Posted on 09/20/2005 4:55:33 AM PDT by billorites
IF THE REAL ID Act were such a great idea, why did Congress attach it to a military spending bill and pass it without public hearings?
The answer, of course, is that it is not a great idea.
Supporters of REAL ID, including Reps. Charlie Bass and Jeb Bradley and Sen. Judd Gregg, say people should not be able to get driver’s licenses without proving they are who they say they are.
Very true. But REAL ID goes further. If the bill simply set a few minimum standards for the issuance of state identification cards such as drivers’ licenses, it would raise few eyebrows. Some states had dangerously lax standards before 9/11. For instance, seven of the 9/11 hijackers got Virginia drivers’ licenses because that state gave licenses to undocumented immigrants.
REAL ID, however, nationalizes the driver’s license, turning it into an electronic national ID card, and creates a de facto nationwide database for personal information. It is a hacker’s dream come true. Personal data on virtually every adult in the United States will become highly vulnerable when this law is fully implemented.
The law requires “common machine-readable technology” for verifying the identity of each license holder. The Department of Homeland Security is reportedly leaning toward Radio Frequency Identifier tags to accomplish this goal. Small tags in the cards would transmit data via radio signals.
This past May the Government Accountability Office wrote of RFID, “Without effective security controls, data on the tag can be read by any compliant reader; data transmitted through the air can be intercepted and read by unauthorized devices; and data stored in the databases can be accessed by unauthorized users.”
RFID tags also can be used to track people’s movements without their knowledge, according to experts.
All of this is superfluous to ensuring that people are who they say they are. That could be done at the DMV simply by requiring proof of ID.
Kudos to Sen. John Sununu for having the guts to oppose this overreaching law under pressure from the administration and his own party. The act goes too far, and he has been one of the few Republicans to say so.
But what is in the data base? If it was just your name and that the card was issued legally then it wouldn't be too bad.
It's just that government loves the "This is a neat idea, lets stick more info in the data base" concept.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,60898,00.html
The charter school's 422 students wear small plastic cards around their necks that have their photograph, name and grade printed on them, and include an embedded RFID chip. As the children enter the school, they approach a kiosk where a reader activates the chip's signal and displays their photograph. The students touch their picture, and the time of their entry into the building is recorded in a database. A school staffer oversees the check-in process.
The school spent $25,000 on the ID system. The $3 ID tags students wear around their necks at all times incorporate the same Texas Instruments smart labels used in the wristbands worn by inmates at the Pima County jail in Texas. Similar wristbands are used to track wounded U.S. soldiers and POWs in Iraq and by the Magic Waters theme park in Illinois for cashless purchases.
How would a National ID change anything when our borders are wide open?
Who cares? They know all that stuff anyway, and it would work wonders against illegals and voter fraud.
A hefty fine for all ID fraud, perhaps split the fine with the finders.
"How would a National ID change anything when our borders are wide open?"
GWB wants the borders open. He's had 5 years to secure them between legal crossings. Illegal crossings are up 25% since 9/11.
http://www.eagleforum.org/column/2005/july05/05-07-13.html
CFR's Plan to Integrate the U.S., Mexico and Canada
C:\My Documents\My Pictures\ASSGuy.jpg
Identity papers please!!! We have ways of dealing with you.
My apologies. I am still working on posting pictures.
I'm reasonably familiar with the RFID program they have in mind - my agency uses the same chips to track our firearms. They work out to about three inches. So, I guess as long as you pass within three inches of a reader, you *could* technically be tracked. IMHO, though, it's worth it if we can stop illegal immigration and vote fraud.
So, under your system, I should be able to go into the DMV in my county and in the adjoining counties and get a driver's liscense issued in each of them. Then, I can get as many DUI's as I want - I'll always have another driver's liscense handy!
Anyone who believes that NEARLY EVERYTHING concerning their life is NOT ALREADY in a database somewhere is DREAMING!
However, if: you were not born in a manner in which your birth was recorded, never were identified in a national/state/local census, never attended school, never worked for anyone, never had a bank account, never had credit, never had a drivers license (or any other license), etc....., you MAY not be in a database.
If you meet the foregoing qualifications..., then you still enjoy "personal privacy", all of the rest of us lost ours many decades ago!
It is not a redherring. I didn't bother clicking on your link...at work and can't chance that.
Mexico uses implants in certain secure locations for identification purposes. It is being used some in the US for people going to dances so that they don't have to carry a pocket book. You just scan the implant.
These two items were MSNBC online articles.
The connection is, once a few peopel get their ID cards stolen, or lose them, the idea will be to transplant it under the skin. When that happens, No, thanks. I don't put anything under my skin that doesn't need to be there.
The politicians in power show absolutely no interest in doing either -- illegal aliens are too useful for their friends' profits, and vote fraud is too useful as insurance against being thrown out of office.
That being the case, I conclude that the real agenda here is something else, and nefarious. I might reconsider if given a credible explanation of what this is supposed to accomplish.
*Securing the country against terrorism is a subset of the general problem of securing the borders against illegal entry, and thus not considered separately.
It wouldn't do jack squat for either. See my previous message.
I also have looked into RFID to track our PC hardware. There are tags that can track up to 50 feet. They are passive receiver/transmitters that get a signal from stationary transmitters that are constantly pinging for rfid tags. By more than one transmitter pinging, you can locate the rfid tag throug triangulation.
It is a business/Investment website, here's article, just another about how RFID is being used, quite the fashion ay.
I think it is a sign of the End Times we are living in and may be the beginning of the Mark of the Beast talked about in Revelation 13:16-18 and Revelation 14:9-12
Banker Gets ID Chip Implant
VeriChip ‘chips’ an investment bank CEO who wants authorities to have access to his living will in an emergency.
September 19, 2005
To help publicize a company that makes microchips that can be implanted in humans for identification purposes, a prominent San Francisco banker got “chipped” Monday so that his living will is just a scan away if he ever becomes seriously ill.
Before some 40 investors and entrepreneurs in San Francisco, John Merriman, chairman and CEO of investment firm Merriman Curhan Ford & Co., was injected with a rice-sized radio frequency identification (RFID) tag in his upper arm.
Mr. Merriman said he got “chipped” partly to support Florida-based VeriChip, saying he was “taking one for the team.” He also said he wanted the chip to enable swift access to his living will information should he became disabled.
The chip was an answer to his “increasing paranoia of having the specific provisions in his living will executed” in a worst case scenario, said Mr. Merriman, who does not have any serious medical conditions.
Mr. Merriman's firm is an advisor to VeriChip but the bank hasn't invested in the company, VeriChip said.
The RFID market, which commonly tracks goods in a supply chain and streamlines factories, is estimated to become a multibillion-dollar industry over the next five years. But whether or not implanting RFID tags in humans will become popular is still highly controversial.
The stunt, which the company called a “live chipping,” makes Mr. Merriman only one of roughly 50 people in the United States who have received an implanted RFID tag. The tag was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last October.
But Mr. Merriman was not bothered by the early stage of the application, saying, “I am psyched to be at the forefront of this technology.”
VeriChip, a subsidiary of Applied Digital Solutions, counts less than $1 million in revenue annually from its human implant business. The company attributes the rest of its revenue to pet ID implants and RFID-enabled medical ID bracelets.
Sales from the implantable RFID are expected to grow to $5 million in 2006 and $25 million in 2007, said VeriChip CEO Scott Silverman, who also has been implanted with the company’s chip. Mr. Silverman said chipping has yet to catch on as many people aren’t aware of its benefits and others are concerned about privacy issues.
“The biggest market barrier is education,” said Mr. Silverman.
The company sells its chips to industries like healthcare and security. The chip is implanted right under the skin with a syringe and then can be read by a reader enabling applications in fields that require location tracking and quick identification.
For example, several Mexican government officials received the chip for security purposes to combat kidnapping attempts.
In a healthcare setting, hospital staff could use a patient’s RFID chip to quickly pull up the patient’s information quickly, even if the patient were unable to communicate with the caregiver.
Chipping Controversy
Critics say privacy concerns are a big issue for implanting RFID tags in humans because the radio signal emitted from the tag could be tracked by any unknown source. An implanted chip could potentially expose the wearer to anyone looking to use the information for harm, if the chip could unlock personal or medical information.
VeriChip said its RFID tags only contain an anonymous 16-code number that can be entered into a database for applications, but which the company said is meaningless if the code is read on its own.
Critics also point to the fact that millions of pets already have a similar system with implanted ID tags. As the critics see it, implanting chips in humans could lead to negative associations and might deter customers from getting chipped.
But the company is no stranger to high-profile public moves.
In July, Tommy Thompson, the former head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, joined the company’s board to back the chip company and promote its health and security applications.
Though Mr. Thompson has not been chipped yet, VeriChip said he is “trying to schedule the procedure between his travel and his other commitments.”
VeriChip debuted its technology by chipping clubbers at a bar in Spain, enabling customers to use a bar tab by swiping their arms under an RFID reader.
Chipping Katrina Corpses
Last Friday, the company said it had started chipping corpses in the hurricane-affected Gulf Coast region (see Katrina Corpses Get ‘Chipped’).
The company said it had implanted RFID tags into 100 corpses for the Mississippi State Department of Health, and is also in talks with Louisiana health authorities.
“These bodies are in an advanced stage of decomposition,” said John Procter, VeriChip’s director of communications. “Many of them have no identification marks, no wallets, no IDs. In some cases a toe tag is not even viable.”
Mr. Procter said the procedure costs $200 to tag each corpse, though the company is providing the service in the hurricane-affected areas for free.
Applied Digital also began tagging pets that were found in the disaster zone to speed up the identification process.
"That being the case, I conclude that the real agenda here is something else, and nefarious. I might reconsider if given a credible explanation of what this is supposed to accomplish."
***
Rev 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
Rev 13:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number [is] Six hundred threescore [and] six.
Rev 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
Rev 13:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number [is] Six hundred threescore [and] six.
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Revelation 14:9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive [his] mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Rev 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here [are] they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
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