NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Re: "Your Papers, Please!" - Get Your Fingerprints Ready! Cross-Party Senate Alliance Pushing National ID Card
Date: Tue, 9 Mar 2010 12:34:13 -0800 (PST)
From: David Berry <ravenman@rocketmail.com>
Subject: Re: "Your Papers, Please!" - Get Your Fingerprints Ready! Cross-Party Senate Alliance Pushing National ID Card
To: nnsquad@nnsquad.org
[ And in fact, the reason I sent the original item below to this
list is that it's inconceivable that such an ID infrastructure
would not rapidly be subject to "mission creep" into most
aspects of our Internet usage as well. There are folks out
there chomping at the bit to get that "damned Internet" and its
users onto nice short leashes where their every move is subject
to both proactive and retroactive oversight and retribution by
"well-meaning" politicos and bureaucrats. And there are major
hardware and software vendors at the ready to fulfill all
necessary requirements to make this happen as well.
The many technical gotchas in these systems, ranging from
identify falsification (trusted but always imperfect ID systems
are superb tools for crooks when they fail) to the ease with
which biometric systems can be leveraged for evil (just try to
get a new iris or new set of fingerprints after they've been
subverted even once!) are best left for other lists.
-- Lauren Weinstein
NNSquad Moderator ]
- - -
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 this
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
- - -
"Your Papers, Please!" - Get Your Fingerprints Ready! Cross-Party
Senate Alliance Pushing National ID Card
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000687.html
Greetings. 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--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
- People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
- Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, GCTIP - Global Coalition
for Transparent Internet Performance - http://www.gctip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
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