The specific fears are massive invasion of privacy and identity theft. All databases are going to be linked, and Federal agencies will have the power to collate data from several sources, and all without your knowledge. Yes, they can do that now, but it takes a lot more effort and time, and judges and courts.
What are the guidelines for how this information will be used? What are the restrictions for how and when information can be read remotely? How does a citizen know that their ID is being read, and how do they know the person reading it is authorised to do so? Currently you need to PHYSICALLY show an ID to an officer, or to a store clerk. If you do not want to, then you don't show it. You go to court, or you simply do not purchase that product. With autmatic reading by RFID you don't have a choice. You are probably also not aware that RFID Receivers can be made strong enough to pick up the RFID tags from great distance. So in theory there could be a van parked somewhere with a dish on top that would be able to say exactly where everyone is within one city block. How long before criminals start using this technology? They are already stealing your credit cards with physical swiping machines and reusing them in foreign countries or in the good ol US of A. Many countries have National ID cards, Trinidad does, but many countries do NOT have cards that are remotely readable over the air and from a distance dictated by the strength of the receiver. Anyone who is wary of a police state, and a dictatorship should be alarmed by this new development, and more so by the way it was railroaded through on the heels of an important bill. Bush blackmailed congress into supporting his Orwellian ideals.The Bush Administration has no qualms about using the tragedy of 9/11 to get it's own draconian and conservative legislation passed and to subvert the US constitution. Because this nearly completely removes a citizen's right to privacy, and the constitutional right against illegal search. "US Representative James Sensenbrenner (Republican, Wisconsin) hailed the bill's success, which he claimed will "assist in our war-on-terror efforts to disrupt terrorist operations and help secure our borders." It will do no such thing, of course, but it will give the federal government long-sought control over the movements of Americans, which is exactly what about half of its boosters had in mind. It will also make life more difficult for undocumented immigrants, which the remaining boosters had in mind. Within two years' time, state ID cards and driver's licenses will have to satisfy federal standards. The new cards must feature anti-counterfeiting measures and machine readable elements (i.e., RFID) approved by DHS, and anything else that DHS thinks would be useful. The language is open-ended, meaning that DHS can issue new requirements as it sees fit, whenever some new gimmick for invading the privacy of citizens captures its imagination. State motor-vehicle departments will be required to verify each driver's Social Security number and current address, and maintain their digital photographs in a huge database along with all other information that DHS wants them to collect. States that fail to link up their databases will become ineligible for federal money. Soon it will be impossible to obtain government services, travel domestically by hired car, intercity bus, train, or plane, enter a building, open a bank account, pay by check, drink at a pub, enroll in school, or obtain insurance without having your unique federal ID card scanned at the gate. The potential for mission creep, and for mass data aggregation, is absolutely unlimited. DHS can decree that photographs are not enough; it may decide that it also wants fingerprints, iris scans, and DNA information encoded in the cards, and in its massive databases. And Congress has given it the power to decree that, and more. Yet the scheme is hopelessly flawed even without the attendant mass privacy invasion. Once these cards become established, they will not be challenged because they're "technologically advanced." They've got anti-counterfeiting technology, and they're all hooked up to a massive government database. They will become the most valuable fraudulent ID documents available, and the black market supplying them will flourish in unprecedented splendor. Criminals will get them. Terrorists will get them. Illegal aliens will get them. They'll pay a lot more than they do today for identity documents, but these will be worth the expense. They'll be really convincing. The dwindling privacy of US citizens will be eroded dramatically for no real gain in security. Much money will be spent, much privacy will be lost, and states will lose a significant measure of sovereignty, for no purpose but making a collection of middle-class control freaks in Congress feel important. The whole project would be a sad waste of money and effort, if it wasn't actually harmful." If you can point out some way in which this RFID card will significantly reduce the threat of terrorism, or protect US Citizens then please let us know, and let us know how these potential benefits outweigh the major drawbacks which I outlined above. In short, Sam, this totally f**ks the US Citizen, and will further destroy whatever semblance of Good Ol' USA that was left after 9/11. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Discover CFTicket - The leading ColdFusion Help Desk and Trouble Ticket application http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=48 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:157209 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
