Sample of Larry Ellison's new National ID Card

Larry Ellison is promoting a new National ID Card based on Oracle software. He'll give the database engine away free to show his good spirit (but maintenance and upgrades will not be free.)

Here's a prototype of what his new card might look like. Of course, it would do nothing to combat terrorism, but it would help the government and corporations keep closer tabs on innocent people in the USA.

Turns out Jefferson may have gotten in backwards. The price of excessive vigilance is liberty.

More ironic than funny: Ellison's family took its name (not that long ago) from Ellis Island. He wants his card to be "optional" for citizens who don't mind being interrogated and searched when they travel, but mandatory for immigrants.

Has it been over a year since you last donated to the Electronic Frontier Foundation? We fight stuff like Larry's card.

I'm curious. Where do you get the idea that no U.S. government in any form would ever hurt you?

I've never had that idea. The U.S. government in its current form: annoys me, worries me, intrudes on me, angers me and keeps me vigilent.

However, Islamic terrorists, who walk among us (mostly illegally) HAVE killed us, and want to kill ALL of us.

For all of the bad attributes of our hugely bloated bureaucracy, they don't want to kill us in large numbers. The Islamic warriors do. And, they are here, like it or not.

I'm a pragmatist. I'm a citizen by right, and a card identifying that status does nothing to diminish my rights a citizen. What it does is winnow out ... not only those Muslim bastards but also the Russian mafioso etc. ... who are working at crime and murder within our borders!!!

I'm willing to accept the process, as much of a pain in the ass it will be, of acquiring a non-counterfittable, picture ID card that says ... this person is a legal American. Having a card in no way changes ANY of the rights or privileges that American citizens already enjoy. It's a way to make sure the frauds that DON'T deserve the rights and privileges, that don't have the best interests that Americans share, that don't answer to American law ... don't move easily among us.

I don't understand, in any way, the problem ... if an American government is so despotic that they will use some ID card to identify us .... man, an ID card is the LEAST of our problems.

I'm not worried about our government, I'm worried about Muslims who are skulking in Newark cafes and bogus educational institutionals who are actively planning to to kill you, me and all of our family, friends and neighbors. I want them killed, if not, deported.

All capitalists were evil and the poor downtrodden farmers were always rescued by the government man, DOA, or such (the State was good, private owners evil)...

Wow, thanks for that elaborate insight into the "Grapes of Wrath". LMAO!!!! I was going to read the book. Or buy the Cliff Notes. Or watch the movie. No need now!

The "Classics" sure ain't all that. They're way easy to figger out!

Dumbass.

The killed/deported idea sounds fantastic. Best way to deal with the problemthat I can see, although you forgot internment. We can do these things w/out the ID cards.

If the ID card was just that- a piece of plastic with your name/nationality on it, fine. Identification doesn't bother me. Monitoring does. Modern technology makes that more than possible and then some.

And make no mistake: if it can be produced, it can be counterfitted.

My point is simply this; the cards may be useful, however minimally, in fighting the threat of terrorism. But they will also outlast the threat. If a mandatory ID card law is passed, I sincerely doubt it would be reversed when the threat is passed. At which point, it's use as a monitoring system leaves everyone at the mercy of our political leaders.

To place that much weight on their nobility would be idiocy, since our government changes members every couple years. I wouldn't be to worried about this under say, G.W. Bush. Under someone like Hillary Clinton on the other hand...

ArneFufkin is a testy one. Can't respond to a little criticism without resorting to personal attacks and profanity...

Perhaps. He seems to me to be a somewhat more obnoxious version of Texasforever (who BTW is a great debator though we don't always agree).

But don't count Arne out just yet. I've read his posts before, and sooner or later he always gets around to making an honest arguememnt.

I appreciate your backhanded compliment ... but let's be honest: you've been on this forum since July 13. The other person has been here since October 7. Who are you to judge my debating skill? Although, any comparison of me to "Texasforever" I take as a huge compliment. I respect that man greatly.

Either you guys are newbies who don't have an informed opinion, or you are recycled jerkoffs. Either way, don't worry if I blow off your criticisms, ok? I just can't get down on myself for criticism from you or metmoblah, Dr. Skank or whoever. You guys have no credibility with me. You are just more shit on an increasing FR pile.

If kahuna JimRob, WrightisRright, John Huang2, Kat, Common Tator, SneakyPete, Laz, Dead, Deb, MudboySlim, Hugh Akston, Gonzo, Sinkspur, BillieHowlinHLLSnowBun or any of the ladies from the Guild etc. -anybody I respect - told me to cool it ... I'd cool it. Stat. You don't rate.

Why not a tattoo? Just tattoo a number on everybody's arm. Maybe a bar code tattooed right on everyone's forehead. That's even harder to fake.

I'd say "LOL", but it's not funny. They couldn't use a tattoo because there are too many people for whom there are real-life associations. My wife's nanny survived Auschwitz. She had the blue tattoo. And she woke up many a night from nightmares, screaming about "the smell."

An implantable RF ID transponder, now, might work. Somewhere I still have a 10-year-old Electronic Design (or was it EDN?) article about an early design. Range was quite limited, since it used energy collected during the query burst to power the response. But with the increase of low-power electronics technology, and various advances in RF technologies since then, one that works over a range of, say, several meters is far from unimaginable. Think of it:

At the airport: No more checking in (except for your luggage), boarding passes (as such, you still get a card with your seat assignment), etc. They know when you arrive, they know who's going through the security points, they know who has boarded, or exited, the plane.

At the bank: Holdups become very difficult. They know who you are. Unless you wrap the transponder in foil, but then you set the "unidentiable person entering premises" alarm.

No more prison breaks. Why, unless you want to be a "mountain man" the rest of your life? They'll know where you are the instant you set foot in (any) town.

No driver's license needed. It's on file in the government's Oracle databases.

Frightfully convenient, no?

"I hope your right not to have an ID card makes you feel all warm and fuzzy and safe at night."

Well your warm fuzzies that you'd get from a national id card are pure fantasy. Our intelligence (oxymoron?) agencies knew that Atta was suspected in terrorist activities in the Middle East. But for some reason this freak is allowed entrance into our country.

Why aren’t our Intel people making sure that ALARM bells go off when these animals enter the country let alone fly around on domestic flights repeatedly? Heck a simple database ANYONE could administer on his or her home PC could pick up that match.

But if that’s not enough in August a terrorist that enrolled in flight school was arrested after the school tipped of the Feds that the man "wasn’t interested in taking off or landing" and these same Feds have KNOWN FOR YEARS that one planned MO was the taking over of Commercial airliners and crashing them into Govt buildings. Those 2 red flags apparently weren’t enough to spur anyone to check the rosters of flight schools in the US for KNOWN terrorists?

National ID cards wont do squat with this level of competency. As in post #10:

Why is it that the solution to every problem caused by uncivilized people is to put more restrictions and regulations on the civilized? The difficulty of obtaining a reasonable firearm for self-protection by an average, law-abiding citizen is just one example

AMEN!!!!!!

My, my! With a hothead attitude like yours, maybe you SHOULD be registered with the proper authorities. My point was: That Atta roamed around this country with a valid driver's license...even had a warrant out for him, was stopped by the police, and let go! Good grief! What more do you want? You may not have any problem with layering law upon law to 'feel' safer, but I'm not going to. The problem has nothing to do with ID-cards. The problem is that gov't agencies don't interconnect, they don't know how to coordinate well, and so much of the time, their ego gets in the way even when they do. Although, they appear to be doing a great job as of late. And for your information, meeting "ANYONE ANYTIME" isn't a very bright policy for personal longevity. I'm surprised that someone such as yourself, (the only one with the brilliance to lead the masses) doesn't know better. As for what you will and won't "tolerate", I could care less. It's know-it-all twits like you that make problems even harder to solve than they already are. Have a nice day Rambo.

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