On Mon, 05 Apr 2004 20:20:16 -0700, Joachim Feise
wrote:
>Oliver Costich said on 4/5/2004 18:29:
>>
>> I would support a biometric ID card whose use would be limited.
>
>How? You can't limit the use of such cards.
>Example: see the abuse of the Social Security Number. It's only official
>use is for purposes of the Social Security Administration.
>But about every governmental and non-governmental entity uses it.
You don't have to give it. I have had this fight with numerous
organizations and won every time. The reason they all want it is there
is no other national form of ID.
>
>> Tracking whereabouts would not be one of the uses.
>
>Dream on. It may not be used for it at first, but if the possibility exists,
>it is going to be used eventually. They would find an excuse. Like the
>so-called Patriot Act, with restrictions of freedom that makes it the most
>unpatriotic act in the history of the US...
You think that the government can't find out whatever they want to
know anyway if they want to track you? How would tracking data on
hundreds of millions of people be accomplished? Why would they want to
do it?
>
>> Verification of
>> identity for the purposes of employment, voting, welfare entitlement,
>> banking and credit cards and the like.
>
>Like the SSN? Welcome to identity theft heaven...
There is sufficient technology to prevent any duplication or
fabrication of an ID card on any but a insignificant scale. The cost,
like breaking strong encryption, is prohibitive.
>
>> It could reduce not only
>> illegal immigration but welfare fraud and identity theft as well, two
>> sources of huge cost.
>
>Obviously you have no idea of the power of data mining.
I have done research in data mining and in database security, much of
the non classified is published.
>Having one such
>card makes it really easy to track the whereabouts of everybody in the US.
>Today, you would still have to combine the myriad of different databases.
>If they are under one control, in particular government control, you'd
>have a totalitarian society.
Having a card encode with pertinent info and readable at the site of
use for verification isn't particularly invasive and worth the cost of
the benefits it provides.
>Hence, ID cards are a really bad idea, and hopefully they are never going
>to fly in the US.
>
>-Joe
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