CONGRESS DEBATES NATIONAL DRIVERS LICENSE with ID TRACKING CHIP... and CONTROL through a VIRTUAL NATIONAL ID Update: October 21, 2004 - The 911 Commission recommends a National ID Card with armed checkpoints around America and a National Driver's License. And Congress seems to be going along with the recommended legislation. October 12 2004 DOJgov.net Newswire © UPDATE: The House of Representatives has passed HR10 with the national ID database provisions in tact and mandating a standardized National Drivers License throughout the United States. The national identification system has begun. This falls in line with recommendations of the 911 Commission that called for a National Identification Card and armed checkpoints throughout America. In accition, provisions of what was previously known as the Patriot Act II are being passed under the guise of implementing the 911 Commission's findings. Many of the legislative measures, particularly S. 2845 introduced in the Senate by Senators Collins (ME) and Senators Lieberman (CT) are bi-partisan efforts in response to the 911 Commission. They include: Establishment of a national ID card, disguised as national standardization of drivers licensing; Establishment of a national electronic database for birth and death certificates, with permanent identifying information assigned to each individual, such as a national ID number; Biometric identifiers - including fingerprints, face recognition software photos, iris or retinal scans, and other private physical identification - for travel documents which would be used for security in domestic air travel as well as overseas travel; Expanded secret eavesdropping and search powers to be used against individuals suspected of terrorist activity. At the same time, "terrorist activity" is so broadly defined as to include virtually anybody critical of government. There will be no federal court oversight. Enhanced "material support" provisions allowing guilt by association. May 1, 2002 DOJgov.net Newswire © Legislation to standardize state-issued driver's licenses across the United States and use them as virtual national IDs is looming over the horizon. The Card will be mandated to hold a programmable ID chip with biometric patterns as yet undefined. The bill would also mandate that state databases be linked. The Driver's License Modernization Act of 2002, sponsored by Reps. Jim Moran, D-Va., and Tom Davis, R-Va., directs that the chip be capable of accepting software for other applications, including those of private companies. By doing this, it paves the way for becoming "the only card you'll ever need," as it could replace ATM cards, credit cards, employment ID, library cards and virtually all other plastic ID media. The stated object of the legislation is to prevent identity fraud and enhance national security by making driver's licenses a better way to establish identity. "The intent of this legislation is to correct flaws in the driver's license standard that states currently have," Moran's spokesman, Dan Drummond, stated. "Right now there are inconsistent requirements between the states for initial identity verification. There's also insufficient verification of identity documents that people present when they go to get a license." The bill would earmark an initial $315 million in taxpayer funds to help pay for the transition to the new licenses and to set up links between state computer systems. It also opens the way towards linking to hundreds of national information databases, exposing all personal, financial, medical and other information to one source of law enforcement and corporate retrieval. In theory the cards could also be structured in such a way that revocation of driving privileges would be done electronically without damaging other uses. On the other hand, having a driver's license reviewed through a scan by law enforcement could reveal an enormous amount of personal information. And confiscation of a "universal" card in the future world could render the former holder invisible to features needed for simple survival. The Patriot Act, passed late last year after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, appears to open a way for federal, state and local databases to be linked. The bill authorized $150 million for the "expansion of the Regional Information Sharing System" to "facilitate federal-state-local law enforcement response related to terrorist acts." Rep. Harman, a member of the Select Committee on Intelligence and an acknowledged expert on counter-terrorism, said the identification needs to be connected to national databases to check on the background of driver's permit applicants. "I think this issue must be looked at. We don't automatically have to call it a national ID card, that's a radioactive term, but we can certainly think about smart cards for essential functions, but we need the database to support that." Asked by a member of the audience if she felt there was political support for this technology, Harman said, "I think most people are really there. Keep in mind that if we have a second wave of attacks. The folks who are raising objections will probably lose totally. Initial use of the enhanced driver's license for private-sector services would be voluntary, but given the growth in power of new bureaucracies, it may not be long before a piece of plastic in good standing is the control mechanism for compliance or starvation.
Why don't they save us the hassle and just cram a microchip up our noses?? Then we won't have to dig for it when we get pulled over for failing to yield to tyranny!
No your all safe because everyone knows a woman can't drive! I dread saying that even though it was totally intended to be a joke but I can still feel you all slapping me, kicking me, punching me (Wow wait I think I am getting into it, more more!)
for some reason, when people say really sarcastic things like that they just crack me up. unless you were being serious. then i'd have to kill you.
This is a really interesting issue, I would transfer it to Politics, but the orginal poster doesn't have enough posts to get into the Politics Forum. Perhaps Random Thoughts? It isn't an exclsusively Women's Issue, so I will have to move it. Sorry.
Evolution at work(?) ! Terrorists are going to be forced into an arms race of sorts to ensure they have their way around the new security measures. Unfortunately for the U.S., more accurately, you the taxpayer, once the technology is developed to stop, the technology is there to side step. You could call this a real attempt by the government to ensure your safety, or you could call it a money grab. Judging from the futility of the idea and the obvious lag in implementation of means to avoid fraud you can be fairly certain that terrorists will have the capability to side step these new measures maybe eight, nine, ten minutes after you have your card. At that point you really have to wonder why you are giving up your liberties. Just like that damned missile program your president is talking about.
I was joking in my first post about women, so be gentle plz. As for this card, it is a joke t think it shall serve as a means to secure us. Hell they have not even secured to this date all aliens that were permitted to be here in the US, they have not secured entry into the US. My biggest gripe was them saying that they needed to enforce this lame ass law that allows them to tap phones and computer usage ect without anysort of court order in the effort to protect us all. They supported this by saying that had they been able to search the hard disk of one of the terrorists laptop they would have been able to prevent the 911 attack. That constitutional rights to privacy hindered the ability to search. My question is this, where in the US Constitution of Bill of Rights does it give any of these rights to NON US CITIZENS? This was all just a nice way to push a law that is UNCONSTITUTIONAL onto us in the name of keeping us safe! I shall put my soap box away and quietly wonder off into the night and hope tomorrow is a better day!:sunglasse
