Sell me off of a national ID card.

[Spaceman Spiff]

But the thing is, what do you have to be scared about if you're not a criminal? It would, undoubtedly, be of immense help for our security forces.

Isn't that the same reasoning in favor of the Patriot Act? "Hey, if you're not a terrorist, what are you worried about?"

 

People will always be wary of any gov't-sponsored method of tracking citizens.

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America]

This is even more benign than the PATRIOT Act, though. This is just having a way to confirm, beyond a shadow of a doubt, your identification. It's not surveillance or wire tapping.

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America]

The only thing I can think people would be concerned about in terms of being identified (with biometric information) is if they plan on murdering someone.

 

And this is an actual debate, not the OAOAST.

[The Czech Republic]

And this is an actual debate, not the OAOAST.

*spears Tyler*

[Guest Vitamin X]

And I don't think there's any way to fake retinal information, FWIW, and thus, that would make it improbable for people to get around it.

For people, it is essential to move away from easily forgeable paper-based documents such as traditional visas or passports, and towards universal biometric travel identification cards that include electronic scanning of fingerprints, eye retina information, or a facial profile.

 

I was actually thinking that the electronic scanning of fingerprints would be the most cost-effective as well as practical form among those three, but it's still possible to forge. I can't imagine how ridiculously expensive the technology would be to implement identification via eye retina information, not to mention we for the most part have fingerprints readily available whereas eye retina information would have to be obtained for each and every single passenger on a flight (possibly at the baggage counter or security gate?) and even then, how would that match up with whoever would be on a watch list?

 

It seems like a good idea, but impractical.

[kkktookmybabyaway]

But the thing is, what do you have to be scared about if you're not a criminal? It would, undoubtedly, be of immense help for our security forces.

Isn't that the same reasoning in favor of the Patriot Act? "Hey, if you're not a terrorist, what are you worried about?"

Heh, that was my first thought, too.

 

For a sec, I thought Tyler was really sticking to his new name...

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

 

Seriously, despite the usual "OMG 1984" crap, what the hell is wrong with confirming one's identity?

[kkktookmybabyaway]

*Shrug* Seems like we already have this with driver's licenses. Except of course for high school students trying to buy smokes or get into R-rated movies. Everytime I'd ask these kids for some sort of ID they'd give me a blank look and go "nobody here has ID," which then made me wonder how they got to the store/theater in the first place.

 

I never got an answer to that question, oddly enough...

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America]

The information, though, is most definitely not feasibly available to the federal government. To the feds, the only form of ID they have available is a passport, which is easily forgeable.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

someone explain this "biometric" aspect to me.

[Tully316]

The only problem with relying on Drivers Licences is that it is extremely easy to get a license under someone else's name.....have you ever seen teh lazy yut yuts that work at DMVs?

[Guest Olympic Slam]

No no no no National ID cards. We don't need yet another tool for the government to exercise power over us. Whatever the proposal is, immediately triple the amount of privacy violations they have in store for us.

 

I also don't like the idea of me, the person being reduced down to a card. Think about all the things that can and will be used for this card. Medical information, insurance information, bank information, our locations, what we eat (!), education level and anything else imaginable. Everything that we do or that defines us could be reduced down to a card that we can't escape from and that is in the hands of the all mighty government.

[The Czech Republic]

The only problem with relying on Drivers Licences is that it is extremely easy to get a license under someone else's name.....have you ever seen teh lazy yut yuts that work at DMVs?

My favorites are the ones that try to speak Spanish.

[MarvinisaLunatic]

I'm thinking for some reason, this has to violate some sort of civil right. Not quite sure what, but it sounds a little more intrusive than it has any right of being. Not to mention that this would entail a complete overhaul of the current identification system that eventually folks will find a way to get around anyways.

The threat of terrorism shadows individual civil rights, get used to it.

 

If theres not a National ID Card system set up by 2008 (not in place by then because I doubt the government could have such a huge/complicated system up and running in under 4 years), I would be utterly shocked.

 

As an added bonus, a National ID Card with some sort of Biometric feature would help cut down on Identity theft crimes, which is like #2 worst fear behind terrorists if you believe all of the credit card company commercials about it.