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January 13, 2003
In a vote that largely divided along party lines, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a Republican-backed measure that would compel states to design their driver's licenses by 2008 to comply with federal antiterrorist standards. Federal employees would reject licenses or identity cards that don't comply, which could curb Americans' access to everything from airplanes to national parks and some courthouses.
The congressional maneuvering takes place as governments are growing more interested in implanting technology in ID cards to make them smarter and more secure. The U.S. State Department soon will begin issuing passports with radio frequency identification, or RFID, chips embedded in them, and Virginia may become the first state to glue RFID tags into all its driver's licenses.
What's new:
A recent vote in Congress endorsing standardized, electronically readable driver's licenses has raised fears about whether the proposal would usher in what amounts to a national ID card.
Bottom line:
Proponents of the Real ID Act say it's needed to frustrate both terrorists and illegal immigrants. Critics say it imposes more requirements for identity documents on states, and gives the Department of Homeland Security carte blanche to do nearly anything else "to protect the national security interests of the United States."
"Supporters claim it is not a national ID because it is voluntary," Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, one of the eight Republicans to object to the measure, said during the floor debate this week. "However, any state that opts out will automatically make nonpersons out of its citizens. They will not be able to fly or to take a train."
Paul warned that the legislation, called the Real ID Act, gives unfettered authority to the Department of Homeland Security to design state ID cards and driver's licenses. Among the possibilities: biometric information such as retinal scans, fingerprints, DNA data and RFID tracking technology.
Proponents of the Real ID Act say it adheres to the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission and is needed to frustrate both terrorists and illegal immigrants. Only a portion of the legislation regulates ID cards; the rest deals with immigration law and asylum requests. "American citizens have the right to know who is in their country, that people are who they say they are, and that the name on the driver's license is the real holder's name, not some alias," F. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisc., said last week.
"If these commonsense reforms had been in place in 2001, they would have hindered the efforts of the 9/11 terrorists, and they will go a long
See more CNET content tagged:
driver's license,
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Real ID Act,
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Ron Paul
They say it is voluntary BUT if youi don't obtain one you will not be permitted to travel on planes or trains.
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790), Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
I hate to sound like a conspiracy 'nut' but what's next--implantable biometric chips? After all, that is the only sure way to know that you are who you say you are!
Why don't you explain what liberties you give up when you accept a federal ID.
So far, I have a state ID, a university ID, an employee ID, numerous credit cards, a library ID.... and plenty of others. None of those seem to take away my rights. Can you elaborate, and outline specifically what protected rights are being taken away by this proposition?
It's both exciting & scary. Are we ready to face the rset of what Revelations describes?
Between Real ID and NAIS, I am not only horrified, but terrified. I feel as though the government has declared war on it's own people.
It is begining to sound like the holocaust.
I want OUT of here, i am already talking about it with my husband. This is bad. What a police state America has become, it's almost as if I have awoken to a nightmare.
But what do we do about it? Protest? Leave? Refuse? I for one don't want to be "marked" like this. When u refer to the Bible and Revalations, this might be the begining of dark and difficult times for all of us.
I personally would never approve it though.
The question is not "who" can abuse the system, but rather "how" can it be abused. If the stored information only contains name, address, fingerprints, etc., then the potential for abuse is very low. My concern, is that retailers, ticketing authorities, banks, etc. will start to require the Federal ID. At this point, your federal ID will be linked to many different aspects of your life. This does increase the potential damage that could be caused through abuse. But once again, should we be making decisions based upon the minority of people who are willing to break the law and abuse systems of good intent? Where would we be today if we always thought that way?
I think having a uniform standard and making sure only US citizens can obtain a license is okay, but when they talk about biometrics and RFID implants, then the government is going well beyond their boundaries and overreacting.
probably be really easy to hack, this bill is proposing to strip the
citizens of their rights and freedoms.
The reality of this proposal is scary at best. Foolish in the least.
If the FBI, and IRS (among other agencies) can spend hundreds
of millions of dollars on systems that do not work (and never
delivered), the only thing this bill does is create a GIGANTIC
opportunity of abuse at every level.
Those with the miniscule brainpower to dream this up should be
publicly flogged.
A system that's being proposed should be 100% reliable to work, but we can't even get Windows XP to work 100% of the time. The difference between 99% and 100% is huge - applied to the whole population of about 300 million people, a 1% rate of error means you're talking about 3 million people - all of who could be yanked aside because of a system glitch.
And there's the other side - getting data errors corrected would be a nightmare. If it requires a certain level of dedication to get errors expunged from one's credit report, what would it take to get errors corrected in one's national profile? There are probably too many clerks out there already who are just too overworked to cooperate, undereducated, or who don't under basic concepts of technology, to be effective and keeping a national database clean.
Once again, fear is being used by RFID's proponents to push its agressive agenda.
national ID as problematic. I think it does make sense. Biometric
data is not that bad. Afrer all, a fingerprint is a biometric data.
Our picture is biometric data. Our signature is also biometric
data (It determines some of the brain's locomotive abilities).
I do have a problem with RFID. RFID is a great technology. I
would like to avoid lanes at the local market or hardware store.
They do know what I buy anyways by linking my discount card or
even my credit card to what I buy anyways. I don't expect that
knowing how many eggs I buy or that I buy ham, cheese and
bread at the same time. But I do have a problem with an RFID
chip in my driver's license, containing biometric data.
The silver lining is that for bar-coded or magnetic information, I
have to give my approval for somebody to look at it (i.e.,
handing the card). With RFID, I might walk through a reader
without even knowing it. Next time, a camera will take a picture
of my eyes (in a not too far future) and link that data. It's cliché
but it so reminds me of the 'Minority Report' movie. RFID/Iris
scans. What's next? Preemptive wars? (oops. that also
happened).
We might as well put or medical records on that card and make
it useful.
RFIDs for products might also be optionally disabled permanently through a "disable" code, a specific signal that tells the products to delete their RFID data, wo they can't be tracked once outside of the store.
This is America. We make money on inconvenience and fear, but if you don't think the innovators won't step up to the opportunity to protect rights while making a buck, think again.
The Patriot Act was to protect us and all it did was give more power to power crazed administration. It hasn't done a single thing to help us or protect us. I don't think it has even managed to help catch a real terrorist.
The DMCA was supposed to help protect consumers and make things fair for both business and consumers. Like proventing the sale of poor quality after market ink and toners for our printers especially of the ones that had anti-refill chips in them. But, all it did was cost us some free speech rights, cost us more money and allowed anyone that doesn't like what someone else says about their products to file a law suite against them for breaking in their protected copyrighted code.
It is all bunch of cr*p and this ID bull is just another example.
If they want to pass something useful how about a law that requires presidental canidates to take an IQ test so we can weed out the morons like George W Bush and one to ensure that right wing extremist nut jobs and religous freaks don't get in to office like George W. Bush.
Robert
Most of the world uses ID cards, and I know of not a single case where they have been used to track or spy on people in a way that couldn't be done without ID cards. Credit cards are much more dangerous regarding tracking people.
Public confession time citizens, on the e-pillories of individual States per Federally set and controlled standards of ?data sin.? Declan, now all those wheelies you performed on your motor monster down Sorority Row at CMU will be digitized and made part of the Federal record.
In the techno-vernacular, it will be distributed citizen data collection with centralized processing, analysis and control. The states will loose more of their already dwindling ?states rights,? and become simple data collection nodes in data-input bondage to Uncle Sammy Buck$ Big Brother. If the States no play, Uncle Sammy no pay.
With REAL ID, when you get pulled over by Boss Hogg in any of the 50 States or U.S. territories of our Grand Old Republic, Officer Hogg will know all of your ?data sins? at light-speed.
Clearly, a person?s motor vehicle violation record is a prima facie indicator of who is and isn?t a person-of-interest or a soon-to-emerge deep-cover terrorist.
The Real ID Act ?doesn?t even mention the word ?privacy,?? because the Act might just as well be called the Citizen Privacy & Liberty Eradication Act.
SAT Question for REAL ID lovers: Privacy is to REAL ID as Liberty is to ___________. I?ll ask your State of Domicile to embed your SAT ?Privacy? Score into your REAL ID driver?s license RFID chip.
Things that we lambasted them for, we are now doing or thinking of doing. Isn't nice that so many want to give up freedoms millions have died for just for the false feeling of security. We have grown into a nation of cowards. Shameful.
If W. wanted to protect us as people, he would protect our federally mandated social security numbers from identity theft and given consumers some recourse to recovering their lives after having had their identity stolen! Once again, the government benefits financially from social security paid in under your stolen number which is credited to a sub-file (not your main file) and when not collected (by illegal immigrant that paid in under your stolen number) goes into a government account. I read this on MSN opening page about a week ago.
Who exactly is our government trying to protect us from? And who will protect US from our government?
Is that still the USA as we knew them ?
Does anybody really believe a few bearded cavemens are the real target of it all ?
It that the country willing to impose "freedom" all around the world ?
I want it to include biometric data.
I want it to replace Social Security Cards, Passport, Driver's Licenses, and even my work related IDs.
I want the State's arms twisted to make it happen.
I don't agree with the Chicken Littles who think the sky will fall if we have a national ID.
I want all nations on the planet to implement this as well with the card replacing birth certificates, medical records, and shot records.
I want an ID that is the sum total of my life and is indestructible so it will be here when I am no longer around.
I want it to contain my credit information and my banking information.
I want it to replace cash, checks, etc.
A national ID card is everything america is supposed to stand against. Other have quoted it but I will again:
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790), Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
What I would suggest you start doing is walking around bent over and presenting because apparently you are craving getting shafted by crooks. You can save them time this way.
What an idiot.
Robert
The rest of us dont necessarily want what you want.
Think about what you're suggesting. You're saying that because YOU want something, everyone else should be obligated to have the same thing - no matter how offensive or blatantly unconstitutional it may be.
Mr. Dauer, if that is what you want, and that is the kind of nation in which you wish to live, by all means, feel free to exercise your right to leave this nation and travel to one which operates in that manner.
Good luck.
Then eveything you have or have ever worked for is gone, one click thats all. And it doesn't matter for what reason, the federal government has already stated and implemented that under any circumstance and for any reason they can arrest, detain, and sentence you to a lifetime in prison. Without the right of attourny, or any other rights for that matter.
always being asked for my ID, when I get on a plane or train,
when i buy booze, when I use my credit cards, when I go into
clubs, when I get pulled over, when I get a rental car, when I go
to Canada, when I go to school, hell sometimes even at the
MOVIES. I can be taken to JAIL if I don't show my drivers license
to a cop if he asks.
So my question is, when will we have to show a National ID
where we don't have to show some kind of government issued
paperwork already? And how will a National ID infringe on my
rights any more than a passport does? Having a National ID does
not mean you have to store your credit card information on it, it
does not mean that the government will be able to track your
whereabouts with it, and it won't make you any more vulnerable
to identity theft than handing a credit card to your waiter at a
restaurant.
Maybe I'm crazy, or maybe I'm not paranoid enough. Or maybe
the people who are against national ID's are the same people
who drive big trucks and vote against gas taxes in the name of
'freedom'. Who knows.
Credit card use and getting ?carded? by clubs, rental car agencies, at school, the movies?etc does not count, because you still have the POWER. If a club hassles you, you can go to another club. If a rental car company abuses or gives you poor service you can switch to another. If your Credit Card Company poorly serves you, you cut-up and cancel their card, and get a new one from a new company. Are you with me, Monty? You have the POWER of the PURSE, and your private citizen feet are made for walking to another service or product provider with your U$D.
Enter government approved, provided and controlled ?Monty Burns America? REAL ID, where REAL ID Big Gov has the power of ?Centralization.? Centralization of the parts & pieces, bits & bytes of data that define and profile ?Monty Burns? will then reside Inside-the-Beltway at Bureaucratic REAL ID Central. Not decentralized out in the ?hinterlands? hospital where you were birthed. Not in some dusty file cabinet or on microfiche in the City-County Hall of Records and Statistics. Not in your State DMV issued driver?s license data base.
If you don't like the treatment you receive from a ?Gatekeeper? TSA Security Agent, Customs Agent, Law Officer, etc. what are your options...move to Canada, Mexico...a desert island? If you don't like the security culture in your town, city or state, you won't even be able to move to another State because your REAL ID data will follow you. If you complain about poor treatment to one of the Gov Gatekeepers, and it gets entered into their laptop or screening terminal, it will end up in your ?Monty Burns America? REAL ID Profile. Monty Burns?Person-of-Interest.
ALL POWER OF PERSONAL DATA TO THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT! Do you like the sound of that REAL ID mantra? Lord Acton wouldn?t because he knew, as should you, that when it comes to humans, ?Power Corrupts, Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.?
Except that a number of states are preparing to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, with California and Massachusetts leading but not alone.
The article seems to imply that "If these commonsense reforms [National ID Cards] had been in place in 2001, they would have hindered the efforts of the 9/11 terrorists". Obviously this is not the case. Had National ID Cards been in place at 9/11 the terrorist would have been issued prefectly legitimate and legal ones.
If National ID cards are imposed, terrorits will simply enter illegally. Or they will engineer/breed "clean" terrorists that can legally enter. Building a better mouse trap only temporarily catches more mice. Sure, the card might slighty alter their strategy, but no one is nieve enough to believe it would *stop* an attack? (Or are you that neive?) It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the card will have little effect on determined terrorists.
In the end all you have is a card that is poor at detering terrorism but is suprising effective at tracking the law-biding citizens of the USA. 9/11 provides some "convenient reasoning" to make people think its for their own good. So, since the card has little to do with anti-terrorism, whats the real agenda of the National ID card?
Welcome to the club. You're getting what you asked for. How's it feel?
Our commercial licenses have been federally administered since April of 1992. All our info is in a federal database. The new (and scary) part here is all the biometrics and RFID technology. It'll end when America stands up and demands an end. Not before.
Call your congressman. Call your senator. Call Pres Bush's office. Flood them with letters and e-mails. We only managed to produce about 50,000 letters from several million truckers back in the 90's... not enough. Most truckers didn't feel it'd make a difference and so they didn't bother.
I'm betting that several million PO'd Americans writing and calling would get their attention. What are you waiting for?
More Info: Feel free to visit me at...
http://www.alanburkhart.com
Click the "Privacy Rights" button in the left sidebar. There are dozens of links to additional information on RFID and other issues. There are too few people fighting this right now.
Wanna help?
- Tom DeLay's Statement is Incorrect
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by treet007
February 16, 2005 5:05 PM PST
- "If these commonsense reforms had been in place in 2001, they would have hindered the efforts of the 9/11 terrorists, and they will go a long way toward helping us prevent another tragedy like 9/11," said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas.
-
Reply to this comment
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See all 142 Comments >>This is incorrect. The failures of the FAA, FBI, and CIA were the primary causes in my humble opinion. It was recently revealed that the FAA was even notified about the possible threats, but they basically did nothing.
It is true that the 9/11 Commission recommended a national ID system as part of their suite of recommendations. But I do not believe they stated the conclusion like the senator did above and that the ID would be hindered the terrorists. Too many errors and lack of oversights occurred in the federal agencies that I believe it would have not made a difference, particularly if the terrorists created a clone ID like they did with the driver's licenses.
--GIF