Thread: National ID: The Time to Resist is Now

National ID: The Time to Resist is Now

23. Apr, 2010
by John Whitehead

As technology grows more sophisticated and the government and its corporate allies further refine their methods of keeping tabs on the American people, those of us who treasure privacy increasingly find ourselves engaged in a struggle to maintain our freedoms in the midst of the modern surveillance state.

Just consider the many ways we’re already being monitored and tracked: through our Social Security numbers, bank accounts, purchases and electronic transactions; by way of our correspondence and communications devices – email, phone calls and mobile phones; through chips implanted in our vehicles, identification documents, even our clothing. Data corporations are capturing vast caches of personal information on you so that airports, retailers, police and other government authorities can instantly identify and track you. Add to this the fact that businesses, schools and other facilities are relying more and more on fingerprints and facial recognition to identify us. All the while, banks and other financial institutions must verify the identities of new customers and make such records of customer transactions available to the police and government officials upon request.

In recent years, this information glut has converged into a mandate for a national ID card, which came to a head with Congress’ passage of the REAL ID Act in 2005. REAL ID requires states to issue machine-readable drivers’ licenses containing a wealth of personal data. However, because the REAL ID Act has been opposed by many states due to its cost and implementation, we have yet to be subjected to a nationwide implementation of a national ID card. That may all change depending on what happens with the immigration reform bill now before Congress.

A centerpiece of the immigration bill as proposed by Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is a requirement that all U.S. workers, citizen and resident alike, be required to obtain and carry biometric Social Security cards (national ID cards under a different name) in order to work within the United States. Attempting to appease critics of a national ID card, Schumer and Graham insist that “no government database would house everyone’s informationâ€

I love how they slipped a biometric provision into the proposed immigration "reform" bill last week. I'm sure Schumer will try to sell it as necessary to meet the national security interests of conservatives blah blah blah and as something that will "only be used for employment purposes." Right... Until they pass a new law that says "ok, now it will be used for health care." And then another law that says "now use the biometric id for education/banking/internet access/tracking whereabouts etc etc." I can hear it now: "C'mon people it's all for your own good--why wouldn't you want an id that positively identifies you and enables you to streamline your interface with government and commerce at the same time. It'll help us fight crime and catch wrongdoers. There's no harm to you Mr. and Mrs. law abiding citizen, and we promise we'll never allow it to fall into the wrong hands or use it for any illicit purposes..."

At the risk of sounding a bit conspiracist, there is no such thing as a harmless biometric id for limited purposes. Once they get everyone possessing one it is a simple matter to require it for everything all the time. It's lunacy! And it's here!