Recent debates have emerged about the need to have some form of a "National I.D."....While I too strongly support "Civil-liberties" and the "Right-To-Privacy", I cannot help but feel that such an "I.D." is greatly overdue. We now rely on various systems of documents and agencies... We carry "Social-Security-cards", "Passports", "Driver's Licenses", " Student-I.D.s", "work-I.D.s", "library-Cards", and a myriad of "Forms-of-Identification"; NONE OF WHICH are linked to a common data-base, or agency. Recent outbreaks of "identity-theft", the need for stricter "National-Security", and the need to manage the millions of "Un-documented workers"and emmigrants in to America have loudly illustrated the need for a systemic-overhaul. A "National I.D." could include a "retinal-scan", a few fingerprints, along with "vital-statistics"; it could even include things like medical information (allergies, meds., organ-donor-status, etc.) An "E.M.T.", at a an accident scene could instantly (by retinal-scan) access someone's entire medical data-base. Airline security could be tightened, and expeditied. Identity-theft could be thwarted. A "one-time" inconvenience could eliminate billions of dollars of bureaucratic redundancy. The threat of "Big-Brother" is a valid concern; but too-often, the current "system" protects only-those who "Have something to hide". Such a "National-I.D." could include various legal-safeguards to deter it's exploitation . We have the technology, and the infrastructure to enact such an I.D.; the thoughtful and appropriate application of such an I.D. is long overdue..........Dave
- posted by Dave @ 2:05 PM