"Your Papers, Please!" - Get Your Fingerprints Ready! Cross-Party Senate Alliance Pushing National ID Card

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Date: March 9, 2010 2:56:36 AM EST
To: dave () farber net
Subject: "Your Papers, Please!" - Get Your Fingerprints Ready! Cross-Party Senate Alliance Pushing National ID Card



     "Your Papers, Please!" - Get Your Fingerprints Ready! Cross-Party
                 Senate Alliance Pushing National ID Card

               http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000687.html


Greetings.  According to the Wall Street Journal, U.S. Senate
immigration reform advocates Chuck Schumer and Lindsey Graham are
proposing a mandatory biometric (e.g. fingerprint-based) National ID
Card system, and are attempting to brush away privacy concerns as
trivial and irrelevant ( http://bit.ly/au3xGq ).

Touted as "merely" a "right-to-work" card aimed at addressing illegal
immigration concerns, there's simply no fast-talking around the fact
that this plan will set in motion a massive national ID infrastructure
that will ultimately penetrate every aspect of our lives.  Anyone who
suggests otherwise is -- sorry to say -- either a liar or a fool.

I basically care not one whit what other countries have done in this
regard.  When it comes to civil liberties, each nation is in the end
responsible for their own nirvanas -- or hells.  So apparently we'll
need to save ourselves from the seemingly well-meaning but clearly
bullheaded and misguided efforts of these two usually relatively
sensible Senators.

Frankly, I can't think of many more effective ways to trigger an
outpouring of civil disobedience among otherwise law-abiding and
patriotic Americans than trying to stuff biometric ID cards up our
you-know-whats (where the new airport full-body scanners won't be able
to see them, by the way).

"Your papers, please! NOW Comrade!"

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren () vortex com
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
  - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
  - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, GCTIP - Global Coalition 
  for Transparent Internet Performance - http://www.gctip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein




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