BELIEVE: Dems propose national biometric ID card

[jimmy olsen]

WTF is this bullshit!?

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/95235-democrats-spark-alarm-with-call-for-national-id-card

Dems spark alarm with call for national ID card
By Alexander Bolton - 04/30/10 06:00 AM ET

A plan by Senate Democratic leaders to reform the nation's immigration laws ran into strong opposition from civil liberties defenders before lawmakers even unveiled it Thursday.

Democratic leaders have proposed requiring every worker in the nation to carry a national identification card with biometric information, such as a fingerprint, within the next six years, according to a draft of the measure.

The proposal is one of the biggest differences between the newest immigration reform proposal and legislation crafted by late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

The national ID program would be titled the Believe System, an acronym for Biometric Enrollment, Locally stored Information and Electronic Verification of Employment.

It would require all workers across the nation to carry a card with a digital encryption key that would have to match work authorization databases.

"The cardholder's identity will be verified by matching the biometric identifier stored within the microprocessing chip on the card to the identifier provided by the cardholder that shall be read by the scanner used by the employer," states the Democratic legislative proposal.

The American Civil Liberties Union, a civil liberties defender often aligned with the Democratic Party, wasted no time in blasting the plan.

"Creating a biometric national ID will not only be astronomically expensive, it will usher government into the very center of our lives. Every worker in America will need a government permission slip in order to work. And all of this will come with a new federal bureaucracy — one that combines the worst elements of the DMV and the TSA," said Christopher Calabrese, ACLU legislative counsel.

"America's broken immigration system needs real, workable reform, but it cannot come at the expense of privacy and individual freedoms," Calabrese added.

The ACLU said "if the biometric national ID card provision of the draft bill becomes law, every worker in America would have to be fingerprinted."

A source at one pro-immigration reform group described the proposal as "Orwellian."

But Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), who has worked on the proposal and helped unveil it at a press conference Thursday, predicted the public has become more comfortable with the idea of a national identification card.

"The biometric identification card is a critical element here," Durbin said. "For a long time it was resisted by many groups, but now we live in a world where we take off our shoes at the airport and pull out our identification.

"People understand that in this vulnerable world, we have to be able to present identification," Durbin added. "We want it to be reliable, and I think that's going to help us in this debate on immigration."

Implementing a nationwide identification program for every worker will be a difficult task.

The Social Security Administration has estimated that 3.6 million Americans would have to visit SSA field offices to correct mistakes in records or else risk losing their jobs.

Angela Kelley, vice president of immigration policy at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, said the biometric identification provision "will give some people pause."

But she applauded Democrats for not shying away from the toughest issues in the immigration reform debate.

"What I like about the outline is that Democrats are not trying to hide the ball or soft-pedal the tough decisions," Kelley said. "It seems a very sincere effort to get the conversation started. This is a serious effort to get Republicans to the table."

Reform Immigration for America, a pro-immigrant group, praised Democrats for getting the discussion started but said the framework fell short.

"The proposal revealed today [Thursday] is in part the result of more than a year of bipartisan negotiations and represents a possible path forward on immigration reform," the group said in a statement. "This framework is not there yet."

Democrats and pro-immigration groups will now begin to put pressure on Republicans to participate in serious talks to address the issue. The bipartisan effort in the Senate suffered a serious setback when Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) pulled back from talks with Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).

"We call on Republican Senators to review this framework and sit down at the negotiating table in good faith," Reform Immigration for America said in a statement. "This is a national problem that requires a federal solution and the input of leaders in both parties."

Durbin said Democratic leaders are trying to recruit other Republican partners.

"We're making a commitment to establishing a framework to work toward comprehensive immigration reform, and I think it's a good framework and now we're engaging our friends on the other side of the aisle to join us in this conversation," Durbin said.

[Eddie Teach]

Ugh.

[sbr]

That's almost as bad as allowing the government to spy on phone calls or email.

[Martinus]

Are you guys being ironic in your responses? How is this even remotely problematic? 

[JonasSalk]

Are you guys being ironic in your responses? How is this even remotely problematic? 

The government can do no wrong.

[syk]

Are you guys being ironic in your responses? How is this even remotely problematic? 

You serious/mad?

[Fate]

Is this going to legalize black helicopters as well?

[Sahib]

Are you guys being ironic in your responses? How is this even remotely problematic? 

The government can do no wrong.

[The Brain]

Your country, right or wrong. Since championing the official and widespread use of torture is OK this shit should be just fine.

[Agelastus]

Are you guys being ironic in your responses? How is this even remotely problematic? 

Anglo-Saxon countries dislike ID cards; Labour's scheme here in the UK has been dogged by massive opposition, and is to be scrapped should the Tories win.

[Josquius]

OMFG TEH MARK OF TEH BEAST!!!1111

[Iormlund]

That's something I don't quite get.  You guys are fine having a camera every corner, your every move on the Internet monitored and carrying a driving license. But OTOH ID cards (which I've only had to use when paying with credit card) are evil.

[Agelastus]

That's something I don't quite get.  You guys are fine having a camera every corner, your every move on the Internet monitored and carrying a driving license. But OTOH ID cards (which I've only had to use when paying with credit card) are evil.

The camera bit is getting to be more of a problem over here, actually. Specifically speed cameras, but the backlash is growing a little in general. Driving licenses have never been a problem because it is your choice whether you learn to drive or not. As for the internet, people are still getting used to it and a lot of them don't really realise how much of what you do the government can see. I expect that to change in the next few years.

ID cards, being compulsory, are seen as intrusive and oppressive, and a sign of excessive state control.

[Neil]

Are you guys being ironic in your responses? How is this even remotely problematic? 

Indeed.  Some people get way too worked up about this sort of thing.

[Monoriu]

The ID card is effective in preventing stuff like ID theft too.