[af_vet_rr]

Heavily excerpted - three page article.

[Pearls Before Swine]

It sounds as if I'll soon have more freedom if I go on vacation to Mexico and sneak back across the border as an illegal.

[FreedomNeocon]

Good... lets just be done with it and encrypt biometrics on every card and test at secure areas (no need for national db, store retinal scan, and use card along to check against scanning station realtime results)

[af_vet_rr]

National Database, National ID Card. They pushed it through by attaching it to a military spending bill. Many of us thought they wouldn't be able to pull it off, but nobody is going to vote against a bill that spends money on our troops, and they knew that.

You can pretend it's about terrorism, about illegal immigration, or anything else you want to pretend it's about, but certain political persuasions have been advocating a national ID for many years now, and they saw their chance to push this through. This goes a few steps further as well, and does in fact create a national database of everybody.

If you don't like this, don't be surprised if your labeled a terrorist or illegal alien sympathizer.

[evets]

[St. Johann Tetzel]

Is this a national ID card?
It depends on whom you ask. Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's technology and liberty program, says: "It's going to result in everyone, from the 7-Eleven store to the bank and airlines, demanding to see the ID card. They're going to scan it in. They're going to have all the data on it from the front of the card...It's going to be not just a national ID card but a national database."

At the moment, state driver's licenses aren't easy for bars, banks, airlines and so on to swipe through card readers because they're not uniform; some may have barcodes but no magnetic stripes, for instance, and some may lack both. Steinhardt predicts the federalized IDs will be a gold mine for government agencies and marketers. Also, he notes that the Supreme Court ruled last year that police can demand to see ID from law-abiding U.S. citizens.

[af_vet_rr]

From the article/FAQ, only three Republicans voted against this idea

Reps. Howard Coble of North Carolina, John Duncan of Tennessee, and Ron Paul of Texas.

[Lead Moderator]

To prevent duplication, please do not alter the heading. Thanks.

[OpusatFR]

"State DMVs will have to verify that these identity documents are legitimate, digitize them and store them permanently. In addition, Social Security numbers must be verified with the Social Security Administration."

Sure. And just like now, some enterprizing DMV worker will fudge the requirements for cash. Seems they did this in New York and Virginia.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

Well, I don't fly public airlines, all my bank accounts are decades old and since I never paid any social security, screw them.

As for "other government services" I pray I am never targeted for any of them, but I keep a blue water vessel in ship shape at the dock just in case.

I'm sure this anti-American ID crap will keep us all safe.

On the bright side, we won't need tickets for the cattle cars that take us to the nice new summer camps.

[snowsislander]

These will function as internal passports, and you won't be able to travel on inter-city/interstate public transportation without having it swiped.

[mtbopfuyn]

In other news - there's been an increase in laminated paper in Mexico.

[stylecouncilor]

this will effect underage drinking everywhere.

[AgThorn]

I am elated that we will finally have a single drivers license, or a national passport or something ... it is so stupid for people to run around thinking that the 'sky is falling' because of this.

bring it on ... hope it speads up getting on an airplane and further closes the borders from illegal aliens, and keeps meddling state politicians from playing with the drivers license for illegal nonsense.

[L98Fiero]

Sooo....

Me having a government issued card that proves I am who I say I am is a violation of my rights?

Wow, who knew?

I can tell some people on here have never applied for a security clearance.

[AgThorn]

Here's a good writeup on ID card use, failure, success, etc. around the world. Although the article is some 9 years old, it's a good collection of data on this subject:


http://www.privacy.org/pi/activities/idcard/idcard_faq.html#1

[cgbg]

This national database will be for identification purposes only, will be impossible for hackers, criminals, corrupt politicians, bureaucrats, motor vehicle employees, and foreign spies and terrorists to access.

Right? :-(

[Ronaldus Magnus]

Didn't all of the 19 terrorists in the 2001 attacks have valid identification cards? How would these new invasive measures do anything to protect us from terrorism?

[Dumb_Ox]

An internal passport is an identification document issued for the purpose of allowing or restricting the movement of citizens within their country. Examples of countries that used or use internal passports include the former Soviet Union (see propiska) and, currently, North Korea. Internal passports were used by the Soviets to control where a citizen could live, work or receive medical treatment. All residents were required by law to record their address on the document, and to report any changes to the relevant Ministry (e.g., by the age of 45, a person has to have three photographs of himself in the passport due to the effects of aging, taken an the age of 16 (when it is issued), 25 and 45). In Ukraine, these laws were struck down by its Constitutional Court in 2001 on the grounds of unconstitutionality. In Russia, similar cases have so far failed, and the system remains in place, although largely reduced.

Who won the Cold War again?

Wasn't there some suggestion floating around after 9/11 that people who forge IDs for underage drinkers provide the infrastructure for terrorists?

[HiTech RedNeck]

This is like shooting a squirrel with an elephant gun.

Why not create a special Federal card for flying. Leave driving out of it. This is big brother cubed.

[longtermmemmory]

Just FYI DL databases are already sharing data for purposes of DL suspensions.

This is not as new as the hystrionics may have us think.

I think an important provision is the requiremtn that the DL for tourists and immigrants is connected to their visa expiration. (of couse some B1/b2 visas are good for ten years)