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California bill would ban tracking chips in IDs
April 28, 2005 -
National ID cards on the way?
February 14, 2005 -
House backs major shift to electronic IDs
February 10, 2005 -
States to test ID chips on foreign visitors
January 26, 2005 -
U.S. moves closer to e-passports
October 25, 2004
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"the states in crafting solutions to curtail the future abuse of drivers' licenses by terrorist organizations."
Who were the three Republicans who voted against it?
Reps. Howard Coble of North Carolina, John Duncan of Tennessee, and Ron Paul of Texas.
Paul has warned that the Real ID Act "establishes a national ID card" and "gives authority to the Secretary of Homeland Security to unilaterally add requirements as he sees fit."
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.
Will it be challenged in court?
Maybe. "We're exploring whether there are any litigation possibilities here," says the ACLU's Steinhardt.
One possible legal argument would challenge any requirement for a photograph on the ID card as a violation of religious freedom. A second would argue that the legislation imposes costs on states without properly reimbursing them.
When does it take effect?
The Real ID Act takes effect "three years after the date of the enactment" of the legislation. So if the Senate and Bush give it the thumbs-up this month, its effective date would be sometime in May 2008.
See more CNET content tagged:
Real ID Act,
ID card,
Social Security,
homeland security,
military
Many will not be able to qualify for driver's
licenses (expecially youths getting driver's
licenses are not likely to be able to produce 4
qualifying forms of identity)...
No more same-day licenses or renewals...
Huge costs = increased taxes / decreased
benefits....
Hmmm... and what do we gain? As far as I can
tell, forging an identity will be at least as
simple as it was before, and the wide spread
perception that the system is "better" will
probably lead to reduced scrutiny of the
credentials...
It seems to me that this system would lower
security through to reduced scrutiny, but also
substantially increase public risk because it
permits a malefactor to screen himself to detect
if the identity he's using (even his own) is
being "flagged" for surveillance. Someone that
passess through an identity screen without
incident then knows with a high degree of
certainty to what extent they may operate
without hindrance. It sounds like a great system
to be exploited by terrorists to select
operatives and maximize the chances carrying
whatever mayhem they desire.
This a huge expense and terrible inconvenience
that endangers the general public.
If 9/11 taught me anything about national security, it's this: added discomfort and time in line is acceptable if it means saving my life.
drafts on a few key points.
#1. The federal goverment will be able to control the
employment status of a U.S. citizen and ANYTHING they do,
through this act. For example, you may think your fine, but
guess what. After this free speech will no longer be "free". Say
something some-one does not like, then you may not even be
able to go to a hockey game, let alone the Superbowl (as if many
of us can afford tickets anyway). All someone will have to do to
intimidate ANY U.S. citizen, is press a button.
Wake up people, we are taking this one up the rectum.
This is a very sad day for Americans and a huge slap to the millions who have fought and died for these freedoms. Hopefully, the court will reverse this immoral and illegal act.
If there is any justice, Bush and his fascist cronies, along with every congressman and senator that voted for this heinous act, will be jailed for treason.
Oh, but lets just keep things the way they are, cause THAT's working.
Pfft.
So why focus on sealing the borders to two of America's biggest trading partners?
In the long run we lose
Does this sound familiar? Maybe its just me.
everyone. Various communist countries
implemented a primitive form of this sort of
thing and as such it has always been
conceptually associated as a tool for government
opression.
There are a number of people that claim that
Bush is a closet nazi or some such, though, I'm
willing to accept that he's not a nazi but
rather simply a clueless man that listens to
clueless advisors about superficial solutions to
poorly posed problems. Albeit, I do understand
that Bush was the favored mainstream candidate
amongst domestic neo-nazis, but I'm sure that's
a matter of he being as far right a candidate as
was available.
That's not to say that Bush and his advisors
don't have some level of dogmatic similarity
with the third reich. There are parts of the US
Patriot act that read VERY similarly to soviet
and nazi-era laws with regard to surveillance
and arrest powers (particularly compared to
pre-existing US law). And, of course the Bush
administration's public chastisement of anti-war
protestors with "You are either with us, or with
the terrorists," and the accompanying rallying
of the public to support the war in Iraq was
eerily reminiscent of Hermann Goering's (Nazi
Luftwaffe-Chief) sentiment:
"Of course the people don't want war. But after
all, it's the leaders of the country who
determine the policy, and it's always a simple
matter to drag the people along whether it's a
democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a
parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice
or no voice, the people can always be brought to
the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All
you have to do is tell them they are being
attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of
patriotism, and exposing the country to greater
danger."
Most european countries had machine readable ids for quite a while now.
Faschism is a state of mind and has nothing to do with technology or IDs.
Much of this new system is probably modeled off of the CAC (Common Access Card) used by the government for ID of military, federal, and contractor employees. I?ve had one (on my second one, and another version is coming soon) for some time now, and use it to identify myself on the computer network I use at work. It also allows me to access my email from anywhere by using a card reader, my PIN, and my network username and password.
This technology is handy because it is ?instant identification,? a source of personal data that proves who you are, but unfortunately is very vulnerable to alteration and abuse. The CAC card currently in use has three forms of data encoding built into it ? a magnetic strip, a barcode field, and a memory chip to store electronic certificates. The memory chip contains the most information, but is easily modified with the correct software and CAC reader. Because of this obvious security risk, CAC card usage is not allowed in secure networked environments.
When you think of all of the technology created to prevent copyright infringement, illegal network access, identity theft, and financial thievery ? and how quickly it is subverted, the problem becomes plain. The more we rely on technology to aid in our daily lives, the more vulnerable we become to its abuse. How these politicians can overlook that fact is beyond me, but logic and reason is often ignored in knee-jerk reactions to a perceived problem.
entirely on a bureaucratic and technological
abstraction. We are replacing "who are you?"
with "who does the system think you are?".
There's a spooky nuance to that difference that
has nothing to do with the obvious encroachment
into the individuals personal space.
If the system fails, you become a powerless
nobody. If the system says you are someone you
are not (highly likely, since to date the
government still relies on SSNs and even *names*
to associated records with individuals), you
might be paired up with baggage that is not
yours. The implication too is that in an effort
to associate an identity with the token, there's
a database with that identity -- information
easily corrupted, stolen, or modified
(intenttionally or not). And what of
third-parties that tap the identity information
to target you for advertisements, confidence
schemes, or even violence (there are a number of
cases where people misidentified as sex
offenders by database companies or authorities
have been physically and financially harmed by
others as a result, for example).
Moreover, a reliance on the fidelity of the
system means reduced scrutiny or focus
elsewhere. The people that sponsored this bill
clearly have not thought through how the system
as a whole would work -- not from a technical
standpoint, but how the user-base will adapt to
it. They should ask themselves, in absence of a
large system dependent on dependent on multiple
complicit parties and connectivity of the
system's components, how can we implement a
system that is focused and involves the fewest
number of individuals and components while
achieving the goal of minimizing personal risk?
Hint: start with the assumption that it's
impossible to establish anyone's identity -- and
start from there. The fact that I am me, even if
you could associate some deeper meaning to that
with absolute fidelity, does not diminish my
capability to alter my outlook or disposition.
We lose sight of the fact that regardless of how
unhinged and radical, a terrorist was once a
blank slate -- only to have their ideologies
affixed with the passage of time.
More control over the populace has been a dream of the republican party for a long time. 9/11 gave them the excuse to trot out bills that they have had in storage(IE "PATRIOT" act), and as a means to keep the population scared and in control, so they can whittle away freedoms and secure their own power permanantly.
license, there will be fewer drivers and thus
less cars. With less cars on the road, we'll use
less gas...
Yes, yes... Now it's all so clear.
Aside from all the other previously made statements in the replies to this article.. (and i happen to agree with most of them.. especially the quote from Nazi Germany.. 1938) I have 2 other issues..
Nice to see the support wouldnt be there for this bill if they didnt try to hide it inside a military funding budget item.. (hmm.. sounds like politics as usual here..)
And more interesting for us technology related people.. this is all being done to protect us from terrorists and bad people in the country right? Seems to me Warren Buffett (Looser and anti-american millionaire [http://oh but wait.. didnt he make his billions off the backs of those americans he now insists be laid off for cheaper labor?|http://oh but wait.. didnt he make his billions off the backs of those americans he now insists be laid off for cheaper labor?]) and Bill Gates were just before the US congress trying real hard to get them to remove the limits on foriegn workers so they can come work here. Oh right because of that "lack of available talent in this country" as Bill Gates put it.. at least one senator was smart enough to remind mr gates that technology unemployment in the US is higher than any other unemployement rate here. So maybe he should have phrased that "Lack of available talent willing to work for a bowl of rice and $.50/hr in this country."
Hey guess what.. its not only the terrorists that are hurting this country.. its rich, arrogant, morons like Gates and Buffet who are destroying it.
Just some things to think about.
Alex
1.) Something of this magnitude should be put up for debate and public discourse, not hidden in an appropriations bill. (For a war a lot of people are not happy with either - neither here nor there) But as one previous poster stated in his Herman Goering post, the sheep will go where they are herded. Or as one of my favorite movie lines put it "A person is smart, people are dumb, dangerous panicky animals." The terrorists are coming, the terrorists are coming...
2.) Did they think about the current mess Social Security is in? i.e. ID theft, illegal aliens paying into SS on someone elses number. I read a story recently about a woman, in michigan I think, that had some thirty people paying into SS on her number. It was affecting the benefits she could collect etc. To make matters worse it is not an easy matter for you to find out if there there are multiple people using your number.
The Govt has known about it for a long time but turns a blind eye because it is "free" money to the govt. Not anymore, now they will have to expend time and money straightening it out now.
Oh wait I forgot, we will just grant amnesty to a few million more - hoping they will remember to vote republican in the next election. Re-number everything and start over...
3.)In a bit of pop culture tie-in. I recently read the Star Wars book "Revenge of the Sith" the one coming out in a couple of weeks. The storyline about how the Republic became an Empire almost eerily parallels our current time. Not that Bush would be the emperor, but the eroding of freedoms in the name of security. etc..
Not to alienate anyone but God save us all...
Here Ms. Oad, here is your new ID card. With it we will know when you're in Starbucks. You won't have to even have a debit card, we'll just RFID what you buy and directly debit your account from your ID card.
And when you're at the baseball game, you won't even need a ticket. We'll know exactly what seat you're supposed to be in, and we'll know if you stayed until the bottom of the ninth inning.
Now Ms. Oad, don't worry about a thing. When you're at the hospital, we will know and so will your insurance company and your employer.
Now Ms. Oad, please sing the following, to the tune of the old song by Queen "We Will, We Will Track You."
www.aclu.org/pizza/
Why do you think your credit card rates are so high? Well yes, greed,of course. But they also have to cover their losses.
But the key part of that first phrase was TRUSTED authority.
This sets us up for 'identity theft' at a single source, a single point of failure, and that's NEVER smart.
Its setting us up for surveillance like nothing we've ever seen before (you DO know that ALL of your records, from birth 'till death, are accessible by 'the authorities' now.)
The card will inevitably be more truted than you will. (Nightmare scenarios start here.)
Everything from 'Minority Report' will come true.
Just weird, very weird!
Have you ever read the book of Revelation in the Bible ? I strongly suggest that people read chapters 13 and 17 from Revelation, last book of the Bible. If this will sound kinda far fetched to you, then maybe you have already forgotten the comments you have made about the newly passed Real ID Act.
I won't have time now to go into great detail. It's really late and have to wake up early. First, let me shed some light on what some words mean in the Bible, as the Bible explains itself. (BEAST = NATION, KING, POWER;) (DRAGON/SERPENT = SATAN/DEVIL;) (WATER/SEA = multitudes of people, nations;) (LAND/GROUND = where there are no people, or very few people;) and in Bible prophecy 1 DAY = 1 YEAR, every time. So for now i'll just give you some clues about Revelation chapter 13, some in the form of a question.
1) 7 heads and 10 horns... Rome is sitting on 7 hills, Rome is called THE CITY ON SEVEN HILLS... does Papal Rome ring a bell ?
10 germanic/barbaric tribes split up the Roman empire and formed the countries of Europe...
2) ruled for 42 months = 1260 years (42mx30d=1260 prophetic days = 1260 years...) does 538-1798 AD ring a bell ? Dark Ages, Papal Supremacy ? then in 1798 General Bertier under Napoleon took the Pope hostage... could this be the mortal wound, which was later healed ? could it have been healed recently under the new pact ?
That's just a bit of info on that first beast. Let's look a bit at the second beast that comes out of the ground. And remember these beasts/powers appear in succession, one after the other, no gaps, and they don't exclude each other (2 beasts can rule at the same time). I wonder what nation/power was starting to take shape in the 1600-1700, in a desolate area/land ? And it was lamb-like, and had two horns.... could that be a humble, God fearing nation, with 2 horns signifying civil rights and religious freedom ? Could you see America that way ? Oh, and later it says it spoke like a DRAGON... so it was a lamb at first, but then spake like a Dragon... I really wonder if all this is just coincidence... I mean, could you really see America now, imposing views, ideas, and in a short while moral/religious views on its people and on the nations of this world ?
And this beast "exercises all the authority of the first beast"... hhmmm... not yet, but everything is leading to it... answer this for me, why did GW Bush convert to Catholicism ? Why did Protestant America go to the Vatican kissing the Pope's feet, hands, and kneeling/worshiping the Pope while even just talking to him ? Protestants who ran away from THE CHURCH and persecution are now kissing up to the Pope. Anyone see anything wrong with this picture ?
In the Bible Jesus clearly says there is only ONE GOD. There is only ONE FATHER let along HOLY FATHER. Jesus says there is one GOD, there is ONE Mediator, and there is the Holy Spirit who is the Bridge between Earth and Heaven. The CHURCH seems to be reading another Bible. The CHURCH says the Pope is the bridge between heaven and earth. And that the Pope is another god on earth, and that the Pope occupies the place of another god on earth. And that all the names attributed to Jesus and God the Father are also attributed to him. And that Mary (who is long dead) is the mediator and our helper. But even then, the priest is the highest ranked, and then Mary, and if they still have room and time for Jesus they'll find him a spot in the basement somewhere...
Why is the Pope called THE HOLY FATHER ? Why does Bush who used to be a protestant call the Pope HOLY FATHER ? There IS no HOLY man here on earth... and he's no FATHER... HOLY FATHER is ONLY GOD THE FATHER... Why is the Pope called VICAR OF CHRIST - which means replacement/substitute of Christ ? In more corect terms I should say VICAR OF THE SON OF GOD which in Latin this is "Vicarivs Filii Dei"... and guess what number you get if you add up the roman numerals (V=5, I=1, C=100, D=500, L=50, X=10) in that name ? you guessed it... 666... is that also in Revelation 13 ? what a coincidence... and this "Vicarivs Filii Dei" is written on the Pope's tripple crown...
All these coincidences and probabilities are starting to ring bells, they are ringing all the bells in the world. Or are they ? Sadly they are not... Wake up people ! Start reading your Bibles and start believing what our TRUE GOD up in Heaven is telling us. We are living prophetic times which I do not understand why anyone would so try to ignore. All these world events, and strifes, and economic crisis, and rumors of war, and natural calamities are all pointing to just one thing. God gave us signs to heed and follow, and no, they are not so detailed as to say "National ID Card" but He says people won't be able to buy or sell (is that not specific enough?). And God tells us that the SECOND BEAST will enforce LAWS and persecute and kill the people who do not obey IT and the FIRST BEAST, and who do not worship the beast. And that MARK OF THE BEAST is not a SPOT, a card, a chip, a statue... it is an action - represented by THE HAND, and/or an acceptance of an idea/belief/doctrine - which is represented by THE FOREHEAD... and this mark of the beast, is a FALSE WAY OF WORSHIP, on a FALSE DAY OF WORSHIP, a false day which DENIES Jesus Christ as being the Creator of the Universe and of this World we live in... you don't believe it ? wait... just watch... God does not lie, and of all the Bible prophecies all have been fulfilled but ONE, the second coming of Jesus...
The world today is just like going down the tunnel of a funnel... and at the end of the tunnel i see Jesus on a white cloud, coming in all His Glory, and His Father's Glory, and all the angel's glory... We need to understand that Satan is fighting a lost battle, and soon he will loose the war, forever. God is greater and stronger than anything and anyone. God is only one, the rest are just created beings. Do you honestly think a created being can win against its own creator ? How can anyone try to set God aside, and try to live without God, away from God, who is the source of all life ? We need to put our trust in God, not men. We need to surrender completely to God, and accept His Son Jesus Christ as our personal saviour. Jesus is our mediator, and He can be our lawyer, that's if we accept Him and ask Him so... We can't be scared of men, and of this world, God promised that He will deliver us and help us through the times of trouble, and what God promises He will deliver... I'm trying to shed some light and give people some hope, because God offered us not just hope but an eternal life with Him, a Heaven beyond our wildest immaginations... I'm not scared of what's to come, but I am saddened by the lack of people's interest in their eternal life... they seem to rather want to die twice, than live eternally with God...
In the begining i said "it was PERFECT"... yes it is, God's plan is PERFECT...
(excuse my jumping around from idea to idea... if you have any comments email me at xymox@charter.net )
uprisings to protect your freedoms from out of control
governments. I think it's time again.
First thing American's should do
1. Write your congressman and senator a two paragraph
origional letter. The first paragraph should be about your
general dislike for national ID and second how this is going to
affect your vote.
2. Call your congressman and senator today now.
3. Become personally involved with any organization who is
against this policy. Encourage them to organize mass protests
and rallies in Washington. Spend of your own time and money to
help them.
4. Tell everyone you know who dislikes this national ID card to
do the same.
I'm not American. You guys need to be worried right now.
Call, email, fax, and write today. If we get the word out tonight and tomorrow across the US we can kill this bill in the Senate.
If we do not, then we will have to have each of our states kill it.
We need to be working on having each of our states killing the Patriot's Act illegal sections too. We are having all of our rights taking away while the few true terrorists walk right in and out of our borders and terrorize us at their free will.
Our rights are worth more to us, do not let them be taken away, far to many patriotic American souls have paid with blood, sweat, and tears, and PRAYERS for our rights.
God almighty is watching what is being done in this nation, God almighty will not stand for this much longer.
The fact is writing letters does no good. We have two corrupt and immoral political parties that control this country and they don't give a damn about the civil liberties of people like you and me. And with two parties having a stranglehold on power in this country you can bet that won't change through peaceful means.
This article clearly stated the the Supremes have held that police can demand to see ID from law-abiding citizens and then refer to the Hibel v. Nevada case. In Hibel, the Supremes held that a person can be required to identify themselves. However, the Nevada statute did not require that an ID be produced. And the dicta in the opinion seems to indicate that had a particular form of ID been required the ruling may well have been different.
So, while it is true that police may "demand to see ID", they have been entitled to do so for a long time. The requirement to respond would still seem to be only that a verbal statement of name is required.
Don't get me wrong, I think this is really bad precedent for a free nation. Not that I have a problem with the concept of a national ID, just that the government and other entites that would use such an ID are not to be trus