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Put Down Your Nanowrimo And Leave The House
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By mid 2008 all US citizens are scheduled to be carrying documents that identify our names, addresses, birthdays, gender, photograph, and some kind of biometric marker to any federally sponsored agency that requests the information. Real ID act which gave The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) the authority over the contents of a national ID card was tacked onto a tsunami relief bill back in 2005. It passed in the US House (368-58) and Senate (100-0)
In preparation, one of the Department of Homeland Securities top priorities in 2007 is to get details ironed out and to change public opinion on the subject of a nation wide, machine readable, identification card. From the DHS secretary Michael Chertoff:
“The upcoming federally approved IDs are intended to be a secure, tamperproof means of protecting Americans' identities while keeping out terrorists and other wrongdoers”
Problems with that statement: It’s impossible to have a totally secure system (and who wants every person who sees their driver’s license to keep all of their stats in a database?) and terrorists will blow themselves up whether or not they have an ID card on them when they do it. What’s a wrongdoer these days anyway? Are kids (and grandmothers) who pirate music wrongdoers? How about unruly protestors? Is it possible to live in a society where the government knows your whereabouts and daily activities without deteriorating into a totalitarian state? Those are some serious questions, and the word on the street is that our Senators and Representatives were sleeping when they last had the chance to raise them.
The state of New Hampshire has been vocal in opposition to the act. In response, the fed is bribing the New Hampshire state legislature with a $3 million grant for their state to test out the new ID system. Smart people would like you to be informed about this issue.
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While we're at it, why not get rid of driver licenses and passports as well, since those systems aren't 100% secure either?
This whole brouhaha just strikes me as typical EFF-type wailing and paranoia. I certainly have my problems with the DHS and it's multiple violations of basic human and Constitutional rights, but something as basic as an ID card is not exactly one of them.
Sir I didn't ask your opinion. Now I'll ask you one last time. Show me your papers!
navin: don't forget a pen and paper to write down the info of people that don't have 'em (love that scene in Schindler's List) :)
Godwin! You lose!
this one is where i draw the line. seriously. i'm not even at all kidding. i'll leave. i won't get one. i will NOT get one. i don't know what i WILL do, but i will start making plans.
Joesph, maybe you should read some of the linked articles before posting. The first one is great, props to Chicagoist for linking Bruce Schneier. RealID makes it easier to steal your identity, without providing any security benefit. That's not wailing or paranoia, that's our government continuing the recent trend of blowing tax dollars on "security" measures that make us less safe.
There are no finite state machines. There are only a series of states that Bruce Schneier allows to exist.
I read the linked articles: it *is* typical EFF style wailing and paranoia.
Having had my identity stolen in the crappy old decentralized way, let me tell you, I wish the perp had his fingerprint on his version of my drivers license. They could have actually caught him then.
It will "hamper the ability of terrorist and criminal aliens to move freely throughout our society by requiring that all states require proof of lawful presence in the U.S. for their drivers' licenses to be accepted as identification for federal purposes such as boarding a commercial airplane, entering a federal building, or a nuclear power plant," Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, said during the debate Thursday.
Yeah because anybody can just waltz into a nuclear power plant if they've got a drivers license. What a tool.
As somebody said on one of those sites: "Remember when we used to make fun of the U.S.S.R. for this kind of shit"
If someone is going to "protect" me, I they have to be empowered to do it. If I want complete "protection" someone will have to complete power.
I'm against REAL ID. It's already bad enough with Social Security numbers. I grow weary of the thinking people exhibit about what's "already going on." It is the "It's already bad, so let's make it worse" fallacy. We need to cherish our freedoms again. They were paid for at a high price.
The soonest way to make progress when we are on the wrong road is to turn around.
REAL ID bypasses the 4th Amendment. It is a blanket "warrant" for real time, constant searching by the government.
Some say, "They're not interested in you!"
Then leave me alone.
JRush