The California Republican is not about to describe his new bill in those terms, but that's the reality.
Dreier's legislation would prohibit employers from hiring people unless the job applicants first obtain new federal ID cards with their photograph, Social Security number and an "encrypted electronic strip" with additional information. Any employer who fails to comply faces hefty fines and prison terms of up to five years.
Dreier is smart enough to realize that these federal IDs would be immediately forged, so he takes the next step of linking them to an employment eligibility database that's queried by card readers whenever the ID is swiped. The employment database is required to include "all such data maintained by the Department of Homeland Security," combined with what the Social Security Administration has on file.
Most all bills die without the dignity of a floor vote. But Dreier is a rising star in the Republican Party with the influence to enact legislation quickly.
As a chairman, he's one of the youngest to head the powerful House Rules Committee, not to mention acting as co-chair of Californians for Bush and chairman of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's transition team. In 1998, his conservative voting record garnered a perfect 100 percent rating from the Christian Coalition--and a zero percent rating from the left-leaning Americans for Democratic Action. Last week, Dreier appeared on MSNBC as a Republican spokesman before the presidential debate.
The real reasons are slightly more complicated.
Tight re-election campaign
Dreier is used to commanding handsome victories at the polls every two years over his Democratic rivals. But since 1996, Dreier's re-election percentages have dipped below 60 percent a few times, and events in the last month slammed the powerful Republican with a series of embarrassing pre-Election Day setbacks.
First came allegations
They organized a "Fire Dreier" rally on Sep. 15 on charges that illegal immigrants from Mexico have wreaked havoc on California's economy. Held outside Dreier's Glendora, Calif., office, it drew hundreds of protesters armed with signs and bullhorns who called for a "political human sacrifice," according to the Pasadena Star-News.
The upshot? Just hours before the Fire Dreier protest, the embattled congressman informed the Claremont Kiwanis Club that he would introduce his national ID bill. Six days later, Dreier did just that.
The real problem with Dreier's plan is not that it creates an ID card. Driver's licenses do that today.
But Dreier would create a back-end database for authentication purposes that could track whenever the ID is swiped. Just as the Social Security Number's uses grew, those readers would appear just about everywhere: banks, office buildings, supermarkets. Such a database would overflow with detailed records of all of our life's activities and create an irresistible temptation for misuse by corrupt officials or electronic intruders.
Dreier isn't alone. A
Both measures say federal agencies will only accept licenses and ID cards that comply--a requirement that would affect anyone who wants to get a U.S. passport, obtain Social Security benefits, or even wander into a federal courthouse. States would be strong-armed into complying. Warns Barry Steinhardt of the American Civil Liberties Union: "Congress shouldn't be providing a blank check to the Department of Homeland Security to design a national driver's license."
It's not just a liberal sentiment. Says Stephen Lilienthal, a policy analyst at the conservative Free Congress Foundation: "Many conservatives have expressed concern that proposals such as the Dreier bill are placed on the books with a limited set of objectives but will expand bit by bit to include all sorts of other information and be monitored constantly by the government to keep track of individuals from cradle to grave."
Dreier should take note. Talking loudly about ID cards may boost his re-election bid next month, but voters won't be pleased when they've figured out what it actually means.
Biography
Declan McCullagh is CNET News.com's chief political correspondent. He spent more than a decade in Washington, D.C., chronicling the busy intersection between technology and politics. Previously, he was the Washington bureau chief for Wired News, and a reporter for Time.com, Time magazine and HotWired. McCullagh has taught journalism at American University and been an adjunct professor at Case Western University.
But the legislation which this article refers to and he call the Booner Plan after some Border Patrol official looks pretty good to me. It will make it much harder to hire illegals and drying up the jobs is the key to stopping illegal immigration.
The author of this article for some reason fails to mention that the legislation has specific provision to keep it from being used as a National ID. It would be illegal to swipe the magnetic strip for any reason accept a job application.
I don't really understand all the paranoid hype about privacy anyway. We are already readily trackable through credit cards and airline tickets and bank accounts. The only way to avoid it is to always drive and always pay with cash. Well, once this new social security card is in place, you will still beable to drive and always pay with cash so it really won't change much.
The author of this article for some reason fails to mention that the legislation has specific provision to keep it from being used as a National ID. It would be illegal to swipe the magnetic strip for any reason accept a job application.
</snip>
You forget that the Social Security Card was NEVER meant to be used as a form of National Identification, yet it has become such. What is to prevent this from being used the same way? Nothing.
Just food for thought.
contained in a database decide your ability to work, purchase,
travel ... so if you ever say anything, do anything, or just by
accident, your data is changed/appended/deleted you are
ADVERSELY affected. Please don't miss what this is really all
about. I could care less about my own privacy, that in itself is an
illusion, but to enable Federal authorities to control the
individual rights of hard-working americans under the guise of
'protecting' us, is just one more evil act I cannot stomach.
EU governments, including the UK government, are bound by a timetable set out by the U.S. government after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Also, starting last Thursday, international visitors from 27 "visa waiver" countries, including most of those in the European Union, had to submit to new U.S. safeguards, and be fingerprinted and photographed as part of new American measures to identify foreign travelers, designed to tighten U.S. border security, as they entered American airports and seaports.
It is ironic that the US demands secure national ID for European residents but not for US residents?. so far.
Seems to got to have 2 forms of picture ID.
Go figure, he had his US social Sec card and his birth cert but he, a White Boy as white as they come, had to go to a "US Employees Credit Union" to get an account, Oh I fogot to mention, he is in the US Marine Corp ROTC program... LOL...
And you would think he would be more of a patrior for being in ROTC and trying to open an account with a US Federal Pay Check but no, he is now banking else-where.. I am also thinking of banking elsewhere too now...
Maybe they should have a definition of what the patriot act requirements are and that if you can raise your right hand and oath to the US Military, you proably can get a bank acount in the USA.. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I don't know what my 18 year old nephews hidden ploitical agenda is... I thought it was to grow up and be a US marine...
Go figure, the told him to go to costco or Sams and get an account with a valid picture on it and them he could open an account...
LOL...... ;-P ... LOL... idiots!
Before you know it, we will have people who get hacked into and they wet their pants in public....
:-)
Ben Franklin said "Those that would sacrifice liberty for security, deserve neither."
Things like the Patriot Act, Induce, DCMA are all chipping away at the freedoms we enjoy and that our forefathers fought and died for. Yes illegal immgration is one problem, among many but I don't see how restricting me and my fellow Americans is going to change anything. There is plenty of proof that laws don't change jack. How many violations of the law did you see on your way to work this morning? How many did you break? Terroists can take down buildings and take lives, but we are the ones that will take away our freedom.
contained in a database decide your ability to work, purchase,
travel ... so if you ever say anything, do anything, or just by
accident, your data is changed/appended/deleted you are
ADVERSELY affected. Please don't miss what this is really all
about. I could care less about my own privacy, that in itself is an
illusion, but to enable Federal authorities to control the
individual rights of hard-working americans under the guise of
'protecting' us, is just one more evil act I cannot stomach.
The funniest part of government control, guns, etc, is the crooks always know a way around the controls and it places another control on those who don't need it. Remember, locks keep honest people honest and doesn't stop crooks.
I don't have a credit card because too much information becomes public and it's too easy for crooks to ruin a life if they get hold of that information. I'm not accepting a chip implant nor a National ID tracking card.
Barb
"Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice."
National ID cards are ridiculous. They will just be used to ensure that the plebes will pay off the 50+ trillion dollar debt that the politicos have racked up. These IDs are not to keep people out, but to make sure the marginally productive are kept in. After all, a few bankers and foreign governments own your derriere - and they expect to be paid. This way, when they jack taxes to 80%+, they will know what all their assets are doing.
If you are fed up with this, check out:
http://www.javelinpress.com/free_state_wyoming.html
or
http://www.freestateproject.org
I particularly liked Kate Scegg's comment pointing out that we demand that other countries have this sort of ID card for their citizens yet are hesitant to do it ourselves. A truly secure identity document is good for them and it's good for us.
Actually, this is an oversimplification of the host of problems a national ID creates.
>>Let's worry about the privacy implications of this when someone actually writes a bill allowing these cards to be used to actually violate someone's privacy.
A bill is not required to use the cards to be used to violate someone's privacy. Criminal intent or negligence is all that is required. Say you've been issued the card and it is lost or stolen. In the hands of the wrong people this could mean serious, life-long problems for honest people.
>>It is the first proposal that I know of that stops abusing the illegal immigrant and actually gets at the root of our illegal immigration problem
Are there not better solutions that don't require that the American people add more risk and complications in order to stop illegal activities? I think it would be worth the effort to explore other avenues that are less risky and not as Big Brother-ish.
>>A truly secure identity document is good for them and it's good for us.
And therein lies the REAL issue-- no document will come close to being *that* secure, especially with today's technology. It would be Dreier's responsibility to prove that the document could be highly secure, which likely won't happen in our lifetime, even with biometrics. If he can satisfy the proof of security requirement I will gladly consider this as a *possible* solution to the problem. Otherwise I regard it as just another half-baked plan that will make us even more vulnerable.
All we have to do is look at the way driver's licenses and social security numbers are routinely abused and used to make our lives miserable and scale that up by about 200% and you'll get an idea of what is at stake here. We are headed down the same old road we always seem to take-- the technology we create to make us more secure is turned against us and makes us more vulnerable than we were before.
- THE COMING OF NATZIE AMERICA?
- by October 26, 2004 5:18 PM PDT
- Since 9/11 there have been a lot of new laws and regulations passed in a fear-frenzy. What all this points to, to ma at least, is the complete control of our lives. It also reminds me of the laws and regulations that were instuted in Germany with the rize of Hitler and the third riech. My question is when will American wake up to what is happening to our freedoms? When will we demand our freedoms back that are quickly being taken away from us? When and how will we fight to be free.
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- Krisandra "The coming of Natzie America"
- by Jan927 September 2, 2007 6:17 PM PDT
- I see what your saying Krisandra, but I refuse to believe that America's freedom should be held hostage by one man and his father. I'm talking about Bush, the "Papas boy" and his former head of the CIA father Bush senior. I am optimistic that we as a people would get through this odd time here in America. This is one of the oddest times in America and the rising violence to the Iraqui civilians is very bad. Unlike other people, I do believe that his father had everything to do with this engagment of war with Iraq from the very beginning and beyond. The American people did not want Bush senior and you have to remember that Bush elder did not like Americans either. We were warned about the Bushes and here we are the whole country being violated by his Bush senior and his cronies from the Nixon era. What we must do Krisandra is fight this bad tenant back. We must show this papa's boy and his father that they are both are bad for America and the American people. We must treat Bush like a bad tenant and he must be evicted. The bad part is the many people influenced by his fear base politics is like "Jim Jones" of the Guayana tradgety. We must get rid of this bad tenant and he must be evicted from destroying this beautiful country of ours. We must not let hime destroy this country and everything the people in past fought for to make it just right for all people to live. Thank you.
- Like this
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(17 Comments)I remember what the "Declaration of Independence" said : "IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government."
I not decrying revelution but i am saying that "WE the people of these United States" should have the right to say you have gone to far in restricing our fredoms. Give back to the people what you have taken and then ask what the people really want.
KriSandra Daniels