Everytime we purchased something we would have our fore head scanned.

Gee could it be…….could it be that a book written 2000 years ago could actually be predicting the end times……The mark of the beast….666….National ID…..brought about because of a worldwide RELIGIOUS WAR? Could Hackaloogiejohn or whatever his name is be the Devil. Or or could it be GWB or Hillary or Obama?

Oh no wonder the Aethiest are trying so hard to get God banned from the World and America. If you ban GOD then you cant have 666, the end of the world and the mark of the beast and a rfid on your forhead.

Whats a libertarian to do????

The SSN was intentionally designed to be insecure. It did not need to be; its only use was in distinguishing between the different full-name collisions (such as John Thomas Jones) that had FICA accounts. Full name + SSN –> probable uniqueness. Probable, not certain. Of course, then there was that billfold company that printed the mock SSN card that thousands used. 074-05-1120 has been “killed”.

If you are interested in the problems and consequences of universal numeric identifiers, I strongly recommend an old science fiction novel, John Brunner’s The Shockwave Rider, wherein the protagonist has to deal with a number of the possible problems. Most of the politicians “designing” their new proposals seem not to have read it, and it shows.

I don’t know that it is not possible to design a good system, but it’s much harder than it looks.

how can biometrics be compromised

It’s been shown that a high rez photograph can fool a finger print scanner, and even some retinal scanners. Take that for what its worth.

I think a national ID system in general is a good thing, but agree with Rudi on RFID. With an RFID, someone could be checking my ID without me knowing it. That seems to me to be a bit too far. If they want to see my ID, all they should have to do is ask and I can decide for myself if it is a valid request and act appropriately. Also, since all encryption is broken eventually, having an RFID system would end up pretty much broadcasting all your personal information to anyone who cared to look, and would probably lead to more ID theft rather than less.

I’m kind of with you on this.

I guess I could be pursuaded otherwise, since I’ve never been clear on how this is a threat to our civil liberties. I do understand that, like any card or piece of paper, it would be subject to theft, forgery or counterfitting. Still, I carry a driver’s licence issued by my state government and a credit card issued by a private multinational corporation. I am also currently–probably not for very long!–carrying a $20 bill, a document issued by the leviathan central government. I imagine all these innovations of modernity were controversial when first introduced. I don’t feel my civil liberties are threatened by any of them.

I’d love to hear a good case made against a national ID. But until then, I think you’re right about the benefits.

I completely agree, particularly about the inclusion of multiple forms of biometric data to reduce, if not prohibit, forged documents….

Rudi, how can biometrics be compromised?

Another thing is this hysteria that only a police state does such a thing. Well, pretty much all of hippy dippy Europe has national ID. My ID shows a picture of me, my full name, birthdate, birthplace, the first names of my mother and father (which personally I find utterly useless) and my national ID number. I can use it for anything and everything, I can even fly with it within much of Europe, without needing a passport. I don’t know how to drive but I still have ID, and I don’t feel particularly persecuted. My ID wont be stolen because if anyone tries to pretend to be me upon being arrested say they have to present their ID (not a simple thing to fake, by the way) and in the government files they have my one and only fingerprints to make sure they’re dealing with me.