Re: [privacy] Social Security Card to be National ID?

["Randy Abrams" <abrams () eset com>]

pass the Kool-Aid please


________________________________

        From: C Q [mailto:kyle.c.quest () gmail com] 
        Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 10:56 PM
        To: privacy () whitestar linuxbox org
        Subject: Re: [privacy] Social Security Card to be National ID?
        
        
        It's a great idea to have a national id that's hard to forge...
        and even if not every place has a biometric card reader
        if the card is properly designed you'll be able to spot a fake
        (e.g., think special paper we use for money... with water 
        marks and metal strips. and even though the money is far
        from perfect it's relatively easy to spot a fake by touch and
        by simply looking at them). This way even the farmers or whoever

        who don't have computers will be able to check the legality 
        of their workers.
        
        Illegal aliens are one of the major problems in the US
        (we are not unique... any western country suffers from
        it... UK, France, etc... and even Mexico, which is kinda funny
considering
        that they are also trying to get rid of illegal aliens
        from their southern borders). 
        
        Yes, it's true that not everybody who want to come
        to the states and work can do that, but it's not because
        there's no legal way... it's because there are literally
hundreds 
        of millions of people who live in bad conditions. It's
physically
        impossible take them all in... the country will simply fall
apart.
        It's like a case when you have ship sinking and there's enough
        life boats only for a few people... if everybody tries to get
        on those few boats the boats will sink and everybody will drown.
        The US can not save everybody less fortunate in the world.
        We do take more legal immigrants every year than any other 
        country in the world (I forgot the exact numbers, but I seem to
        remember it's about 3 million people) and on top of that
        we have a number of "guest worker" programs. H1B is one
        of them, but there are a number of others as well, which is 
        teens from South Africa end up working as sky instructors
        during winters and kids from Scotland and Russia end up working 
        in movie theaters during summers here in New England.
        
        The funny thing is that unlike UK or Australia (I might be a bit
off 
        on the names of the countries a bit... getting late) who use a
point
        based system to determine who should get in their country
        our process is random, so we don't really get the best and the
brightest.
        
        It's important to have a tamper-proof id that verifies a
person's
        identity and his/her national status. It's the least we can do
        and I personally don't see a big deal why people are so scared
        of this. Other countries have internal passports as mandatory 
        national IDs... and nothing terrible happens to people there.
        We have technology to do this and it doesn't have to be too 
        high tech.
        
        
        
        
        On 5/17/07, Fergie <fergdawg () netzero net> wrote: 

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                Via Homeland Stupidity.
                
                [snip]
                
                Two proposals being floated around Capitol Hill call for
the Social
                Security card to be updated with biometric information
and for U.S.
                employers to be required to verify it with the
Department of Homeland
                Security when hiring.
                
                Scared yet? You should be. While everyone was off
fighting the REAL ID
                battle, national identification proponents were sneaking
in the back door, 
                arguing that the Social Security card should be updated
with the latest
                technology to prevent illegal immigrants from working.
                
                Under the so-called Bonner Plan, citizens and resident
aliens alike would
                have to obtain a new Social Security card containing
their photograph, a 
                barcode or magnetic stripe containing an encrypted
signature verifiable
                through card readers provided by the Department of
Homeland Security, and
                would have to present this card in order to obtain work.
The plan provides 
                that employers who fail to verify the card face fines,
prison time, and
                would be billed for the cost of deporting any illegal
aliens they may have
                hired.
                
                Of course, they're still claiming that the card wouldn't
be a national 
                ID card. But if it walks like a duck and quacks like a
duck, it certainly
                isn't a sheep.
                
                [snip]
                
                More:
        
http://www.homelandstupidity.us/2007/05/16/social-security-card-to-be-na
tio 
                nal-id/
                
                - - ferg
                
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                --
                "Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
                Engineering Architecture for the Internet
                fergdawg(at)netzero.net
                ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/
                
                
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