Posted on 03/04/2003 5:50:56 AM PST by kjam22
Senate supports proposal for finger scan on license 2003-03-04
By John Greiner
The Oklahoman
Senators passed a bill Monday requiring Oklahomans to undergo a finger scan when they get their driver's licenses, despite an argument it was giving away personal freedom. Senate Bill 423, which passed 25-17, would require a new kind of fingerprinting, called a finger scan or finger image, when a person renews or gets a license.
"I believe we're striking a blow for freedom of all law-abiding citizens of this state and nation," said Sen. Robert M. Kerr, D-Altus, in urging the passage of his bill.
Said Sen. Owen Laughlin, R-Woodward, "I think it's a giveaway of personal freedoms. You can always justify giving up freedom for safety."
The finger scan won't produce an image like ones made by rolling a finger over ink.
The scan will be converted into data that will be on file in the Public Safety Department, and can be used to keep someone from using another's license or stealing someone's identity.
Laughlin reminded senators of the novel "1984," which was written about a futuristic state where "Big Brother" watched everyone.
"Maybe 1984 has become 2004," Laughlin said, saying the bill would be a step in that direction.
Sen. Mike Fair, R-Oklahoma City, argued for the bill, saying technology is making it easier to steal someone's license or identity.
Fair said he didn't see how requiring a finger scan could be bad.
Someday that kind of information also will be on people's passports, he said.
"Perhaps maybe we'll catch some of these criminals who would blow up our shopping centers, our roadways and airplanes and everything else," Fair said.
Sen. Scott Pruitt, R-Broken Arrow, said he is concerned about the kind of data that would be maintained at the Public Safety Department.
Kerr said it would be data that would enable a merchant to know if someone who was buying a beer was in fact the person who was issued the driver's license.
Sen. Johnnie Crutchfield, D-Ardmore, said many people who have been in the military have been fingerprinted and thought nothing about it.
"What it is, is a method of identification," Crutchfield said.
The measure still must go through the House of Representatives.
One of the main purposes of a Drivers License (aside from a license to drive) is to prove your identity. As your drivers license database has your SSAN, your address, your next of kin, donor info; height/weight and your picture; I fail to see how a fingerprint is in any way considered 'giving away a personal freedom'.
Because this type of info may be on a passport in the future we should include it in a drivers license today. Would someone instruct this dope that a drivers license is not a passport.
I know ... (drool). WDW.... my ultimate vacation escape. Been married to my wife for 5 years, have taken here there 4x. She says we have to go to Hawaii before we can go back. So, gotta hury and get Hawaii out of the way ..... :-D
A couple of years back someone used my credit card number for about $500 in purchases. The credit card company very easily wiped it from my records. I signed the statement and the charges went away. But nobody pursued the criminal. Nobody even cared. It's only $500 bucks. Until law enforcement takes a real interest in catching people committing these crimes, fingerprinting the populace is a lousy idea.
So, your concern is that somebody is going to hack into the DPS, steal your identity, and modify your fingerprint? Sanity check me, but isn't looking at a phone book, and getting your address a little bit easier than going through that mess. I had my identity stolen too, and the %$& fools at American Express sent the thief my AmEx card to a hotel, about 5 miles from my house (instead of mailing it to me); and to add even more stupidity to their monunment of ignorance, they always type your SSAN on the placard that holds the AmEx card. So, instead of simply giving an identity thief an AmEx card, they gave him my SSAN as well.
Thieves will take the easiest way to acquire information they can. AmEx goes out of their way to make it easy for them to do so. The idiots STILL do not have a security question (mother's maiden name, ect). I think anything that makes a legal form of ID harder to forge, and more accurate; is a great idea.
This is old stuff. People act like EVERTHING is something new since 9-11.
How will this prevent someone from stealing your identity? I have had mine stolen. They don't come and take your drivers license. They hack a computer somewhere and steal all of you personal info and create credit cards in your name. They have no use for your drivers license whatsoever.
By the way, there are only a few thousand people doing this, and Ashcroft could stomp them out in a minute but he has decided to spend his time going after guys who make ceramic smoking pipes instea.
We have this nonsense in Georgia- I opposed it, without success.
First, they just wanted a thumbprint, then the next time, both index fingers... my guess is the will get the full set eventually.
After they enacted the law- which clearly stated the thumbprint would "be used for no other purpose"- they were talking about integrating the prints they had into a "terrorist database."
No further explantions of what that meant ever came forth.
My prints have been on file for years ( security clearances ) and I was not concerned about myself, but I did have concerns for everyone not yet printed. The potential for abuse is kind of staggering.
There was a lot of discussion about that here on FR the last time the census came around. The conclusion of many here was that you could get in trouble for submitting incomplete or inacurate forms, but that there was basically no penalty for just not doing it. At the time I lived in CT and wanted them to lose Congressional representation anyway so I just din't fill mine out at all.
hello “666”
Sorry, there is no mark placed anywhere, just a fingerprint scan embedded on a piece of plastic (either in picture form, or in a chip). Hence the '666' monicker does not make sense. The scriptures are quite specific here, this is a visible mark placed on the hand or head - not a biometric reading anymore than taking your picture is somehow capturing your soul.
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