In the computer age, are objections to a national ID outdated?
It’s long been my impression that objection to a national ID stem from World War II, when they were often mechanisms of tyranny. But the world has changed a great deal since then, and even without a national ID the government has taken on the worst aspects of Santa: they see you when you’re sleeping, they know when you’re awake, they know when you’ve been bad or good so be good for goodness sake. “Good” by their definition, that is.
Computers and ubiquitous videos make it all possible. DNA is the icing on the cake.
So, why not have a national ID card?:
… [T]here is a single, simple, technical solution to minimizing illegal immigrant employment and voting in the United States—a solution which would also simplify the number of documents needed to prove your ID and could help with passing new privacy laws governing what for-profit corporations can do with your personal data. There really is such a technical panacea: a national ID for every American citizen.
Thanks to modern technology, the ID can be digital. The EU is creating a new “digital wallet” for every citizen. The digital identity can be used for multiple purposes, including accessing public services, opening a bank account, filing tax returns, proving your age, checking into a hotel, or renting a car. Far from being a threat to privacy, the new digital wallet will limit the information that private companies now routinely demand from users of their services. In Estonia for the past two decades citizens have already been using the digital identity system—the “e-ID”—to vote, pay bills, sign contracts, access health information, and perform other activities.
National ID cards—both physical, and increasingly, digital, are the norm in the 21st-century world, with at least 170 out of almost 200 countries in the world using them.
The author argues that a national ID will simplify and streamline what has already happened in terms of government control, and would facilitate voting security as well as cut down on employment of illegal aliens. I generally tend to balk at the idea of a national ID, but I agree that we probably have already surrendered every single bit of privacy and liberty that a national ID might threaten to take away.
Here’s an interesting tidbit:
In the aftermath of the election, many stunned Democrats may be wondering if they have accidentally imported the next generation of Republican voters. (If I may engage in some Tom Friedmanesque taxi-driver sociology, I would like to point out that two Uber drivers I recently hired, one a recent Nigerian immigrant and the other a Venezuelan, had both entered the country under Biden. Both men said that if they could vote, they would vote for Trump.)
That possible irony has occurred to me, as well.
But back to IDs:
We already have a national ID: Social Security numbers. They are now issued at birth and follow us for the entirety of our lives. The objections to a ”card” doing the same thing seem risible.
There’s no need for a national ID when national ID standards have already been adopted as Federal law, back in 2005.
However, a critical component of the implementation of that law–the requirement that an ID meeting those standards be required for domestic air travel–has been delayed for just about 20 years, and every year it gets pushed back. If this requirement is not in effect, then there’s little reason for anyone to bother with a REAL ID in a state that doesn’t care to require it. This is a “worst of both worlds” situation where the compliant have to shoulder burdens that the non-compliant get the benefits of.
There are too many vested interests that do not want an ID that would let you determine immigration status, even though LEGAL resident and non-resident aliens must carry such ID at all times. Consequently, it is only for the benefit of illegal aliens and those who economically benefit from illegal aliens who gain from the lack of REAL ID enforcement. Everyone else must bear the costs of compliance.
If you are a permanent resident age 18 or older, you are required to have a valid Green Card in your possession at all times.
8 USC 1304 e: Every alien, eighteen years of age and over, shall at all times carry with him and have in his personal possession any certificate of alien registration or alien registration receipt card issued to him pursuant to subsection (d). Any alien who fails to comply with the provisions of this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall upon conviction for each offense be fined not to exceed $100 or be imprisoned not more than thirty days, or both.
NEWSFLASH: Fox is reporting that Gaetz is withdrawing his name from consideration as Attorney General.
I am not surprised.
they swamp the country with 25-40 million illegals, who won’t abide by the ID, so its a solution in search of a problem,
The problems I see with a national ID are twofold.
Consolidation of Identity requirements into a “national ID” may make it easier to establish identity when used for good purposes, but will also make it easier for nefarious purposes as well.
“You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered.”
–Lyndon Johnson
The source of that quote is massively ironic, but the sentiment is no less true.
A highly significant difference between the SSN as a quasi-national ID and a true national ID card is that no one is required to carry their SSN card with them for ID and the Police don’t ask you to produce your SSN card to identify yourself when stopped. It wouldn’t take long for a national ID card to be used in such a way. Doesn’t take much imagination to picture a political rally or demonstration where the police set up a checkpoint and demand all participants produce their national ID card. What better way to identify people who engage in wrongthink?
Right now, we are never required to carry ID unless engaging in some sort of permitted privilege (like driving on public roads). How long would that last if a national ID were implemented?
I also question the wisdom of “national ID” in terms of the already significant threat of identity theft. The universal use of the SSN as an identifier has already caused issues in that respect…which is why the original legislation under which the Social Security system was created included the caveat that the SSN could not be used for identification purposes or for any purpose other than the administration of the Social Security system.
It was just too convenient and that was eventually repealed, leading us to where we are today. How long before our “National ID” number is linked to every aspect of our lives, exacerbating the problems with identity theft even more thoroughly.
Convenience isn’t always worth sacrificing security. It would be really convenient to leave the car doors open and the key in the ignition (like my dad used to do a million years ago at the farm I grew up on), but, much like my liberty, I like my car. I’d prefer to keep it.
In the 80’s after a defeat in a Presidential election, Tip O’Neill said, “We made them rich, then they vote Republican”. So the illegal flood gates were opened with the hope that millions of low skilled Hispanics could be kept separate, scared, poor and dependent, like the reliable black base. But as Tip might have realized, when people become productive and earn a good living, they tend to think they deserve most of what they earn. (They did it, not as Obama said, someone else did it.)
In our case, a biometric Social Security card in place of one made out of cheap cardboard would seem to be the obvious choice.
Have you ever done a rudimentary web search of yourself or new friends? An interesting thing about searching my name is that it says I’m married even though my wife died about 3 years ago. Apparently, basic court docs like marriage certs. are automatically searchable by those info. providers, but death certs. are not. At least in CA. Why keep death information semi-secret?
It may be just my paranoia, but you don’t suppose powerful people like the ability to steal votes with the identities of dead people?
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Then illegal immigrants often get fake ID’s, sometimes including phony SSN’s. Why do our government systems tolerate lots of bogus SSN usage? Isn’t it rather important to keep that accurate? Sure, it would take some work and maybe a criminal law for the fraudsters, but it doesn’t sound terribly hard.
Suppose the effort was made to genuinely lock down the SSN system to accurately log every legitimate citizen. Now provide a digital card and require one fingerprint to be attached to it. When voting in elections, one could be required to show a card, scan a fingerprint and vote. Someone who attempts to vote twice could be automatically blocked.
The Lyndon Johnson quote is a good one (Sailorcurt). But it is much harder to see the downsides. I do like the old(?) laws banning the arbitrary use of SSN’s as an ID. I didn’t know that portion was repealed. I thought it was just widely ignored.
However slight, nothing that further enables tyranny can be condoned, so not only no but Hell No.
You know, a National ID card sounds like a pretty good idea, especially if we go to a cashless society. After all, what harm could come from requiring people to have and exhibit on request some papers? That should certainly cut down on the problem of illegal migrants living here And when you buy something, all you have to do is show the ID card–you know, just to prove that you’re who you say you are–and swipe your card. Voila! Transaction completed. Next thing you know, we’ll be able to accomplish the very same thing with something like a chip under the skin.
Now that’s convenience! What’s that you say? Mark of The Beast? What’s that?
As to the film clip: heh… whoopsie.
When I was the privacy architect for Boeing, we removed SSN from the payroll system (and hundreds of other systems). SSN is added to the tax file in a secure environment right before it shipped to the tax processor. The only systems that kept SSN were secure systems like the finger print system.
If you are non-Boeing person passing by one of the main Boeing plants and have a medical emergency and ask the gate guard for help, Boeing doctors and nurses will tend to you until you can be transferred. You will be issued a unique Boeing ID for the Boeing medical system.
National voting ID is essential. And only if every vote you cast gives you and only you the power to check your vote and how it was counted.
Technology can be wonderful, but, like the humans who create and use it, it is inherently corruptible. Our country is in danger of fracturing, due to the corruption of our people (citizens and non-citizens.)
“When I was the privacy architect for Boeing, we removed SSN from the payroll system (and hundreds of other systems).”
During my time in the military, they used SSN as our service ID number, so my SSN is basically on the public domain. They’re supposed to redact it in any public records but you know how well that goes. I don’t worry about it too much, pretty much the only thing I have to steal is my good name. My credit score’s been north of 800 for decades, but I keep my credit locked. Inconvenient in the rare case I need a new loan because I have to unlock it, but it prevents anyone from taking out a loan in my name.
I’m pretty sure the military has switched to a separate ID number. At least they have for retirees…I assume they have for active duty as well…for that very reason.
“National voting ID is essential.”
I disagree. I think it can be managed best at the state level, but there should be federal oversight to ensure that the ID and voter integrity laws in the state meet a minimum standard and that they’re enforced. National ID opens a whole new avenue for abuse when the Good Guys are not in power.
“And only if every vote you cast .gives you and only you the power to check your vote and how it was counted”
I like your idea in principle; I’d like to be able to check after I cast my vote and make sure it was counted and counted correctly. Unfortunately there is no way to ever guarantee that you’d be the only one able to access it. If it’s stored somewhere, whether physically or digitally, it can be accessed. There is no such thing as an un-hackable computer or unbreakable encryption.
How long would it be before everyone’s voting records were published on Tik-Tok or Instagram?
I’m pretty open about my political affiliation, but I’ve got 21 years of military experience and a safe full of guns to back me up. Picture a couple of burly men knocking on the door of a grandma’s house, telling her “we’re from the democrat voting assurance committee, we see you usually cast your vote for the other guy so we just wanted to make sure you’re safe and don’t feel threatened or anything, because we’ve heard that people who vote like you have had bad things happen to them. It’d be a shame if your house burned down in the middle of the night, wouldn’t it?”
Even discounting that extreme, the really vulnerable people are the ones who live in democrat strongholds but vote republican. Imagine the reaction if all their neighbors, employer and co-workers found out that they voted for [GASP] literally Hitler.
Well said, Sailorcurt!
The school district that all our kids went to used SS numbers for their ID, just like everyone does now.
It’s so convenient.
One year, somebody decided it would be ultra-convenient for that ID number to be printed on their student ID cards, which they had to present to the library and the cafeteria and the whatever, and carried around on their neck on lanyards, for convenience.
I don’t think I was the only parent to point out to the principal & school board that having such sensitive information publicly available was NOT a good idea.
The cards were reissued with an internally produced number.
I’ve always been anti- ID number/card related to not wanting to make it easier for the system to collate data on my preferences and information. It seems inevitable that we will eventually have them as the younger generation seems to delight in sharing every aspect of their life with the universe 😉