IP: Fw: RE: IP-FLASH Threat of National ID By WILLIAM SAFIRE

[David Farber <dfarber () earthlink net>]

-----Original Message-----
From: "Herrington, James  M." <JMHerrin () uu net>
Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2001 12:09:05 
To: "'dave () farber net'" <dave () farber net>,
   ip-flash
         <ip-flash () majordomo pobox com>
Subject: RE: IP-FLASH Threat of National ID By WILLIAM SAFIRE

Dave,

People like Saffire are writers and as such often know little
about the way technology actually works. Obvious after a few lines.
I know a lot of the rhetoric below is provoking however,
currently the sharing of DMV data between states is 
sporadic. And the convergence time between when a violation
occurs and when it goes on your record can be months. 

Another issue has to deal with sifting through this mountain
of data. You have to code a program that is going to provide
the proper scale and efficiency. I believe we have all been
victims of over zealous spam filtering. This is not an exact
science no matter how it looks in "Enemy of the State".

Bottom line is that there are some people who could care less
and others who would fight to the death to prevent someone from
looking at any of their information. The people who choose not to
adhere, will more than likely be branded under the spectre of guilt
in much the same way as people who plead the 5th.



James M. Herrington
jmherrin () uu net
 
 
A little learning is a dangerous thing.
Drink deep or taste not the Pierian spring.
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain.
And drinking largely sobers us again.
                                                    -Alexander Pope


-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber [mailto:dave () farber net]
Sent: Monday, December 24, 2001 8:04 AM
To: ip-flash
Subject: IP-FLASH Threat of National ID By WILLIAM SAFIRE 


December 24, 2001


WASHINGTON -- A device is now available to help pet owners find lost 
animals. It's a little chip implanted under the skin in the back of the 
neck; any animal shelter can quickly scan lost dogs or cats and pick up the 
address of the worried owner.

That's a good side of identification technology. There's a bad side: fear 
of terrorism has placed Americans in danger of trading our "right to be let 
alone" for the false sense of security of a national identification card.

All of us are willing to give up some of our personal privacy in return for 
greater safety. That's why we gladly suffer the pat-downs and "wanding" at 
airports, and show a local photo ID before boarding. Such precautions 
contribute to our peace of mind.

However, the fear of terror attack is being exploited by law enforcement 
sweeping for suspects as well as by commercial marketers seeking prospects. 
It has emboldened the zealots of intrusion to press for the holy grail of 
snoopery - a mandatory national ID.

Police unconcerned with the sanctity of an individual's home have already 
developed heat sensors to let them look inside people's houses. The federal 
"Carnivore" surveillance system feeds on your meatiest e- mail. Think you 
can encrypt your way to privacy? The Justice Department is proud of its new 
"Magic Lantern": all attempts by computer owners to encode their messages 
can now be overwhelmed by an electronic bug the F.B.I. can plant on your 
keyboard to read every stroke.
But in the dreams of Big Brother and his cousin, Big Marketing, nothing can 
compare to forcing every person in the United States - under penalty of law 
- to carry what the totalitarians used to call "papers."

The plastic card would not merely show a photograph, signature and address, 
as driver's licenses do. That's only the beginning. In time, and with 
exquisite refinements, the card would contain not only a fingerprint, 
description of DNA and the details of your eye's iris, but a host of other 
information about you.

Hospitals would say: How about a chip providing a complete medical history 
in case of emergencies? Merchants would add a chip for credit rating, bank 
accounts and product preferences, while divorced spouses would lobby for a 
rundown of net assets and yearly expenditures. Politicians would like to 
know voting records and political affiliation. Cops, of course, would 
insist on a record of arrests, speeding tickets, E-Z pass auto movements 
and links to suspicious Web sites and associates.

All this information and more is being collected already. With a national 
ID system, however, it can all be centered in a single dossier, even 
pressed on a single card - with a copy of that card in a national databank, 
supposedly confidential but available to any imaginative hacker.

What about us libertarian misfits who take the trouble to try to "opt out"? 
We will not be able to travel, or buy on credit, or participate in 
tomorrow's normal life. Soon enough, police as well as employers will 
consider those who resist full disclosure of their financial, academic, 
medical, religious, social and political affiliations to be suspect.

The universal use and likely abuse of the national ID - a discredit card - 
will trigger questions like: When did you begin subscribing to these 
publications and why were you visiting that spicy or seditious Web site? 
Why are you afraid to show us your papers on demand? Why are you paying 
cash? What do you have to hide?

Today's diatribe will be scorned as alarmist by the same security-mongers 
who shrugged off our attorney general's attempt to abolish habeas corpus 
(which libertarian protests and the Bush administration's sober second 
thoughts seem to be aborting). But the lust to take advantage of the 
public's fear of terrorist penetration by penetrating everyone's private 
lives - this time including the lives of U.S. citizens protected by the 
Fourth Amendment - is gaining popularity.
Beware: It is not just an efficient little card to speed you though lines 
faster or to buy you sure-fire protection from suicide bombers. A national 
ID card would be a ticket to the loss of much of your personal freedom. Its 
size could then be reduced for implantation under the skin in the back of 
your neck.


Sent from Dave's Blackberry.

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