National ID

[zenafire]

Someone emailed the article below to me. I've been doing some reading of the actual bill, but have yet to find specific reference to biomedical information in the ambiguous obscurity of its legalese. Of course, none of the major media have touched on this subject. I'd appreciate further (factual) info.

US adopts National ID: Homeland Security Now In charge of Regulations for all US States Drivers Licenses and Birth Certificates

By: Jonathan Wheeler

In a chilling act more reminiscent of the now defunct Soviet Union or the Nazi regime of Adolph Hitler, the United States Congress passed legislation yesterday that requires the States to surrender their regulatory rights over driver’s licenses and birth certificates to The Department of Homeland Security.

The massive US Intelligence Reform Bill weighed in at over 3,000 pages and though unread by individual Members of either the House or Senate nevertheless passed all of the legislative hurdles needed in order to become law.

President Bush lobbied hard for these provisions, only objecting when Senator Sensenbrenner attempted to require these same provisions for illegal aliens but which the President opposed. This provision was dropped from the final bill.

Beginning in 2005, the Department of Homeland Security will issue new uniformity regulations to the States requiring that all Drivers Licenses and Birth Certificates meet minimal Federal Standards with regard to US citizen information, including biometric security provisions.

Added to currently existing Federal Laws and Supreme Court rulings American citizens when born will be issued a Social Security Number that will be included on their Birth Certificates, along with DNA biometric markers. All birth certificates will also be registered in a Federal Government database maintained by the Department of Homeland Security. No child will be allowed enrollment to schools or be entitled to either State of Federal Government benefits programs without first presenting a certified Homeland Security registered Birth Certificate.

Drivers Licenses will also contain DNA biometric markers and include the holders Social Security Number and be required for receiving and applying for all State and Federal benefits programs. Previous Supreme Court rulings have also upheld State and Federal Law Enforcement authorities right to request Identification from any American citizen, for any reason and at any time as not being violations of their, the citizens, constitutionally protected rights.

Major Banks and credit card companies have applauded the adoption of a National ID system as being important to counter fraud and increasing instances of identity theft. National ID cards with biometric markers will eliminate them from having to issue Credit and Debit cards, which for the first time in US history have surpassed the usage of checks and cash. Utilizing The Department of Homeland Securities centralized federal database, Banks and credit card companies will only require the presentation of a citizens Driver’s License to make purchases as all of the persons financial information, including credit and cash balances, will already be known in ‘real time’. (The combining of Homeland Security and Banking databases on citizen’s balances and purchases, along with their past and present purchasing information, has been allowed under previous Federal Laws including the Patriot Act.)

Also included in this bill is a law to require The Department of Homeland Security to establish a separate ID system for citizens to use prior to boarding airplanes, and which is eerily reminiscent of the Soviet and Nazi regimes dreaded Internal Passport.

Never before in our history have the words of Benjamin Franklin been so correct when he stated: "people willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both".

Today, December 9, 2004 will be one of those moments in time that future historians will look back on and pin point as being the day that the United States of American, and as it was founded by its forefathers, ceased to exist.

[nanouk]

*shudder*

[sidecross]

An advantage of being over 60 is having conversations with people older than me. In one such conversation a man told me that what he sees in America now with American flags on automotive bumpers and Home Land Security obsessions is reminiscent of the Germany he fled in the early 30’s.

[Humming]

I've seen a few articles describing this, but I have not yet found one from a credible source.

Zenafire, do you have a link that's associated with this article?

I found this site, a group which is suing Homeland Security for information about the secret implementation of a national ID card system.

http://www.epic.org/privacy/id_cards/

Re: Fascist Germany, I think that anyone who's investigated the 9-11 story and has a decent grasp of the facts will realize that the military industrial complex is, and has been for years, intentionally escalating a police state by creating a state of perpetual fear and ignorance (a brutally effective combination) within the populace. 9-11 was orchestrated to enable the insidious enactment of anti-democratic legislation: the recommendations of the whitewashing 9-11 commission. Legislation analagous to the 60's/70's COINTEL program of governmental spying has been re-instated in the wake of the 9-11 "attacks". Only this time, I think it's much worse, due to the technology involved, and the effectiveness of the media as a brainwashing propaganda machine.

9-11 was the big push, and now since the election we've officially descended into a pseudo-totalitarian state. Reporter Alex Jones describes this process as "incrementalism" whereby small changes, small erosions of liberty and democracy accrue over years and years, and then without truly realizing it, we are soon living in a police state. This is evidenced in every aspect of the governmental apparatus over the past 30 years: the prison system, military escalation, insane increases in intelligence agency budgets, etc. etc.

This national ID card is immensely troublesome....

I will most definitely protest if these measures are attempted. I'm sure that they probably will be.

As dorky as it might be, I am reminded of a quote from the first Star Wars film, where Leia says to Tarkin, "the more you tighten your grip, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."

[Manning]

Another article in a similar vein...

In Texas, 28,000 students test e-tagging system
Published: November 17, 2004, 6:09 AM PST
By Matt Richtel
The New York Times


SPRING, Texas--In front of her gated apartment complex, Courtney Payne, a 9-year-old fourth grader with dark hair pulled tightly into a ponytail, exits a yellow school bus.

Moments later, her movement is observed by Alan Bragg, the local police chief, standing in a windowless control room more than a mile away.

Chief Bragg is not using video surveillance. Rather, he watches an icon on a computer screen. The icon marks the spot on a map where Courtney got off the bus, and, on a larger level, it represents the latest in the convergence of technology and student security.

Hoping to prevent the loss of a child through kidnapping or more innocent circumstances, a few schools have begun monitoring student arrivals and departures using technology similar to that used to track livestock and pallets of retail shipments.

Here in a growing middle- and working-class suburb just north of Houston, the effort is undergoing its most ambitious test. The Spring Independent School District is equipping 28,000 students with ID badges containing computer chips that are read when the students get on and off school buses. The information is fed automatically by wireless phone to the police and school administrators.

In a variation on the concept, a Phoenix school district in November is starting a project using fingerprint technology to track when and where students get on and off buses. Last year, a charter school in Buffalo began automating attendance counts with computerized ID badges--one of the earliest examples of what educators said could become a widespread trend.

At the Spring district, where no student has ever been kidnapped, the system is expected to be used for more pedestrian purposes, Chief Bragg said: to reassure frantic parents, for example, calling because their child, rather than coming home as expected, went to a friend's house, an extracurricular activity or a Girl Scout meeting.

When the district unanimously approved the $180,000 system, neither teachers nor parents objected, said the president of the board. Rather, parents appear to be applauding. "I'm sure we're being overprotective, but you hear about all this violence," said Elisa Temple-Harvey, 34, the parent of a fourth grader. "I'm not saying this will curtail it, or stop it, but at least I know she made it to campus."

The project also is in keeping with the high-tech leanings of the district, which built its own high-speed data network and is outfitting the schools with wireless Internet access. A handful of companies have adapted the technology for use in schools.

But there are critics, including some older students and privacy groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, who argue that the system is security paranoia.

The decades-old technology, called radio frequency identification, or RFID, is growing less expensive and developing vast new capabilities. It is based on a computer chip that has a unique number programmed into it and contains a tiny antenna that sends information to a reader.

More... (http://news.com.com/In+Texas,+28,000+students+test+e-tagging+system/2100-1039_3-5456061.html)

[ December 20, 2004, 10:17 AM: Message edited by: Manning ]

[Lowlight]

there trying to bring in ID in the UK now as well, it got past its first hearing on monday night.

it defintely is a step by step process and the majority wont know what going on untill the their freinds and family start getting deported.