REAL ID Act passed in the USA

[hormiga]

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archive...5/real_id.html

Personally I think it is about time, but some people have issues with having a "national drivers licence/ID card" instead of a State issued one.

Discuss.

[ajimenez3]

Just a feel good measure to make everyone think the govt. is doing something about homeland security.

Instead maybe all the money that is going to be wasted on this could be used to actually go police the borders and go actually find the people in this country illegally.

Like the people in this country illegally are going to stop driving cars and not use faked ID's.


Semper Fi

[Augustine]

Good. Now we won't have illegal aliens and felons voting multiple times.

[TheBagelmeister]

Problem is, once we stop letting illegal immigrants get IDs, they'll be a margin who will go for fakes. Once that happens, its all just a waste of money and time. You can't just fix the security issue by making everyone carry around an ID. There are probably better ways to fix the problem other than this.

But then again, I don't like any idea the government comes out with. :lol

[maneuverous tookillas]

Originally posted by ajimenez3@May 11 2005, 03:38 PM
Instead maybe all the money that is going to be wasted on this could be used to actually go police the borders and go actually find the people in this country illegally.

EXACTLY! But that that would be too needlessly uncomplicated for these (representitives of the people) to be enacted. Actions speak louder than words, and if they REALLY ACTUALLY cared about illegals or possibly terrorists crossing our borders, it would have been stopped by now.

[TheBagelmeister]

So, how exactly is this supposed to help, in theory? I don't really get it.

[HorseArcher]

The REAL ID Act requires driver's licenses to include a "common machine-readable technology." This will, of course, make identity theft easier. Assume that this information will be collected by bars and other businesses, and that it will be resold to companies like ChoicePoint and Acxiom. It actually doesn't matter how well the states and federal government protect the data on driver's licenses, as there will be parallel commercial databases with the same information.

What that means, is more spam e-mails, more garbage mails in the mailbox more telemarketing. :sick

[IronBrig4]

It seems like a good idea, but it won't work. Illegal immigrants or fugitives will just drive without them. The only way to truly enforce such a policy is to become a garrison state (Israel, Singapore), and nobody wants that.

[maneuverous tookillas]

Originally posted by horsearcher@May 11 2005, 04:08 PM

What that means, is more spam e-mails, more garbage mails in the mailbox more telemarketing. :sick

Exactly. Lets make it even easier for big bussiness/government to aggregate marketing/personal information. I'm getting real tired of this "technology is the only way to be safer cr@p", "lets put chips/scanners/sensors on everything, it will make you safer" Thats the american way though to ignore the cause and treat the effect.

[SonofSparta]

1984

[vopohame]

I think it would be better just to put a chip in everyones hand and head how bout that. :lol

[Akhilleus]

another government in the past had a great use for national ID cards; they were welcomed with open arms and issued to the entire populace. they were used to give off important information like what race/religion you were, if you had any mental handicaps, and later on were replaced by an even better idea: instead of people having to carry around identification papers all the time, the government issued out these handy little patches that could be sown onto your jacket to show the information displayed in your ID papers; HOW CONVENIANT! gosh darnit, why dont we have a system like that? such a great and revolutionary idea could only have been created by none other than the nazis, and here we are borrowing the same concept. Grande.

[TheBagelmeister]

Are there any redeeming qualities about this? All I'm hearing is bad things. I'd hate to think politicians are that stupid to let it get passed.

[Lee1026]

I think it would be better just to put a chip in everyones hand and head how bout that.

Why not? it would end kidnapping forever and ever. You kidnap someone, and boom, there comes the police. Come to think of it, it will end most crimes. you rob a bank, the police uses the bank's sensors to find out who it is, tracking signals tell them where that person is, and boom, no more bank robber. find a body and have no clue who that person is? look at the chip.
Let's say that you have a emergency and the doctor needs to know about your medical histroy. boom, it is there right in your hand, no more harmful drug interactions because the doctor can't get the info in time, no more allegic reactions to medicines because the doctor have no clue.
Now let's say that you go shopping and your kid is missing. you tell the police, they look up the tracking signals and you found your kid.

All of this is not to say that there is no way to abuse tracking signals, but they do have benefits that are commonly forgetten. And in my opinion those benefits far outweighs the potenial harms that may come out this mess. What is a evil ruler going to do with this that he can't do otherwise? not much.

[hormiga]

Originally posted by TheBagelmeister@May 11 2005, 06:58 PM
Are there any redeeming qualities about this? All I'm hearing is bad things. I'd hate to think politicians are that stupid to let it get passed.

It is just a drivers licence on a national level.

Redeeming qualities:
Everyone has the same sort of drivers licence.
Now you can actually use it as a readable ID anywhere in the country.... yeah that is so horrible.


The vast majority of the "bad" things are coming from people that are letting their imagination get the better of themselves.

[TheBagelmeister]

I guess it all just comes down to opinion, yet again. But I'd rather not have to deal with the possible negative affects (increased spam, risk of fraud, privacy invasion) for a rather marginal positive affect. I think there is some saying that the last 10% of performance, we're spending 30% on. So, while the benefits might be marginal, the cost is much larger.

And the reason, I believe, why people get all riled up is once people start proposing nation wide driver's licenses, it is possible to ask or demand for more. Its better to stop is early on, I suppose.

[Portuguese Rebel]

I don't get what you guys have against IDs. Many countries have them and no you will not get more spam mail or something like that unless the US goverment sells your data ... :getlost

Hmmm maybe this is a very good idea for you guys after all... :happy

[Lee1026]

if it will mean less taxes - let them spam. lt's not like any of them makes it though my spam filter.

[Nationalist_Cause]

It will be bought and sold like every other form of identification and legal document in the United States. It would be much more effective to just enforce immigration laws. I guess Bush just doesn't want to look like a "vigilante." :getlost

[maneuverous tookillas]

Originally posted by hormiga@May 11 2005, 06:05 PM
It is just a drivers licence on a national level.

Redeeming qualities:
Everyone has the same sort of drivers licence.
Now you can actually use it as a readable ID anywhere in the country.... yeah that is so horrible.


The vast majority of the "bad" things are coming from people that are letting their imagination get the better of themselves.

The problem though is that the very undesirables their trying to catch will avoid this like the plague. So what your left with is a bunch of law abiders that can now be identified without their permission.