Congress Debating "No-Work" Database

grag writes "Cnet is reporting that the US Congress, in their quest for immigration reform, seeks to force employers to utilize a database to determine a person's eligibility for employment. The Department of Homeland Security would operate the database and would be given access to IRS records for this purpose. The article mentions similarities between this proposal and the no-fly list — and the expectation of similar difficulties the proposed database could pose to valid people seeking employment."

Comments

The last box to vote with ...

[Ihlosi]

If that ever happened, it would be time to start voting with the rope and lamppost rather than with the ballot box.

... is the ammo box. Rope isn't anywhere in the list of boxes to vote with (soap, ballot, jury, ammo - no rope).

Use of social security numbers as identifiers

[grandpa-geek]

Social security numbers were designed in an era before modern concepts of error control had been developed. Shannon didn't do his work on information theory until World War II, and social security was set up before that.

Social security numbers have no check digits. Any common error on a social security number (such as changing a digit or transposing digits) can result in another valid social security number.

The system was set up to handle accounts for old-age retirement and for support of children after the death of the breadwinner ("survivors insurance"). It was never intended to serve as a national personal identifier, and does that job very poorly.

This proposal will only compound the problems of using 70-year-old technology, originally designed for a limited purpose, for uses far beyond its originally intended use.

The use of social security numbers as personal identifiers is an Achilles' heel of this proposal.

This isn't about "no-work"

[geekoid]

The real issue is Homeland Security getting their grubby, dirty, little hands onto the IRS database.

As it works right now, Only the IRS has access to income records.
So, if the FBI wanted to catch someone, they oculd go to the IRS and ask "Has this person paid taxes." The IRS can say Yes or NO. Or the IRS can go to the FBI and say person X hasn't paid taxes, please go get them."

That is how it works and should work.
SO you could right down 50,000 income - Bank robbery. No investigation will happen.

I know, some people will be like "No Way" but I dealt with this for years, and I am sure there are plenty of online sources that will coroberate.

Homeland security needs to be done away with, now.