Are you in favor of a national identity card? Even though many Americans are against the idea of a national identity card, it is coming. In fact, in many ways, it is already here. Every American citizen and every foreign worker in America is required to have a Social Security card. Your Social Security card is only supposed to be used to gain employment and receive Society Security benefits, but try applying for credit without giving your Social Security number " and most often you will be turned down.
You cannot board an airliner or certain trains, cash a check, go to a hospital, obtain a hotel room or even enter some office buildings without showing a photo ID. You cannot travel to foreign countries without a passport. Yes, we have no national ID card but, instead, we are required to have many ID cards just to engage in the normal activities of life.
We are torn on the issue of a national ID because we do not want big brother government to monitor us (we all know the potential horrors from the Gestapo and sci-fi movies).
On the other hand, we understand the legitimate needs of many purveyors of public and private services to know who we are. We also worry about the theft of our identity. We want to be able to provide our medical history to those who need it to help us in a medical emergency, but we don't want those who might abuse or embarrass us with that knowledge to have the information.
In the current world, we are required to know and give more passwords than most of us can remember to access our bank and credit card accounts, frequent flyer accounts, e-mail and Internet providers, and other information service accounts.
If the question posed at the beginning of this commentary was: "Would you be in favor of a card that could prove your ID while at the same time protect you from giving information about yourself (including medical and financial information) that you do not wish to provide?" I am sure that more people would give a yes response.
The fact is we do not need nor should we have a government issued national ID card. What we need is for the government to specify for what purposes and when it positively must know our identity, and what constitutes acceptable proof. Private organizations, such as airlines, banks and merchants already do the same thing. Then the private sector will develop the most user-privacy-friendly and cost-effective devices. Tiny computer chips containing all of the necessary biometric information coupled with nearly unbreakable encryption have already been developed. Consumers will be able to choose what information they wish to have stored in such devices, and who is allowed to have access to what. The chips can be placed in "smart cards," cell phones and PDAs, or even implanted in the body.
In my ideal world, the government would know with certainty who has voted (but not their vote), who is coming into the country, to whom it is making payments and from whom it is receiving taxes. I would like to be able to prove my identity to government agencies, airlines, banks, etc., and have access to all my password accounts and computers, and deliver such additional information about myself to those I choose to (such as my medical history to a hospital in case of an emergency), while protecting all my information from those with whom I choose not to share it.
In addition, I do not want to have to carry more than one device with me (such as a card or PDA), nor do I want to have to remember any passwords.
Fortunately, the current technology will indeed allow all of the above (my thumbprint could give me access to my PDA with all of the passwords, etc.).
The Government Passport Agency is in the process of developing new passports to prevent counterfeiting and to give more secure ID. In reality, it is not necessary for us to have passports. What is necessary is for the government to know whether or not I am a U.S. citizen when I am entering the country, and whether or not I should be detained because of some criminal act. If I provide the government with a high quality ID, including proof of citizenship, they should instantaneously be able to determine if I am on a wanted list (including my foreign travel history). The idea of having passports stamped is not only obsolete and useless, but just plain silly. (Obviously, foreign governments would also have to agree to do away with the existing passport system, to get the full advantages of the new private ID systems.)
Again, we do not need a government issued ID. Those who require information about us (including government agencies) should merely specify what information they need and what forms are acceptable. Private companies can then compete to give us the most secure, cost-effective, user-friendly personal information and protection ID devices and systems.
Richard W. Rahn is a senior fellow of the Discovery Institute and an adjunct scholar of the Cato Institute.
NNNNAAAAAA, just give em any states drivers license. Like the 62 drivers licenses in the posession of the 20 hijackers of 9-11. But then, drivers license legislation was not important enough to put into the National Security Bill a few weeks ago.
__________________ "The real problem is not how we shall handle the deer in this emergency. The real problem is one of human managment. Wild life managment is comparatively easy; human management difficult." Aldo Leopold, March 1943
Do we need a national ID card? Good question, our drivers license, is, for the most part a defacto national ID as it stands. If you are who you say you are on your Drivers License application, you are, in fact, Id'ed. Those that would attempt to circumvent being identified are going to find a way to beat the system, for the short term, regardless of any further effort on the part of government. Short of imbedding an electronic chip or finding some biometric means of identifying every individual from birth there is no way to identify positively every citizen of even the smallest community anywhere. Our government has proven itself to be grossly inept at even the most minor of things, how could we trust them to get something this important right?
I do believe that there is in fact a need to identify people for many reasons besides national security. I am not smart enough to say how this can or should be done in order to safeguard the privacy of anybody or to insure that the information gathered would not be used to the disadvantage of any individual. I do not trust the goverment to do anything the way it should be done regardless of which party is in power so we have a stalemate.
Do we need a national ID card? Good question, our drivers license, is, for the most part a defacto national ID as it stands. If you are who you say you are on your Drivers License application, you are, in fact, Id'ed. Those that would attempt to circumvent being identified are going to find a way to beat the system, for the short term, regardless of any further effort on the part of government. Short of imbedding an electronic chip or finding some biometric means of identifying every individual from birth there is no way to identify positively every citizen of even the smallest community anywhere. Our government has proven itself to be grossly inept at even the most minor of things, how could we trust them to get something this important right?
I do believe that there is in fact a need to identify people for many reasons besides national security. I am not smart enough to say how this can or should be done in order to safeguard the privacy of anybody or to insure that the information gathered would not be used to the disadvantage of any individual. I do not trust the goverment to do anything the way it should be done regardless of which party is in power so we have a stalemate.
Ben Franklin wisely stated:
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
I didn't read the article...but doesn't everyone have a social security number and card, and almost everyone have a driver's license already?
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πνεύμα γ*μισα
"Error never shows itself in its naked reality in order not to be discovered. On the contrary, it dresses elegantly, so that the unwary may be led to believe that it is more truthful than truth itself."
-Irenaeus of Lyon
I didn't read the article...but doesn't everyone have a social security number and card, and almost everyone have a driver's license already?
The short answer is YES.
The long answer is...unless you're driving a motered vehicle, you are generally not required by law to have either a drivers liscence or social security card on your person.
Granted, most regular, law abiding folks do have one or both on them while in public, but as far as I know, it's probably against four hundred civel liberties laws to demand that a person have identification.
And there-in lies the situation that law enforcement must contend with.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Ben Franklin was a very wise man and I agree with him. I do wonder if he would consider an identification system as giving up an essential liberty.
Would you perhaps favor a system where instead of a police officer being able to know who you are on the spot he would instead take you into custody until your identity could be determined? I don't, but it is already an option, not used very often but an option none the less. What alternative would you suggest? Every other week there is a post in this forum concerning illegal aliens and the need to control them, without knowing who a person is, how do you determine anything let alone control their access to jobs, benefits or sensitive information?
I don't know if it is the I. D. card that most object to as much as what the card may be required for in the future. Most of us have an I. D. card of some sort now. However when it comes to matters of our money, thats when the national I.D. card gets a little scary. If you need that card to get medical attention or buy gas or cash a check then you have pretty well turned your life over to big brother. A day will come when we will all have just a debet card and there will be no money or maybe even a world currentcy. It will all be controled with your card. Therefore you will be controlled by your card. Lock, Stock, and barrel. That is the fear of many that I have talked to. Its getting closer all the time. Most money now is just an electronic entry on some computers data base. Its all about controll.
Do we need a national ID card?
