Federal ID cards

[Trevorum]

 

Here's a topic I don't think we've tossed around before. What do you think of Government issued/mandated identity cards?

 

On the one hand, it would seem to be a huge Government intrusion into privacy. OTOH, if done right, it might serve to facilitate immigration reform. I suspect that opinions on this issue will not line up with traditional political lines and it has the potential to divide TeaPartiers into different camps.

 

(Advance request: please don't wander down a path that will take us to Godwin's Law...)

 

[WAKWIB]

I don't think of it as a privacy intrusion. Just seems sort of redundant. We have plenty to document our existence. Birth Certs. SS card, drivers license, bank cards etc. etc.

Would it really stem illegal immigration? I supposed it would if you had to produce one for any and all transactions. Would someone eventually figure out how to duplicate them illegally? Sure.

Just don't really see where they would do much good in the long run.

[GernBlansten]

I know of one government official that doesn't have a birth certificate.

And your birth certificate doesn't really identify you. It identifies someone was born. Same thing with your SS card. Name and number, nothing proving you are who you are.

I have an FAA issued, federal pilots license that I'm required to carry when I fly. It has no biometric data on it beside my DOB, sex, height, weight, hair and eye color. No picture. No finger print. Nothing to besides what I put on the form to differentiate me from every other 6'1, 185lbs, blond, blue eyed male.

 

I have to supplement it with either a federal issued passport or state issued drivers license which has some biometric data. Those have my picture, but no other data. Those have crappy pictures of me that are about 10 years old.

 

I personally would like to have a bio-metrically encoded federally issued ID card that proves the holder is me. Then be able to swipe that card and cross check it with my biometrics at various checkpoints like airports, employment, stadiums, traffic stops, banks, retailers to prove my identity. All other ID is worthless.

[packsaddle]

The passport already serves as a federal ID. All that is needed is to make them mandatory. But I can't think of anything that will thwart illegal immigration, other than legislation making it legal.

[GernBlansten]

I don't think making passports mandatory is in the constitution.

[nldscout]

The government can mandate a form of ID if it wants to, be that a passport or an ID card, and they should. Then if your asked for ID and don't have you get deported within 24 hrs to the country of the polices choice.

 

That would cut down immensely on undocumented people sucking up our tax money.

[Gary_Miller]

The only problem I have with Federal ID cards is I have a problem with anything done at the federal level that should be done at the state level. And there are already items issued at the state level that can and is used as ID, drivers license is the biggest.

 

The only ID that should be issued at the federal level are ID's required due to federal necessity. Some examples would be military, fed police, and legal alien cards (know as green cards).

 

 

[GernBlansten]

ID cards are so yesterday. With RFID chips, we could encode humans from birth. Scanners would be able to read them and validate authenticity. Think how simple life would become. You wouldn't have to carry a wallet or purse, no fear of the policia asking for your papers. Banks and retailers could tie into the network. All you would have to do is enter a store, select your purchases and walk out. If you don't have sufficient funds, entry could be barred. No reason for you to be in the store if you ain't buyin. Processing at the airport would be a piece of cake. Same with prison. Come to think of it, going through the airport is becoming much like going into prison. Not that I would know that personally.

 

 

Also, it is a federal thing. We are citizens of the US of A. Free to move about the country. How am I supposed to know if an Idaho ID card is authentic when I question your citizenship or identity. If we need to carry ID, I'd prefer it be a federal one.

[packsaddle]

Gern, that was addressed in the movie, "The President's Analyst", but central control was with a corporation...namely, The Phone Company. Incidentally, TPC won. Closer to real life than one might think, perhaps.

 

Edit: Gary, if the federal government mandates standards (i.e. airport security measures, immigration, etc.), then why should the states have to pay for it? On the other hand, if we have to rely at the national security level on the sketchy variations of state attempts to keep from meeting the requirements, by producing 50 or more different cards produced by low-bid contractors and potentially with 50 different designs and levels of reliability, explain to me how that is a superior way.(This message has been edited by packsaddle)

[Gary_Miller]

GernBlansten, "Also, it is a federal thing. We are citizens of the US of A. Free to move about the country."

 

But we are residents of our state therefore the state should issue the ID.

 

GernBlansten, "How am I supposed to know if an Idaho ID card is authentic when I question your citizenship or identity."

 

How do you know my drivers license is authentic? You don't however its currently excepted as identification for everything you may need ID for. It Identifies me as the person on the card do to my picture nothing else.

 

GernBlansten, "If we need to carry ID, I'd prefer it be a federal one."

 

I prefer that the federal government get back to their responsibilities as set forth by the US Constitution and give the states back their sovereignty.

 

packsaddle, "Edit: Gary, if the federal government mandates standards (i.e. airport security measures, immigration, etc.), then why should the states have to pay for it?"

 

Every mandate that comes down from the federal level should have the money and man power to deliver. However, until the states government stop taking handouts from the federal government the federal government will continue to mandate programs without funding them. State governments need to tell the federal government to go pound sand.

 

Of course none of this would of happen if the senate was elected by the state congress as was written in the original constitution before the 17 amendment took place weakening the state governments and taking away the states representation in Washington. Which in turn weaken the checks and balances put in place by our founding fathers.

[evmori]

We don't need no stinking ID cards!

[Scoutfish]

I have no issue with having a Federal ID card.

 

Had one for years as a military brat... I mean dependant. Couldn't even buy a chilli dog while on base without it.

 

Right now, I already have a Federal ID card. Doesn't have my picture on it though. Called a Social Security card. Of course, it doesn't really track me so much as track where I earn money at.

 

I have a state ID/driver's license which is soooo open at the federal level that it might as well have a naked picture of me on it. Having worked on garage doors on Nuclear power plants, Air Force bases, Marine Corps bases, Army bases and an Army Military Ocean Ammuniytions terminal as well as state ports and Federal Court Houses, I have had background checks that stopped just shy or "turn your head and cough".

 

But if all other forms of Id are to be replaced by and trumped by the fedearl ID card...Then I am against it.

 

Anybody ever have the most simple of mistaked make on their SSN/ tax Id or anything else?

 

Takes an absurdly long time to get it fixed. If somebody was to screw up even a small detail, your info could be totally wrong or you could even drop off the grid.

[Eamonn]

Having owned a bar for many years, I seen a lot of fake ID's. Mainly fake Pa Driving licenses used by underage kids to try and buy alcohol.

If a young person aged 19 or 20 can obtain a great looking fake? I'll bet any group who is involved with illegal activities would have no problem.

As a Resident Alien, I carry my "Green Card". It is 26 years old and has never been updated. The only times I'm ever asked for it is when I'm trying to come back home to the USA after being abroad.

I also carry two State issued cards that identify me as " A Essential State Worker" with emergency clearance. This has my biometrics embedded in it and is needed for me to get into any of our State Correctional Facilities.

Sad thing is that the company who made all the

biometric equipment has gone under. So while what we have does work for now, it's only a matter of time till it will all need replaced. Which thanks to the tough economic times we are facing might take a little while.

 

When it comes to immigration reform.

I don't see that carrying or not carrying a little card is going to make that big of a difference.

I'm 100% OK with the USA doing all it can to secure the boarders. For me that only makes sense.

I'm also fine with ensuring that people who come in on a temporary visa are kept tabs on and leave when they should.

My problem lies with what to do with the people who have been here for years and have had children here in the USA.

The kids know nothing about where their parents come from.

My son is an American, he was born here, educated here and even though he has visited the UK and knows a little about what life is like in the UK, sees the UK as a nice place to visit, but he sure as heck doesn't ever want to live there.

My feelings are that like it or not the only fair way to set about any real immigration reform starts with some sort of amnesty for the people who are already here. The guidelines about this would of course need to be worked out.

Ea.

 

[John-in-KC]

I have held a Federally issued identification card since I was 10 years old.. That was 40-something years ago.

[BartHumphries]

I really don't have a problem with federal ID cards, but I don't think it's a good idea to put an RFID tag in each one. That could lead to things like RFID readers (pretty cheap devices) that look for the standard prefix for an American citizen, then explode the roadside bomb that they're attached to. There are, well, other problems associated with this. I do think that every citizen should have fingerprints/DNA associated with their federal ID. That shouldn't be on the card itself, it should be in the federal database already created for those things, that local police have access to.