Legal Commentary

Lindsey Graham and Chuck Schumer Propose National ID Cards

By Jeralyn

As part of their immigration reform legislation, Sen. Lindsey Graham and Chuck Schumer are proposing all Americans get national ID cards. The cards would be high-tech social security cards and required to obtain employment in the U.S.

“We would require all U.S. citizens and legal immigrants who want jobs to obtain a high-tech, fraud-proof Social Security card. Each card’s unique biometric identifier would be stored only on the card; no government database would house everyone’s information,” they said. “The cards would not contain any private information, medical information or tracking devices. The card would be a high-tech version of the Social Security card that citizens already have.”

The problem: It will be expanded far beyond that purpose: [More...]

As EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation] aptly points out:

“Because of the ID card’s proposed universality, it will likely be requested and required by airlines, insurance agencies, health care providers, mortgage lenders, credit card companies, and so forth...”

....This proposal should grit the teeth and narrow the eyes of anyone who has carefully considered the dangers of a national, biometric-carrying identification card scheme. Like other national ID proposals, this one seems to naively assume that technology and federalization can provide an across-the-board "upgrade" to existing identification schemes, when in reality it spawns a beastly tangle of complex issues.

Cato has more on how this will turn into a giant national identity database.

The biometric national identification scheme Senators Schumer and Graham propose is much, much more than a “high-tech” Social Security card. It’s the biggest, most difficult identity system ever proposed. It will take decades and tens or hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to build.

About the only similarity between today’s Social Security card and the biometric national ID card these senators propose is that they’re both rectangular.

Just say no to Graham and Shumer and national ID cards. As Cato pointed out here:

It would also subject every employment decision to the federal government’s approval. It would make surveillance of law-abiding citizens easier. It would allow the government to control access to health care. It would facilitate gun control. It would cost $100 billion dollars or more. It would draw bribery and corruption into the Social Security Administration. It would promote the development of sophisticated biometric identity fraud. How long should I go on?

This is not about immigration, it's about tracking U.S. citizens:

A biometric ID system is not about securing the border or preventing terrorism. It is about tracking citizens.

“By far the most significant negative aspect of biometric ID systems is their potential to locate and track people physically. While many surveillance systems seek to locate and track, biometric systems present the greatest danger precisely because they promise extremely high accuracy. Whether a specific biometric system actually poses a risk of such tracking depends on how it is designed,” explains the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Lindsey Graham has become the biggest threat to freedom since Rudy Giuliani. That Democrats and the Obama Administration are providing him a platform is inexcusable.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on March 23, 2010 (boomark / email).