National ID, It's Already Here

I think it is time for a National ID Card.  I'm in the military, so I already have one.  Actually it is an International ID Card.  My military ID card has a magnetic strip as well as a computer chip.  It has my picture, my rank, my service (Go Navy!), my blood type, that I'm an organ donor, my social security number and, of course, my Geneva Conventions Category.  That's just what's printed on it that anybody who can read english can see.  The chip and the mag strip have my medical records, duty station and assignments info, and electronic certificates that allow me to access certain systems and data.

Kinda scary to think of all that info on that little card.  Except that it is all password protected and the password isn't on the card AND if you want to access the system that will give you the password you have to provide your thumb print on this cool little thumb scanner.  So even if I lost this cool card (hasn't happened in the three years since they issued it), which would be bad, there's not much anyone could do with it.  Maybe use my social to steal my identity and rack up some large bills, but that's about it.  Okay, if they're lucky they might be able to hack into my unclassified email which would probably instantly kill them from boredom.  Unless, of course, they steal my thumb and can hack into the system and get my thumbprint into it, I'm pretty attached to my thumbs so I'd say that's very unlikely. 

So what would be wrong with a National ID Card that had my name, address, driver's license info, next of kin/emergency contact, emergency medical info (i.e. drug allergies, blood type, doctor's name, etc), voter's registration (with precinct, district, etc), Insurance (Life, Health, Auto, etc) and other useful info.

Some folks scream invasion of privacy.  Come on, all that data is already out there it just isn't all accesible through a single port.  Give a good investigator your social security number and they can have all that info and more in a day (probably less).

What about the ederly who may be "computer challenged"?  Give me a break.  My mom is in her sixties and she has her own website.  She has dozens of passwords for ATM cards, debit cards, email, etc.  When it becomes a necessary item to function in our society, folks find a way to understand.

What about the poor and/or the homeless?  They have to have the card to get public assistance.  When they request assistance, issue or re-issue a card.  How do you prevent fraud?  Remember the thumb print?  Hard to fake that.

Then there are the tin foil hat crowd that say it's the first step for "big brother" to control us.  It is just an information portal.  It won't have your complete medical history, just emergency medical info, insurance company, etc.  When the day comes that your government issued ID card has your credit card, ATM, Debit Card, complete medical, education, legal and professional records and all that stuff from back in school that they said was "going in your permanent record" on it THEN the conspiracy theory crowd may have a point.  Till then, I'm for the card.

Finally, there are the Evangelical Extremists.  Believe it or not, some folks (probably read the whole "Left Behind Series" twice) believe that a National ID Card is the first step toward Armageddon.  Something along the lines of "the forces of Evil will be identified by the mark of the beast..." and that the ID card is the first step in the culling process.  I am a Christian and have a sound grasp of theology, but I think that this is nonsense.  When the end times come, neither God nor the forces of Evil will need to use plastic ID cards to figure out which side people are on.  Think about that, seriously, the master of the universe needs to check your US Government issued ID card to know what's in your heart?  That's just plain silly.

Back to the card itself, to catch most people before they life sends them down their respective path, issue the first one at 16.  Most people are still in school at 16 and we would get the vast majority right then and there.  Update at 18 (voting, draft registration, etc), new one at 21 (update picture and all info) and then only when needed after that (lost, stolen, etc.).  New Zealand went to a single universal ID with infrequent renewal years ago and it has worked very well for them.

We've already prototyped the concept in DoD.  Uniformed member AND civilian employees of the DoD have had these universal ID cards for years.  That's over a million of these things out there and functioning.  Time to step up and do it.  I'm tired of dead people voting and votes that don't have any voters attached to them, as well as, near-strip searches at the airport and other "security" nonsense.  Time to really do something to reduce vote fraud and increase security.

Comments

[ninme]

I agree. Ah, the DoD, leading the way, again.

(but, did you just call my email *boring*?!)

[Josef]

Well written, but... my 70-something Grandma is TERRIFIED of her alarm system. Try something like a computerized ID-card and you'll send her to Dead County, WA very fast. Oh, that's right: Dead County citizens can vote in King County elections!!!

[notya bytch]

your a fuckhead, it is my right not to let anyone know whom i am, iaw, prvact 1974 sets this in to law, you ssn# is only for ssn stands for, and not for id, when i went it to the service i got a service # and a 1099 not w-2s, i refuse to give ssn, stop tring to turn the usa in to a freedomless country.