Saturday, May 14, 2005

A government out of control

I have been witnessing what I consider a government out of control, like a locomotive without brakes that heads straight into a busy train station. I can only speculate that the end result could be tragic.

The U.S. Senate has passed a bill that will make it mandatory for all U. S. citizens and aliens to carry a digital ID card that is machine-readable. I have two major problems with this law:

1. The House version was passed, as was the case of the Patriot 2 Act, as an attachment to a spending bill. This is a sneaky way to legislate, passing laws under the pretense of something else. It denies due process to anyone that may have objected to the law. It is obvious that Congress is not working to serve the people -- not when they have to hide legislation inside a spending bill so that it can go through the process with a minimum of attention. That is a cowardly way to act. What are they hiding from us? Why are they not upfront about the issues and why this law is important and has merit?

2. Stories of data mismanagement -- huge data thefts, losses and misuses -- come out almost daily. What will happen to your personal data (including photograph, SSN, etc.) in the hands of one centralized government agency (Homeland Security)? How will this data be safe from hackers and from internal misuse? It is a fact that government agencies have sold personal data to commercial entities -- and the amount of information that will be collected by these ID cards and the readers is astronomical! These cards can track you down, gather information on what you do and buy, etc. The potential for abuse is scary.

For more information, please see these websites: Charles Cooper's blog

Story in Real ID story in ComputerWorld

Does the Real ID act contain a Constitution-busting Trojan horse?

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