Canadians Wary of 'Enhanced Drivers Licenses'

Dr.Merkwurdigeliebe writes ""Enhanced drivers licenses such as those to be issued in B.C. will lay the groundwork for a national identity card", federal privacy commissioner Jennifer Stoddart said yesterday. Stoddart said the licenses, touted as an alternative to a passport for the purpose of crossing the U.S. border, closely resemble the Real ID program in the United States. She characterized that program as a way of introducing a "type of national identity card" for Americans."

Comments

Re:Why so afraid of a national ID card?

[Ihlosi]

I live in continental Europe in a country where everyone is expected to be able to identify himself to the police at any time, in a country where there's a central voter register and if you move, you are expected to register yourself with the local town inside of 3 weeks. That sounds like the total police state, doesn't it?

The funny thing is: Here in Europe we have ID cards, but we're very rarely asked to present them (I've had to show mine last time to get the birth certificate for my daughter). However, in the countries that seem so proud of not having national ID cards, everyone and their dog wants my ID for all kinds of crap (I'm 30+ years old and still they want to see my ID if I'm buying alcohol. And they wanted to see it when I was accompanying my wife to the federal building where she had to take care of some paperwork. ID necessary to enter what's essentially an office complex, WTF guys ??), forcing me to carry my passport around everywhere I go (which is _very_ annoying as it doesn't fit in a wallet and there's going to be major hassles if it ever gets lost or stolen).

Re:Won't fly.

[Insightfill]

What's funny and ironic about this is that the U.S. has had a National ID card for several decades. It's called a Social Security card. Just try to do something -- get a credit card, borrow money (any amount, any reason), get any form of insurance, get a job, get a driver's license -- without giving them your Social Security Number. In most cases it's impossible.

Interestingly, the requirement is for a number, not a card. A random nine digit number is much easier to 'forge' or 'steal' than a physical card. By the time the crime is complete, the criminal is long gone. Illegal immigrants can get a job by providing the number to the employer, and it may take months for the mismatch to be recognized; if the name and ss# are a match, then it may never get recognized.

Identity theft is so common and easy because just about all it requires is that nine digit number. My mother's neighbor is a hardworking guy who for some reason has over a dozen credit cards and cell phones in his name all over the country, and several outstanding warrants for his arrest. HE'S done nothing wrong, but his number apparently was pretty popular for a while, and he has to bat clean-up on it on a continuous basis. He actually carries a card in his wallet that effectively says "I'm not the man you're looking for" to the police in case he gets pulled over for anything. In spite of that, it still often means a drive down to the station and waiting while higher-ups check out his story.

Sadly, the SS# fails as a security identifier because it was never intended as such; it was strictly supposed to be a primary key for identifying your contributions to the US Social Security system. In any security system, there should be at least a 'two-part' login process: who you are and what you know. The SS# is now being taken for granted as the 'what you know' part, and sometimes even as the 'who you are' part. Additionally, it's not a secret (you can't use a different SS# for each organization you give it to) and you can't change it.

Thought exercise: imagine that you're email address is your login and your ss# is your password for every site you visit on the internet; including your online banking. Now: imagine that one of the sites gets compromised.