Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Howard Dean's 'smart ID' plan; called for national ID card and ID's in PCs.
ZDNET ^ | 01/26/04 | Declan McCullagh

Posted on 01/26/2004 9:56:48 AM PST by Pikamax

Howard Dean's 'smart ID' plan

By Declan McCullagh CNET News.com January 26, 2004, 5:18 AM PT

Add your opinion

Forward in Format for

COMMENTARY--After Howard Dean's unexpected defeat last week in Iowa, public attention has focused on his temper, his character, and that guttural Tyrannosaurus bellow of his not-quite-a-concession speech. But Dean's views on Americans' privacy rights may be a superior test of his fitness to be president. Dean's current stand on privacy appears to leave little wiggle room: His campaign platform pledges unwavering support for "the constitutional principles of equality, liberty and privacy."

Fifteen months before Dean said he would seek the presidency, however, the former Vermont governor spoke at a conference in Pittsburgh co-sponsored by smart-card firm Wave Systems where he called for state drivers' licenses to be transformed into a kind of standardized national ID card for Americans.

Embedding smart cards into uniform IDs was necessary to thwart "cyberterrorism" and identity theft, Dean claimed. "We must move to smarter license cards that carry secure digital information that can be universally read at vital checkpoints," Dean said in March 2002, according to a copy of his prepared remarks. "Issuing such a card would have little effect on the privacy of Americans."

Dean also suggested that computer makers such as Apple Computer, Dell, Gateway and Sony should be required to include an ID card reader in PCs--and Americans would have to insert their uniform IDs into the reader before they could log on. "One state's smart-card driver's license must be identifiable by another state's card reader," Dean said. "It must also be easily commercialized by the private sector and included in all PCs over time--making the Internet safer and more secure."

The presidential hopeful offered few details about his radical proposal. "On the Internet, this card will confirm all the information required to gain access to a state (government) network--while also barring anyone who isn't legal age from entering an adult chat room, making the Internet safer for our children, or prevent adults from entering a children's chat room and preying on our kids...Many new computer systems are being created with card reader technology. Older computers can add this feature for very little money," Dean said.

There's probably a good reason why Dean spoke so vaguely: It's unclear how such a system would work in practice. Must Internet cafes include uniform ID card readers on public computers? Would existing computers have to be retrofitted? Would tourists be prohibited from bringing laptops unless they sported uniform ID readers? What about Unix shell accounts? How did a politician who is said to be Internet-savvy concoct this scheme?

Perhaps most importantly, does Dean still want to forcibly implant all of our computers with uniform ID readers?

Unfortunately, Dean's presidential campaign won't answer any of those questions. I've tried six times since Jan. 16 to get a response, and all the press office will say is they've "forwarded it on to our policy folks." And the policy shop isn't talking.

Then there are the privacy questions. To curry favor among the progressive types who form the backbone of his campaign, Dean has positioned himself as a left-of-center civil libertarian. He's guest-blogged for progressive doyen Larry Lessig, embraced the Brady Bill and affirmative action, told audiences on the campaign trail that the Bush administration has "compromised our freedoms in the name of fighting terrorism," and pledged to repeal parts of the USA Patriot Act.

It's difficult to reconcile Dean's current statements with his recent support--less than two years ago--for what amounts to a national ID card and a likely reduction in Americans' privacy. "Privacy is the new urban myth," Dean said in that March 2002 speech.

"I know of no other Democratic candidate who has this view on national ID," said Chris Hoofnagle, associate director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "I hope that he'd reconsider his policy on national ID because it has significant affects on individuals' right to privacy and does not make the country more secure. If you think about it, the implication is that children would have to be issued cards as well. Are we talking about ID cards from birth?"

Dean's March 2002 speech to a workshop at Carnegie Mellon University--given just six months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks--was designed to throw his support behind a standard ID proposal backed by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA). At the time, Dean was chairman of the National Governors Association, a key ally for the AAMVA as it lobbied to transform the humble state driver's license into a uniform national ID card.

"I'm not surprised," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the technology and liberty program at the American Civil Liberties Union and a former Vermont resident. "It's a backdoor national ID. It won't even work to protect against terrorism because we know that some of the 9-11 terrorists had phony driver's licenses that they were able to buy on the black market."

It's true that most American adults already carry around driver's licenses. But the AAMVA proposal would have mandated biometric identifiers such as digitized fingerprints or retinal scans. Depending on how the system was implemented, your license could be equipped with a smart card (which Dean suggested) that could store information about your movements whenever it was swiped in a reader. It could also be tied to a back-end database so all verifications would be logged with the time, date and location.

The idea never gained traction in Congress because of privacy concerns and opposition not only from conservative activists, but from Democratic-leaning groups including People for the American Way, National Consumers League, and National Council of La Raza.

One prominent group that did support a standardized ID at the time is the New Democrats' public policy wing, which has suggested that microchip-implanted smart cards could hold not only retinal scans or fingerprints but also "food stamps, voter registration, library cards, hunting and fishing licenses" and a wealth of corporate data like E-Z-Pass, gas station automatic billing, and banking information. In one of history's ironic flourishes, Dean lashed out at the New Democrats last month in Exeter, N.H., dubbing them "the Republican wing of the Democratic Party."

It's possible that Dean has a good explanation for his uniform ID card views, and can account for how his principles apparently changed so radically over the course of just two years. Perhaps he can't. But a refusal to answer difficult questions is not an attractive quality in a man who would be president.

biography Declan McCullagh is CNET News.com's Washington, D.C., correspondent. He chronicles the busy intersection between technology and politics. Before that, he worked for several years as Washington bureau chief for Wired News. He has also worked as a reporter for The Netly News, Time magazine and HotWired.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2004; dean; howarddean; nationalid; privacy; smartid
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-89 next last

1 posted on 01/26/2004 9:56:48 AM PST by Pikamax
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Pikamax
..."We must move to smarter license cards that carry secure digital information that can be universally read at vital checkpoints,"...

Halt!
Papieren bitte!

2 posted on 01/26/2004 9:58:14 AM PST by the gillman@blacklagoon.com
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Pikamax
Very interesting. Previously I could see why they'd want to inject an ID chip into one's hand...but the forehead didn't make as much sense. But if a computer is going to sense the chip for someone sitting in front of it the forehead makes perfect sense.
3 posted on 01/26/2004 10:00:22 AM PST by highlander_UW
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Pikamax
Dean's death nell.
4 posted on 01/26/2004 10:01:04 AM PST by A Navy Vet (Can I get a no down guarantee on a 32 ft SeaRay, please?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: the gillman@blacklagoon.com
"vital checkpoints"

STASI ALERT
5 posted on 01/26/2004 10:01:05 AM PST by agitator (The 9th Amendment says what?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Pikamax
Embedding smart cards into uniform IDs was necessary to thwart "cyberterrorism" and identity theft, Dean claimed. "We must move to smarter license cards that carry secure digital information that can be universally read at vital checkpoints,"
I thought the old USSR was dead....
Scary
6 posted on 01/26/2004 10:02:50 AM PST by GrandEagle
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: A Navy Vet
Don't kid yourself -- all the other Dem candidates want it too (and some pubbies), maybe even Dubya and Ashcroft -- its just interesting Dean was stupid enough to tell the truth.
7 posted on 01/26/2004 10:04:58 AM PST by skip2myloo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Pikamax
....."Apple Computer, Dell, Gateway and Sony should be required to include an ID card reader in PCs...."

Hmmmm, why only these brands?

8 posted on 01/26/2004 10:05:37 AM PST by EggsAckley (..................**AMEND** the Fourteenth Amendment......(There, is THAT better?).................)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: skip2myloo
all the other Dem candidates want it too (and some pubbies), maybe even Dubya and Ashcroft
I could easily see Ashcroft requesting this....
9 posted on 01/26/2004 10:08:28 AM PST by GrandEagle
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: the gillman@blacklagoon.com
What is funny is that the phonycons David Frum and Richard Perle advocate virtually the same thing in their book that was received well by the 'hawks' on this site.

And there is only one system that will do the job: a national identity card that registers the bearer's name and biometric data, like fingerprints or retinal scans or DNA, and that indicates whether the bearer is a citizen, a permanent resident, or a temporary resident... (pg 70)

I can only figure that Dean is going for the vulnerable neoconservative vote and the soccermom vote that just loves trading liberties for the promise of security.

10 posted on 01/26/2004 10:10:24 AM PST by JohnGalt ("...but both sides know who the real enemy is, and, my friends, it is us.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: skip2myloo
I agree entirely with what you have said.

I am afraid this merely a matter of when, and not a matter of if.
11 posted on 01/26/2004 10:10:45 AM PST by Viva Le Dissention
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: EggsAckley
Why only these brands?

Read it again:
computer makers such as Apple Computer, Dell, Gateway and Sony...

12 posted on 01/26/2004 10:12:23 AM PST by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Pikamax
``Constitutional principles of equality, liberty and privacy'' dictate a need for a national identification card and a state license to operate a computer? Newspeak doubleplus ungood!
13 posted on 01/26/2004 10:13:19 AM PST by Liberal Classic (No better friend, no worse enemy.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: skip2myloo
You have a point.

14 posted on 01/26/2004 10:15:24 AM PST by A Navy Vet (Can I get a no down guarantee on a 32 ft SeaRay, please?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: skip2myloo
Don't kid yourself -- all the other Dem candidates want it too (and some pubbies), maybe even Dubya and Ashcroft

Correct.

Dean is just a loose cannon who speaks his mind, but he's not the only one for a national ID.

Besides, the current scheme of hooking up the state Driver's License with the federal Social Security Number has created a de facto national ID already.

15 posted on 01/26/2004 10:15:34 AM PST by george wythe
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

Comment #16 Removed by Moderator

To: Pikamax
Nice way to kill Linux.
17 posted on 01/26/2004 10:17:22 AM PST by DMCA (TITLE 17 Chapter 1 Sec 107 (HI PRBC !!!))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: the gillman@blacklagoon.com
You ought to here this. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1065381/posts?page=1
Phyllis Schafly and Michelle Malkin. :)<<me
18 posted on 01/26/2004 10:17:30 AM PST by stopsign ("What great fortune for government. That people don't think"...Der Fuher... [hummmm...])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: JohnGalt
It's all but inevitable now.

The window for escape is closing rapidly.
The sound of marching boots draws nearer all the time.
19 posted on 01/26/2004 10:18:18 AM PST by the gillman@blacklagoon.com (As you say, they are ALL liars.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Pikamax
Guttural? Dean's scream falls into the range of "falsetto." It is the upper, non-chest range vocal performers use to gain a pure, simple, near sine-wave tone. There were entire operas (choral pieces) written during the Renaissance for adult male tenors who, before puberty, had been castrated. The resultant "castratto" tenor maintained that pure upper register with the added resonance of an adult nasal/sinus cavity (the ability to resonate and project = volume). I'm not suggesting Dean-me-boyo is a castratto (I wouldn't dare). Just an "oh by the way!"


If everyone in the country is inflicted with these cards, they will have to:

Remember a password to validate the info on the card.

Remember a password to edit and verify the value on the card.

Understand that the card is the primary token and without it, they could be cut off from services they "have a right to"

Recognize that even with a "security" chip on the card, if a computer is used to create it, a computer can be used to copy/recreate/abuse that very card.........as easily as though the dirt-bag had the card on his person.

Realize that a national ID card is not a way to control terrorists, but a way to control serfs!

Stay alert for this kind of lunacy. If it pops up in the current (hopefully future) administration, it needs to be crushed by a huge grass roots reply by way of email, postal mail, fax, phone calls, etc!
20 posted on 01/26/2004 10:18:22 AM PST by petro45acp ("The terrorists don't "win" by keeping you from normal daily life, but by killing the infidel")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-89 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson