By Here is something I was surprised to read about that was coming from a Democratic administration:
(Image from here.)
Democratic leaders shocked civil liberties groups on Thursday by including a proposal for biometric ID cards in a draft of immigration reform measures, The Hill writes. Under the plan, every worker in the country would be forced to carry a digital ID card encoded with biometric information within the next six years. The ACLU, naturally, was not happy about the idea. “Creating a biometric national ID will not only be astronomically expensive, it will usher government into the very center of our lives. Every worker in America will need a government permission slip in order to work,” an ACLU spokesman complained. The idea was backed by Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, who says that heightened surveillance measures have primed the country for biometric IDs, and since we’re already used to taking our shoes off at the airport, we should be able to deal with this. [SLATE]
I do not have a problem with a national ID card, but what I am trying to figure out is why does the Democrats want every worker to have biometric information on that card? Immigrants coming to America have to give biometric information anyway to get their permanent residency card so that is not the reason for this proposed law.
I have always thought the easiest way to implement a national ID card is to make a more durable and fraud proof Social Security card. When you apply for a job the employer should check for your Social Security number anyway. This way there is no need to unnecessarily gather biometric information on people and at the same time provide an employer a way to screen against hiring illegal immigrants.
Anyone else got a better idea for a national ID card?
5:31 pm on May 2nd, 2010 1
The whole purpose of embedding biometrics in IDs is to prevent counterfeiting and identity theft. It also means that before you get to where they will issue you that card, they have to verify your identity by some other means.
It's just not that simple and will require some work.
Surprisingly, it looks like the ACLU and the Tea Party may find common cause here.
7:54 pm on May 2nd, 2010 2
A method of determining tha validity of Social Security numbers already exists. It's a government database called E-Verify. Walmart uses it. When was the last time you heard of Walmart getting busted by the ICE? Custodial subcontractors have been raided but never Walmart itself, as far as I know. Employers and citizen groups have complained about government efforts to mandate the use of E-Verify. They claim that errors in database information would prevent US citizens and legal residents from being hired. There are likely errors, but users have 90 days to sort out any conflicting data. The real reason why some people oppose requiring E-Verify is precisely because it is mostly accurate and would force employers to fire workers hired under false SS numbers. Arizona has required employers to use E-Verify since 2007. Illinois FORBIDS its employers from using the service.
I'm not adverse to a national ID card, but a solution to the problem of undocumented workers using false SS numbers, many of them stolen, already exists.
9:42 pm on May 2nd, 2010 3
"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety"
10:33 pm on May 2nd, 2010 4
Thomas Jefferson.
10:43 pm on May 2nd, 2010 5
Actually Benjamin Franklin.
11:10 pm on May 2nd, 2010 6
"And no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."
I don't have to worry, my wife won't even let me have a tattoo!
11:20 pm on May 2nd, 2010 7
"I agree that its time for a real universal ID system in the USA"
Why? Please explain "the problem".
12:28 am on May 3rd, 2010 8
I agree that its time for a real universal ID system in the USA. Currently a social security number is the de facto standard, but those paper cards don’t really address the problem. I would prefer something similar to what the Koreans use, but with more the nine digits.
1:16 am on May 3rd, 2010 9
I predicted this a few years ago since this security circus at the airports was a pretty ham-fisted attempt to prepare the way for a national ID card, which is an extremely unpopular idea in the U.S.
The copy in the above poster looks suspiciously provocative though.
6:57 pm on May 3rd, 2010 10
Doing any form of business or financial work is impossible with a way to uniquely identify people. We already have a universal ID, its that social security card we all get made of paper. It contains your name and a number that is assigned to you and used in nearly everything you do. Its assigned when your parents registered your birth, or is given when you get your "green card" during immigration.
Auto insurance, bank accounts, credit cards, home ownership, property registration, drivers license, even voter registration eventually lead back to your SSN. You already have a government ID, face it. You already exist in a government database at the IRS, FBI and soon to be interstate DMV's.
When they first implemented those they were too short sighted with the number of digits allocated and thus we've forced to reuse numbers, which allows people to get away with fraud by using dead people's numbers. With a significantly larger pool of numbers they can allow individual's to retain their ID even after death and thus allow an "expired" entry to marked and never allowed to be used again. And since people typically carry multiple forms of ID it would be the smart thing to link as many together as is reasonable under a single card system.
A government ID wouldn't do anything to your rights, your not giving up freedom's or any other tinfoil hat idea's. Everything that is supposed to be "evil" about it is already being done, on a system much less convenient to you.
10:31 pm on May 3rd, 2010 11
"my wife won't even let me have a tatoo"
Kinda defeats the idea if you have to get an ok from the better half.
That being said, I don't care much for the tats that are popular today, or the locations that some have decided on. Lack of meaning.
6:16 am on May 4th, 2010 12
“And no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
I hear they are running a test of this already.
Starting next year, you are going to have to show your tramp stamp to buy vodka, Astroglide and the morning after pill.
4:11 pm on May 20th, 2010 13
HOOAH!
4:12 pm on May 20th, 2010 14
Revelation.