Big Brother's national ID card

The Washington Times ^ | 10/5/2002 | House Editorial

[xsysmgr]

A national Identification card

[BeAllYouCanBe]

"How many of you have been treated illegally by the government for having a driver's license?"

I also want to add that if anyone has ever been the victim of an identify theft you would be welcoming this legislation.

A thief got my Social Security number and DOB and went to town and cashed a multitude of checks in my name. If it were not for bank security cameras I might be doing some jail time now. I found this out when trying to buy a home and this had to be cleared up to close the deal.

In a country where all of this personal information is readily available unless you live in a cave having a biometric on your drivers license can help stop fraud.

[Rebelbase]

Would it be possible to make each chip have its own resonate frequency that could be detected at great distance, therefore making all card holders trackable?

[doberville]

Presumption that the information on the ID card would be used against us?

I've lived long enough to have seen that anything our government could invent would eventually used against us. Take Income Tax, for instance. Begat the IRS. SS has become a tracking device.Carrot and Stick Ponzi scheme. Bankrupted by Congress, incidentally.

Medicare. Anyone else remember what the DR.-Patient relationship was like before 1965? The amount of medical fraud alone that resulted from this is breathtaking.

And that lovely concept called "Withholding" where taxes come out before we see the money we've earned. Takes all the power right out of our hands.

In fact, I can't think of ANY law or statue which has the real or intended effect of INCREASING individual power. Can you?

[brityank]

See some excerpts downthread; they won't prosecute the laws we already have on the books, but they will persecute Citizens without a qualm.

[ffrancone]

SOB, WHINE, WHIMPER, SOB, WHINE, WHIMPER

THE REPUBLICANS TOOK BACK THE SENATE.

HELP MAKE THIS HAPPEN! GO TO:

TakeBackCongress.org

A resource for conservatives who want a Republican majority in the Senate

[Doctor Stochastic]

Think how useful this card will be to the Mafia. When hiring someone, they can see if he is a Police Informer. They'll have access to the system through their legitimate businesses.

[citizenx7]

With all due respect, how can this program be other than nefarious? The very premise of this legislation is unconstitutional!

As one example: "TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FROM GSA- For purposes of section 201(a) of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (40 U.S.C. 481(a)), a State carrying out activities using amounts from a grant under this section shall be treated as an executive agency and part of the Department of Transportation when carrying out such activities." Here, a State, is arbitrarily made a part of the federal government...for carrying out the provisions of the act!

Not only is its intent nefarious, but so is the very lanquage with which it is written.

[Afronaut]

Why not get a 666 on your head and get it over with....

[joyful1]

The bill should be embraced and approved ASAP as a common sense tool to fight both terrorism and identify fraud. (Just the past couple months, my spouse and I had our bank credit accounts accessed for a total of $3,500!!)

The bill will pass. We will have biometric IDs soon. The arguments against it make no sense. The "big brother" reply is just corny.

[Maximum Leader]

The police aren't that dumb. When they send an officer undercover they create a fake credit, employment and criminal record for the databases.

Whats discouraging about this law is that all of this effort is being driven by political correctness.

Considering that most terrorist incidents involve foreign Muslims (or felonious American converts) and that foreigners, particularly Nigerians, dominate the indentity theft racket -- why don't we require foreigners and felons to get a national ID first. Maybe thats all the Big Brother we'll need to be safe.


I'm willing to bet that if this national ID for everybody plan goes through, some provision will be made to let illegal aliens opt out. Otherwise the government will actually have to do something about defending the borders.

[philman_36]

If you resist, you will have a forcible rectal implant.
Sounds as if you're an-tic-i-pa-ting...

[glc1173@aol.com]

Just refuse to carry it. After all, how often are you stopped anyhow? And if they try checkpoints to force people to carry it, traffic - as in the economy - will grind to a half, so business won't allow it.

[BeAllYouCanBe]

"The "big brother" reply is just corny."

Right-ON we are on the same page singing from the same song book.

I live in California in a Mid-Eastern neighborhood where many people men and women walk around with covered heads.(I have seen fully burka'd women driving.) Most of these people walk around legal or illegal standing out as they do without any fear of police questioning. The police here will not do anything about an immigration status issue and never ask. This is done because it makes the illegals "trusting that the police are there to help them".

I hate to tell anyone living in "fly-over country" but I'm not very secure knowing anyone can buy a fake drivers license for $50 and engage in any criminal behavior and not worry about getting caught.

[PatrioticAmerican]

Yep. Follow the money.

[PatrioticAmerican]

"I also want to add that if anyone has ever been the victim of an identify theft you would be welcoming this legislation.
"

Actually, under the National ID, the ID can be faked and your identity stolen even further. Think about it: If people have total faith that an ID cannot be faked, then when one is faked, and it will be, you are totally screwed.

[BeAllYouCanBe]

In my case and I'm sure most other identify thefts the person cashed checks in my name after setting-up a bank account in my name. All done very fast in today's economy where a fake driver's license can be had for $50.

If the bank had a bio-metric that confirmed it was me then there would be no bank account granted. As it was the person was 30 years younger than me, of a different race and 4 inches taller. None of that data was available to the bank granting the new account. It was only known to the bank that I had a sterling credit rating.

By-the-way it may be very difficult for me to get a checking account if I ever move and need a new bank.

[PatrioticAmerican]

"If the bank had a bio-metric that confirmed it was me then there would be no bank account granted. "

Maybe. It would certainly be more difficult, but bio-metric readers have their problems as well.

Instead of adding more comlexity to the situation, how about removing the very openess that allows for identity theft? How about SSN's going away? How about not allowing a bank to share our info with credit card companies? How about national databases of our personal information going away?

[BeAllYouCanBe]

"Instead of adding more comlexity to the situation,"

I guess you know what you mean by this but I really can't understand where you're going. I would be difficult to go back to the 1950's.

The openess of the system reflects the modern mobile society and I remember having to carry cash when I left town before ATM machines. So only my hometown bank who knew me would give me cash and if I went on vacation I put my cash in my moneybelt.

If you have a solution I'd sure like to have an outline of what data should be kept private and how the new system would work.