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Biometric Database Plans Hidden In Immigration Bill

Posted by Soulskill on from the you-can-trust-us dept.

Doug Otto writes "Buried deep in the bowels of a bi-partisan immigration reform bill is a 'photo tool.' The goal is to create a photo database consisting of every citizen. Wired calls it 'a massive federal database administered by the Department of Homeland Security and containing names, ages, Social Security numbers and photographs of everyone in the country with a driver’s license or other state-issued photo ID.' Of course the database would be used only for good, and never evil. 'This piece of the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act is aimed at curbing employment of undocumented immigrants. But privacy advocates fear the inevitable mission creep, ending with the proof of self being required at polling places, to rent a house, buy a gun, open a bank account, acquire credit, board a plane or even attend a sporting event or log on the internet.'"

10 of 365 comments (clear)

  1. Rand Paul? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Hey, buddy... are you up for another filibuster?

  2. so... by bobaferret · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What's wrong with this? I know it's all George Orwell and stuff, but really. We've moved so far past having any real privacy anymore, who cares? I like the idea of people not being able to pretend to be me, not that anyone would really want to.

    1. Re:so... by i+kan+reed · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That's really kind of an emotional reaction. There's a lot of value in having a way to undeniably prove your identity in the eyes of the law. It could help a lot with identity theft and identification wipe-out(like your house burning down). I don't think the benefits outweigh the costs in this case, but not everything that represents more information is bad.

    2. Re:so... by jamstar7 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      That's really kind of an emotional reaction. There's a lot of value in having a way to undeniably prove your identity in the eyes of the law. It could help a lot with identity theft and identification wipe-out(like your house burning down). I don't think the benefits outweigh the costs in this case, but not everything that represents more information is bad.

      Agreed, there are circumstances you may need an indeniable way to prove your identity. What happens, though, if your driver's license gets old and worn and the scanner can't pick up the proper reference points on the picture and the mag strip on back is worn out to an unreadable state? You can't prove your identity then. An RFID chip implanted on you someplace? It'd have to be reprogrammable, and being reprogrammable without it being removed means it's vulnerable to, shall we say, 'unauthorised reprogramming by non-State entities', as well as being capable of being read by said unauthorised non-State entities for purposes of their own.

      Reason I bring this up is, my Arizona driver's license was issued over 10 years ago when I moved back home, and isn't due for renewal for another 8 years. Typically, you get your 'permenant' license at 21 here and it expires when you hit 65. Address changes are printed on a little sticker they put on the back. They reissue them for women who get married and take their husband's name at a prorated cost. 40+ years of wear on a piece of plastic kept in a wallet? Serious fade even after 10 years.

      --
      Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
    3. Re:so... by jamstar7 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Four cases of voter fraud in a decade? Send your county officials to Chicago, let the Machine teach them how to do it right.

      --
      Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
  3. Papers please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Why does this sound like every old WWII depiction of the SS coming to life?

  4. Re:Counter strike by h4rr4r · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If we are going to version control, then lets do it correctly and rewrite laws with some sort of pseudocode. That way there can be no argument about what a law means or could allow someone to do.

  5. Re:Counter strike by dmbasso · · Score: 5, Interesting

    They're already written in a 'sort of pseudo-code', legalese. Problem is it is very hard to debug and really easy to insert malicious code. But if what you really meant was a language without ambiguity, that seems to be impractical.

    --
    `echo $[0x853204FA81]|tr 0-9 ionbsdeaml`@gmail.com
  6. Re:Counter strike by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I disagree. The US Tax Code was specifically written the way that it was written to enable some people to capitalize on loopholes while leaving others to pay for them.

  7. Re:Counter strike by h4rr4r · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Law is political. I don't think at this point the two can be separated.

    I think there could be a lot of uses for this. Before that though a national ID should be considered. My preference for that would be to issue everyone passports. It would give everyone ID to vote, buy guns, etc and maybe get some folks to travel a little outside their little world.