traffic controller has a block of assigned codes and they will instruct a plane to squawk a specific code while it is in their control area, which the pilot dials in. As of that time, the code will appear next to the radar contact. Now the controller knows who is who. If the aircraft has mode 3C they will also get their altitude.

The Controller uses different sets of code for specific types in their airspace, these changing from area to area. All passenger flights have code xxxx to xxxx and cargo xxxx to xxxx and so on. That way all the local controllers can ID type at a glance.

Some codes are designated for specific purposes. If an aircraft squawks 7500 it means “I am being Hijacked”, 7600 means “my Radios are down” and 7700 is “I am declaring an emergency”.

Now here is the big kicker, all the civilian codes (as well as modes 1 & 2 ) are set by the pilot in the cockpit (or readily accessible panel). So if they want to they can lie at the flip of a thumbwheel. To prevent that military uses the mode 4/5 encrypted codes. They basically tell all the allied military in the area “I’m really me”.

So what in a hill of beans does this mean to EotE? My guess is that the Star Wars universe operates much the same. Their transponder has manual codes set by the pilot as instructed by local traffic control and then a BoSS mandated unique fixed code based on something in the engine as its Mode 4. Less than legal ships have equipment allowing them to respond using ‘alternate’ codes. But they would have to be careful that the fake ones were correctly formatted and did not inadvertently duplicate a real ship.

Military ships would have all the various modes and encrypted codes to prevent being spoofed. The sequence where they took the shuttle down to Endor is a good example of the local controllers identifying the shuttle by it's squawk and then verifying by encrypted verification.

All good stuff, but not clearing up my confusion.

The CRB states that BoSS regularly transmits relevant and current data to all spaceports... so the idea of a month long backlog, while very valid and believable, seems to go against he fluff printed in the book... for an organization as big as BoSS, if it was simply THAT slow, it wouldn't be around for as long as it is.... if it takes 6 months to get information from it, who would use it? Once you have what you need.. its useless, so why bother in the first place?

That notion simply reduces BoSS to massive collector of information, and noone asks about, because it takes too long to get anything in the time it would be useful.

Equally, if every ship was insantly identifiable, it would make doing anything clandestine very hard.... which I could well believe is close to how things happen the closer to the core you get. And equally, easier the further from it you go.

As has been mentioned, the transponders are 'burned into the sublight engines', but since the transpoder would logically be a device, would simply swapping the engines suffice? (Which.. if it does, would simply change the identity to the ship you took the engines from... and if they wasn't the same model, but simply used the same engines... would cause havoc!)

Which seems abit mad... as replacing damaged engines might happen with frequency, simply being able to take the transponder off, and put it on the new ones, seems abit .. well... unsecure.

Equally, if changing your new transponder to your original codes was so easy... everyone would do it.

AHHHH CONFUSION!

The only reason I want to kind of.. tie down a realistic working model, is so I could use it in a game as background complications, but it would need to be a logical, and work around-able (is that a word?) thing that my players can achieve, without feeling its too difficult, or cost prohibitive.

Equally, the 'Captain' of the ship is meant to have a BoSS datapad containing his ships details, crew, cargo and own flight credentials... if a player does not have this, how would they go about getting them? A SW equivalent to a driving test? Or is that simply something better ignored? (Id rather have a workable system that i can choose to ignore, than no system and be forced to ignore it)

Cheers

RD

@RebelDave: The BoSS system is working in a matter of days/weeks, not months. Otherwise it would be too slow to be of use. I imagine that space port authorities need to pay a certain amount to get regular updates. Depending on the amount your system gets updated daily/weekly/monthly/bymonthly/...

RL-reference: A call center i worked for had an arrangement about updated numbers every 3 months.

The transponders are built into the sublight engines to make manipulating them very very dangerous. Nobody likes being stranded in space.

So certain tools/tricks are used. The first one is a mask that overlays the information your transponder sends out and changes things like name of the ship, captain and whatever.

A library with several different ship IDs to choose from are possible but very expensive.

In case of being boarded the captain needs matching fake IDs for himself and such.

If you exchange your engines (damage/upgrade/...) a technician must put the info about the ship/captain/etc into the transponder. If you have the data on a BoSS datacard he will upload that and change the data about your ships stats. If you do not want certain things to be official you might need to bribe/coerce the responsible technician to keep things out.

But be careful: Such illegal 'modifications' and such can easily get you a deuce.

And personally, i do not consider an upgraded engine worth the illegal hazzle. I'm running a transport business, my ships need to be fast. Same goes for better armor, pesky pirates.

Weapon upgrades, other offensive means and smuggler compartments are another thing.

Edited: for clarity

In my game the group is about to go and do some nefarious deeds on Corellia so the system I will be using is as follows.

The transponder code is a alpha/numeric signal broadcasted by the ship when queried by a starport comptroller. This signal can be dictated by the crew in whatever way they want it to be. In a legit situation the code transmitted should include the same sort of info a VIN number contains. Manufacturer, Model and Serial Number. This information can be cross referenced in the BoSS directory to learn details such as legal owner, history of travel, modifications, ect.

As a standard, your ship will be noticed and queried when they approach a starport. Presumably they will then be registered and assigned a docking bay if one was not already waiting for them. If the players wish to avoid this there are several things they can try.

Avoid Notice.

With a successful opposed Piloting (Space) check they can slip into the port without being noticed by the Comptroller. The difficulty of this check is dependent on the quality of the sensors and the attentiveness of the person reading the sensors. There will be obvious exceptions based on a specific planet's set up, but as a base I go with the following.

Core Worlds - Formidable (VVVVV)

Colonies - Daunting (VVVV)

Inner Rim - Hard (VVV)

Expansion Region - Average (VV)

Mid Rim - Easy (V)

Outer Rim - Simple (-)

This is then modified by the ranks of Vigilance the Comptroller has. (So yes it can be incredibly hard to slip in unawares.)

Some of the things that could add setback or boost dice would be the amount of traffic coming and going. The surrounding terrain. Atmospheric interference etc. I would suggest that anything that makes it harder to maneuver your ship will likely make it just as easy to avoid notice.

If they succeed they are able to land their ship without the comptroller knowing they are there. Obviously if the location they parked the ship is subject to inspection, then that could raise an alarm as well but that is handled separately. If the check fails the ship is queried as normal. If the check results in a Despair then the Comptroller noticed that they were trying to avoid notice and takes action. (alerts security or asks for a bribe for instance)

Now assuming they are not confident in their piloting skills, they have the option of sending back whatever they want when they are queried. If they send back their actual transponder code it will be registered and the available BoSS database will be checked/updated. Any fallout from that will be based on what kind of a record the ship has.

False Code

If they send nothing at all the ship will likely be flagged as aggressive and security will be sent to intercept the craft. At the least the Comptroller will Comm the ship and ask for an explanation.

If they choose to send a false transponder code then they roll an opposed Computers check. The difficulty of the check is based on the rarity of the ship they are flying.

Rarity 0-1 - Simple (-)

Rarity 2-3 - Easy (V)

Rarity 4-5 - Average (VV)

Rarity 6-7 - Hard (VVV)

Rarity 8-9 - Daunting (VVVV)

Rarity 10 - Formidable (VVVVV)

You would adjust the Rarity using the same modifiers as detailed in the equipments section of the CRB.

The difficulty is then modified by the ranks of Computers that the comptroller has.

Some of the things that would add setback or boost dice are how up to date their BoSS registry is, how fast their computers are, and how much traffic they need to deal with.

Success means that the false code is accepted and no repercussions are levied. Failure means that the code is quickly recognized as false and the comptroller takes action accordingly. A Despair can be spent to indicate that the code is accepted but the ship is flagged for inspection. During the inspection the false code will be compared to the one attached to the mechanisms of the ship.

A good place to look for info is page 58 of WEG Cracken's Rebel Field Guide and page 9 of Platt's Starport Guide.

A good place to look for info is page 58 of WEG Cracken's Rebel Field Guide and page 9 of Platt's Starport Guide.

I have neither of these. I do have access to the Saga Editions though.

They can be found if one looks

They can be found if one looks

Im struggling to save the cash to buy EotE books, let alone buy books for older systems my group wont be playing. Not much of an option for me at the moment.

They can be found if one looks

Im struggling to save the cash to buy EotE books, let alone buy books for older systems my group wont be playing. Not much of an option for me at the moment.

Look harder...

All good stuff, but not clearing up my confusion.

AHHHH CONFUSION!

I try to keep it simple. So for me I operate on this assumption.

My Transponders work just like real world ones do with one exception.

They have a sealed mode that uses {beware rubber science alert} a primary harmonic from the engine core as it primary encryption logarithm that can be queried by law enforcement or Imperials.

Regional or System traffic control doesn't normally see or even care if your ship is who you say you are or not. Just like regular commercial air traffic control they are just moving blips around on the screen and making sure no one runs into each other.

The "special authentication" pulse is used by Customs, Law Enforcement and Imperials if they feel they need to verify something.

Since Star Wars is a cool blend of high tech primitive, the Star Wars universe has millions of inhabited worlds and trillions of people and has worlds that can trace their history back tens of thousands of years. It does not strike me as anything unusual that the 'records' could be month or even years behind. And unless a ship is of specific interest to a major Imperial operation, it could take months for a related bulletin to reach a world. Especially on the edge.

So what I do is treat a change of a ships encrypted authentication code as primarily a software issue with a minor hardware modification.

A successful Mechanic check to 'break the seal' and access the secure 'box' and a successful Slicer roll to alter the ID. As a GM I have two ways I go for the following game, either note down and use the success rolls to set the difficulty of the altered ID being recognized as such, or make it an opposed roll, the PC Slicer vs NPC.

It can be as simple as the Customs Corvette authenticating the ID and moving off.

To being boarded and seeing if the Inspector notices any physical signs of tampering to the boxes seals.

In the end the 'technical' whys and hows don't really matter much. Pick a method and then see how it affects the narrative.

I am just cursed with having worked on military and customs aircraft avionics for 25+ years. So I can get a little too detailed

{beware rubber science alert}

Solid science has no place in Star Wars. Everything can be explained by a wizard the Force a computer does it.

{beware rubber science alert}

Solid science has no place in Star Wars. Everything can be explained by a wizard the Force a computer does it.

LOL

I don't have a lot to add here, but wanted to say I was confused as well, and tried to incorporate all the logic that goes behind galaxy-wide logistics.

We got to the point where my players bought a transponder switcher and two extra ship identities (and personal aliases to go with them). They would cautiously make a checkmark next to the identities they were currently using on their character sheets, or would interrupt the flow of drama to make sure I knew. Then I realized I'm not the type of GM to make a failed transponder roll waylay the adventure. And the players began to realize that Han Solo became infamous not because he used fake IDs, but because he used his real one, and that their ship name would never span the galaxy like the Millennium Falcon's if they were doing all their amazing missions under false IDs.

So we just dumped it all. It's assumed that they cheat the system somehow...unless I need to lean on it for drama's sake and it plays into the story. That way they can be like the heroes in the movies and build their reputations. And I don't have to worry about BoSS logic. It's like this cognitive dissonance that we just don't bring up anymore, ha.

If we weren't, however, I'd totally use Ryoden's suggestions. They're really neat.

Absolutely. The key thing is that it is your game. So you need to adapt the system in a way that makes it fun for you and your players. I play with a bunch of old military farts and we like some of that kind of techno with our RPG.

That is the beauty of the system. It is broad enough that you can easily vary how you decide to do things without significantly impacting game flow.

If it works for you and it works for your players, then you are doing it the correct way...

Absolutely. The key thing is that it is your game. So you need to adapt the system in a way that makes it fun for you and your players. I play with a bunch of old military farts and we like some of that kind of techno with our RPG.

That is the beauty of the system. It is broad enough that you can easily vary how you decide to do things without significantly impacting game flow.

If it works for you and it works for your players, then you are doing it the correct way...

I agree so much. And we have two former Army and Marine infantry at the table, so sometimes we get lured in by the crunch and logistics before we can yank ourselves out. So tempting.

I agree so much. And we have two former Army and Marine infantry at the table, so sometimes we get lured in by the crunch and logistics before we can yank ourselves out. So tempting.

Yep, So Tempting....

I don't have a lot to add here, but wanted to say I was confused as well, and tried to incorporate all the logic that goes behind galaxy-wide logistics.

We got to the point where my players bought a transponder switcher and two extra ship identities (and personal aliases to go with them). They would cautiously make a checkmark next to the identities they were currently using on their character sheets, or would interrupt the flow of drama to make sure I knew. Then I realized I'm not the type of GM to make a failed transponder roll waylay the adventure. And the players began to realize that Han Solo became infamous not because he used fake IDs, but because he used his real one, and that their ship name would never span the galaxy like the Millennium Falcon's if they were doing all their amazing missions under false IDs.

So we just dumped it all. It's assumed that they cheat the system somehow...unless I need to lean on it for drama's sake and it plays into the story. That way they can be like the heroes in the movies and build their reputations. And I don't have to worry about BoSS logic. It's like this cognitive dissonance that we just don't bring up anymore, ha.

If we weren't, however, I'd totally use Ryoden's suggestions. They're really neat.

Well thanks!

I only expect it to come up if the players ask for it to come up. So far my players seem to very concerned about leaving a record. (Two of them are playing Bothan Spynet operatives) I suspect they are going to ask me how to get onto the planet without leaving a trail. In this case the job they are working will definitely result in an investigation so the more clues they leave behind the worse it will be for them.

In most every other situation the SOP will be to hand wave it.

I would presume it's like illegal immigrants and the social security system here in the US. You get your social security number, and you have a name. This information, and a few other bits, is saved in the social security system. When you go get a job, you have to give your name and social security number. These may be transferred to a state or national office for verification (in California you have to file a DE34 with the state for each new hire). You can also register to be able to go online to verify name/number.

Usually, the common practice is to get a name/number from someone else who no longer needs it -- they died, or they're too young to be working yet or something. As long as only one person uses a name/number, it's no big deal -- people change jobs, they move to different states, the United States can't possibly track everyone. The problem comes when your name doesn't match your number, or "you" appear to be working in multiple states at once. Working in the same location, probably not a problem -- sometimes people have multiple jobs. Working in different states at the same time? That's a problem.

This is probably how it works for transponders. Starports and space stations or whatever get their updates (and with trillions of ships flying around the speed of updates probably varies correspondingly with your distance from the Core), they check the name/ID and if everything matches then nobody cares. Of course once the ship lands, you can see which ship it "really" is. This is probably how Han Solo became known among certain people -- you might see that the ship is not who its transponder says it is, but unless you have a grudge there's no reason to go alert the authorities -- that other ship's captain might report you if you started the reporting.

If there is a name/ID mismatch, or if the same transponder is flying around the galaxy in multiple places at the same time, it probably takes some time for the authorities in central wherever to notice and respond. I mean, anyone can use someone else's name/social security number. How do you verify that a person is who they say they are? You can't, really, since there isn't a universal fingerprint/retina scan saved for every person. You just sort of have to take it on trust.