Coming Soon: National ID Cards?
Recently passed Real ID Act undermines civil rights, critics charge.
By Erik Larkin, PCWorld May 31, 2005 2:00 pm
WASHINGTON -- Driver's licenses will become national ID cards--and Americans will be at greater risk of identity theft--under a new federal law that passed without significant congressional debate, critics charge.
The Real ID Act will require that states verify every license applicant's identity and residency status, and that they store addresses, names, and driving records in a database that every other state can access. It also mandates anticounterfeiting features for the licenses and a "common machine readable technology." In three years, licenses that don't meet the standards won't be accepted as identification for boarding an airplane, opening a bank account, or satisfying any other federally regulated use..............................
...Machine Readable = RFID?
The requirement that licenses incorporate a "machine-readable technology" is similarly vague. Already, 47 states--all but Alaska, Oklahoma, and Wyoming--have a bar code or a magnetic stripe. Either one would satisfy the law's mandate, as would radio frequency ID (RFID), a broadcast technology planned for upcoming electronic U.S. passports.
The broad language of the new law "really allows for many possibilities," says Neville Pattinson, director of technology and government affairs at the U.S. headquarters in Austin, Texas, of the European company Axalto, which makes smart cards. A small computer chip in each card stores information and may include features such as encryption. Axalto makes both contactless chips, which use RFID, and contact chips, which must be touched to be read. The company is bidding to supply the contactless chips for the new passports.
TSA Arrest Activist for Not Showing ID
CDC
November 16, 2009
[efoods]A Washington State medical marijuana activist was arrested at the Albuquerque airport today after refusing to show ID to TSA screeners. Activist Phil Mocek is one of many Americans who believe Americans have a right to travel freely between the states without showing their papers to the federal government.
After reading a NY Times story on Kiryas Joel, the Orange County town that's home base for the Ultra-Orthodox Satmar Hasidic Jews, a few non-Orthodox friends from Manhattan decided to pay the town a visit. Earlier this month they took a train to the nearest station and hiked five miles to the town, where they started snapping photos of some of the sights and attractions—like the air-conditioned bus stop! But it seems the locals don't take to kindly to Goy outsiders, and soon enough a private security force pulled up demanding identification. On Reddit, John Zwinck, a software engineer who lives in midtown Manhattan, describes how the situation quickly escalated:
After a few minutes, a black Suburban rolls up in front of us. Two guys get out. One of them never speaks, but has a shirt that says Public Safety. The other is wearing traditional orthodox clothes: black pants, white shirt, black vest, and a yarmulke. We later learn his name is Moses. He immediately demands identification from all of us. I ask him why, and he says that he got a call for suspicious activity. I tell him we are just visiting on foot, and that we haven't taken any pictures of people. I tell my friends that I don't think they have to provide ID unless they want to. Moses says if we don't provide ID he will arrest us. I see this as ridiculous, and start walking again.
A few moments later, someone grabs me from behind. I turn around, and Moses is holding my arm. I yell "assault, assault" just in case it's not clear to the few bystanders that it's not consensual. Moses eventually lets me go, and again I continue on my way, and my friends come along.
But when they arrived at a local cafe to get some lunch, a State Trooper stopped them. Here's video of the incident, which ended with two hikers getting arrested for refusing to show their identification:
Germany Gets Set to Issue RFID ID Cards and Readers to Its Citizens
The government hopes its new national ID cards will foster Internet-based commerce, by enabling citizens to use the cards and readers at home to carry out online transactions without putting their personal or financial data at risk.
By Rhea Wessel
Oct. 6, 2010—In an ambitious project designed to provide citizens with a more secure form of identification, as well as a secure method for conducting business via the Internet, Germany will begin issuing RFID-based national identity cards on Nov. 1, 2010.
With the rollout of the new ID cards, Germany will become the first country to outfit its national ID cards with the same technological features of a passport—such as biometric photos, RFID chips and optional digital fingerprints—according to Andreas Reisen, who heads the division of the German Ministry of the Interior responsible for introducing the cards.
Anonymous wrote:We've always had to show ID in Fairfax. I would think that should be standard everywhere. How could you keep the same person from voting all over the place?
The Justice Department said that Hispanics registered to vote in Texas are considerably less likely to have drivers licenses or state-issued IDs than other voters, citing data supplied by Texas in its bid to win clearance for the law passed last May.