We Are Watching You

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A National ID card was an editorial in yesterday's NY Times. It is an idea that refuses to die, and one that I feel is an invasion of out right to privacy. However, it would definitely be a big money maker for a (or some) private comapny. That emphasis is clear in the article:

"Private companies in the United States are already marketing the idea of providing a secure card for those willing to submit to extra background checks, similar to a concept proposed by the airlines."

"Private corporations are now marketing identification systems based on personal and unique "biometrics" like eye scans or fingerprints."

But this is the age of technology you know, so why do ID cards at all? Why not do injectable bio-chips (UTJ, 12/30/03) instead? All of our pertinent data could be placed on the chip at birth, with a remote upgrade function to add info (medical, employment, credit, drivers license, legal violations, etc) to it as we age. Heck we could even include a remote tracking device so that if someone gets lost or kidnapped we could find them any place on the planet. Then all we would have to do is put discrete chip readers around, or give them to those who "need" them which could be just about anyone.

Why carry yet another card - this one with "bio-metric" information - when we could get rid of all cards and just have THE CHIP. Very efficient don't you think? No more credit cards, social security cards, insurance cards, visas, drivers licenses. Go to a cashless society and you wouldn't even need a billfold. Imagine that - the billfold a quaint antique.

Given the technology today (and emerging) you could even add more capabilities and connections. How about a bio-monitor that could alert emergency personnel to your health status. It could even double as an unauthorized substance monitor. Then if you wanted to drive and your chip said you had ingested an unauthorized substance, it could keep your car from starting (much less cumbersome than an onboard breathilizer). If someone was suspected of committing a crime, you could stop them in their tracks with the addition of an internal electric shock. Oh the possibilities are endless.

Of course, all of this information (including the information for a national ID card) will be available to at least two major, integrated, databases - the private corporation that gets the contract, and the US govenrment. The Department of Homeland Security already is developing its own data mining program (UTJ, 1/07/04), and there are data mining programs for those in subsidized housing, and networking police jurisdictions across the country (MATRIX). How cumbersome to have all these massive and extensive programs. It will ultimately be proposed that the Pentagon's on hold project (Total Information Awareness) will be raised as an efficient solution. This is a prediction.

Oh yeah ... privacy? My guess is that will be a word that drops from the english language, or that the meaning will transform - you know like the idea of "freedom" has nothing to do with voice or movement or personal choice, just with the "freedom" to be controlled by monopoly capitalism - the "freedom" to buy.

So a National ID card seems to be an idea whose time has come. I am sure that it will make us all much more secure (meaning that the powers that be can more easily "secure" us individually - i.e. track us and lock us up). But never fear, we have a public that seems to not be bothered by this type of intrusion. Afterall, if you don't have anything to hide then you have nothing to worry about.

Posted by rowan at June 1, 2004 08:20 AM | TrackBack | Printable Version | [eMail this article!] |