National Biometric IDs

Jester998 writes "I just came across this article about how two U.S. congressmen want biometric identification. They're trying to avoid the controversial 'national ID' issue by creating what would be new drivers licenses with biometric information embedded. What does the Slashdot community think about having your retinal pattern embedded on a smart card?"

Comments

ID.

[saintlupus]

They're trying to avoid the controversial 'national ID' issue by creating what would be new drivers licenses with biometric information embedded.

That's a great evasive tactic. After all, when people ask me for identification, they hardly expect to see a driver's license.

Much like the Social Security Number has become a de facto customer ID number, the driver's license is essentially the official ID card of the nation.

Try buying a case of beer with a "non-driver identification card" some time. Or god forbid, a passport.

--saint

My ISP uses biometrics at 3 security points.

[Anonymous Crowhead]

The do a scan of your hand and match it to info embedded in your passcard. You have to do this at 3 of the 7 security check points to access your servers.

$315 Million?

[jweb]

Setting aside the privacy issues for a moment, how do these guys figure that $315 million will be enough money to create this system?

After all, with the current US population somewhere in the neighborhood of 270+ million (I'm too lazy to look up a more accurate estimate) they think they can create and implement this system for just over $1 per citizen?

Seems a little conservative to me.

What about eye problems and retinal scans?

[Shadowell]

Stuff like this makes me wonder about another factor. I have minor keratoconus (http://www.nkcf.org), which isn;t bad enough to keep me from driving, etc., but has made it pretty much impossible for any retinal scanner to get a proper image of my retina. Basically, unless EVERY factor is the same when it tries to take the image (and my eye doesn't twitch), no two scans end up looking the same. What would people with problems like this do if they passed crasp like this, instant second class citizen status?

all fun and games.

[BenTheDewpendent]

Its all fun and games until someone loses an eye.

so what happens when someone loses and eye?

Re:Ummm.... NO.

[Anonymous Coward]

I dunno, if they used something along the lines of public/private key encryption, where your card was the equivalent of your public key and your actual retina pattern was the private key, this wouldn't be so bad.

Of coures, who would you trust as the CA? Verisign?

The Costs of Security

[seinethinker]

Admittedly, I have mixed feelings. On one hand, I don't want people to steal my identity and ruin my life nor do I want the Government to give my personal convictions and actions to anyone with enough influence or money.

I live in Virginia. We already have a barcode imprinted on the back of our Driver's License. I am only thankful that it doesn't seem to be a system in wide use (as far as I know).

While I am supportive to find a way to protect our identity and interests, this type of proprosal will ultimately infringe be our doom as it seems of late that we're giving up more and more of our freedoms.

The Government doesn't seem to be ruled by the people but the Corporations. I am not the first to make this connection, and it isn't an epiphany. This situation just stinks.

Like others have stated, I don't want my neighbor to know what medications I am on. They don't need to know that me and my husband (if I were married) are in marriage counseling nor what I had for dinner last night. I also don't want anyone to reveal my spiritual beliefs, medical history, or financial status to anyone else.

I don't think this is an adequate resolution to our crisis with Identity Theft. Unfortunately, I have thought of a solution to counteract ideas like this personally.

I don't want to see a future like Gattaca nor a world where we are marked like the Jews & other prisoners taken by Nazis in WWII. Perhaps, these are some harsh examples, but I think they are necessary to illustrate the threat to our civil liberty and freedom.

With this type of marking, it truly voids the statement that Thomas Jefferson made in the Declaration of Independence that "we are all created equal.." We won't be equals anymore but our differences will be heavily prominated in front of face. Is military rule in our future?

Re:Why?

[Iguanaphobic]

In time, it's possible that more logic and less emotion will be used to make these decisions.

Consider the logic. All 19 terrorists were Saudi. The US attacks Afghanistan.
Consider economics. The US buys large quantities of oil from Saudi Arabia. The US would like to buy large quantities of oil from Turkmenistan to lessen their dependence on the benevolence of Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately, the Taliban were in control of the country that the needed pipeline would need to cross.

Solutions: Change the government in Afghanistan to get to the richest oilfields in the world. Don't invade Saudi Arabia to kick the terrorist governments butt and jeoprodize the US oil supply. Once you get by the hypocrisy of it all, it's really quite simple. It's all about maintaining the "American Way Of Life"tm at all costs. Everything else is window dressing.