We could call it Euroclub Express!

[Richard Hakluyt]

Newspeak for "English Socialism".

[garbon]

And they take me seriously.

[Richard Hakluyt]

I've put my coffee on now, soon all will be well.

[garbon]

I've taken my ambien. All will be well here soon as well.

[Martinus]

This seems like a shitty idea. I don't know how this works in the US, but over here people who usually hire illegal immigrants aren't some naive people fooled by a fake ID or a fake green card, but people who know perfectly well they are hiring illegal immigrants, and as such do not notify this anywhere, and hope the immigration and labour inspections don't notice. So not sure how this would be affected by this measure at all.

Second of all, as with all measures like this, it's all a hidden tax. Not just the devices used for identification, but the cards themselves - I don't suppose they will be given for free, and even if they were, it's a lot of money paid to cronies who win government contracts to produce these cards.

And last but not least, there are privacy concerns.

[Razgovory]

National ID cards, required to hold a job?

How will that go over in the US?

You need them already to get most jobs (driver's license and social security card) so I doubt it will be more than a hiccup. Some fruit cakes will lose their minds but some always do regardless of what is going on.

True, but it just feels wrong.

[DontSayBanana]

And since illegal immigrants get jobs despite them requiring social security numbers, this ID would solve what exactly?

Social security numbers are notoriously easy to fake.  After all, we've got so many millions of citizens, many born, many dying, each day, but only 9 digits.

Requiring more stringent authentication is fine by me... in certain cases.  Where the "privacy advocates" need to be directing their focus is making sure that these potential new cards are limited in their use and don't get handed out like candy, the way it's become with social security cards.

[Ed Anger]

next they'll fluoridate the water.

[The Larch]

Social security numbers are notoriously easy to fake.  After all, we've got so many millions of citizens, many born, many dying, each day, but only 9 digits.

That's why they're "recycled", AFAIK. There was a funny story about that written by a Spanish journalist working in NY and how his SS number previously belonged to a swindler in the SW, which gave him lots of trouble at first because no bank or company wanted to work with them due to the other guy's track record.

[grumbler]

That's why they're "recycled", AFAIK. There was a funny story about that written by a Spanish journalist working in NY and how his SS number previously belonged to a swindler in the SW, which gave him lots of trouble at first because no bank or company wanted to work with them due to the other guy's track record.

Social Security Numbers are recycled? 

[Monoriu]

Such ID cards can help prevent ID theft. 

[The Larch]

That's why they're "recycled", AFAIK. There was a funny story about that written by a Spanish journalist working in NY and how his SS number previously belonged to a swindler in the SW, which gave him lots of trouble at first because no bank or company wanted to work with them due to the other guy's track record.

Social Security Numbers are recycled? 

That's what the journalist said, based on his personal story, although I'm more than willing to be proven wrong. 

[KRonn]

I thought we were solving our immigration problem by running our economy into the ground until they all leave.

I guess maybe it just isn't happening fast enough! Then the problem will remain if the economy improves, which it may well do so, in spite of the government's best efforts.   

[Duque de Bragança]

IDs with fingerprints or new biometric info isn't something new for Continental Europe. More likely for passports though.
There was some debate for the new chip ID in Portugal since having a number person was so salazarist so we ended with different numbers per person (tax, social security, voting and public health service).

I don't care frankly and old paper IDs were so easy to fake (like the French one) something had to be done.

[MadBurgerMaker]

That's what the journalist said, based on his personal story, although I'm more than willing to be proven wrong. 

Naw, the SSA says they don't reuse the numbers when people die:

Q20:  Are Social Security numbers reused after a person dies?

A:  No. We do not reassign a Social Security number (SSN) after the number holder's death. Even though we have issued over 415 million SSNs so far, and we assign about 5 and one-half million new numbers a year, the current numbering system will provide us with enough new numbers for several generations into the future with no changes in the numbering system.

http://www.ssa.gov/history/hfaq.html