"Your Papers, Please!" - Get Your Fingerprints
Ready! Cross-Party
Senate Alliance Pushing National ID Card
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000687.htmlGreetings. According to the Wall Street Journal, U.S. Senate
immigration reform advocates Chuck Schumer and Lindsey Graham are
proposing a mandatory biometric (e.g. fingerprint-based) National ID
Card system, and are attempting to brush away privacy concerns as
trivial and irrelevant ( http://bit.ly/au3xGq ).Touted as "merely" a "right-to-work" card aimed at addressing illegal
immigration concerns, there's simply no fast-talking around the fact
that this plan will set in motion a massive national ID infrastructure
that will
ultimately penetrate every
aspect of our lives. Anyone who
suggests otherwise is -- sorry to say -- either a liar or a fool.
I basically care not one whit what other countries have done in this
regard. When it comes to civil liberties, each nation is in the end
responsible for their own nirvanas -- or hells. So apparently we'll
need to save ourselves from the seemingly well-meaning but clearly
bullheaded and misguided efforts of these two usually relatively
sensible Senators.
Frankly, I can't think of many more effective ways to trigger an
outpouring of civil disobedience among otherwise law-abiding and
patriotic Americans than trying to stuff biometric ID cards up our
you-know-whats (where the new airport full-body scanners won't be able
to see them, by the way).
"Your papers, please! NOW Comrade!"
--Lauren--
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Lauren, et al.
While I understand the severity of the impact this legislation would have upon personal privacy, and that arguments could be held upon that topic alone, I worry that this "National ID" schema lends naturally to, and would likely implement in short order, registered Internet access. Beyond that, I foresee a plethora of services which may bind to your identification as either electable or compulsory (EBT/Debit transactions being primary among them), not by legislation, but by industry practice. This is key to understanding the full scope of this proposal: how it will guide business, and interpersonal interaction.
It's easy to speculate about the myriad
of systematic abuses and intrusions to ones personal information could be made from this. My debit card does not provide my current street address, or any indication of what my thumbprint looks like. However, if a "National ID" exists and the banking industry refuses to conduct transactions without tying them to my ID, any vendor with whom I do business is now privy to personal information which I would otherwise have concealed.
Clerk: "Gee, that guy has a fancy ride. Wonder where he lives?"
<Clerk snaps a picture with his cellphone of your information when it displays on his register monitor>
The card doesn't protect the border. The card doesn't protect you. It serves only to protect the government by way of taxes. And my argument for that is here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24054024/.Centralizing your information only makes it easier to steal. And as with any system, the card
will
be counterfeit. I'm aware of at least one mechanism by which to lithographically duplicate a fingerprint based on an image or lifted print from any object with which one may come in contact.
As with any terrible idea in government, it usually takes a significant
portion of the populace to be abused before any reversal is achieved.
Allowing a "National ID" to become firmly entrenched in our society
guarantees that our society itself may not survive a reversal of such magnitude. One should always question who stands to benefit, either now
or in that dystopian future. Write your Senators and Representatives as soon as you can, folks.
-Dave Berry