National ID Card

[tex]

http://www.jpfo.org/alert20050511.htm

On Tuesday, May 10, 2005, America became a true police state. Your U.S. senators voted -- unanimously, with no discussion, and without even reading the bill -- to create a national ID card.

The Real ID Act blackmails state governments into turning their drivers licenses into a draconian tool of the federal homeland security apparatus. If states refuse, their citizens lose such "privileges" as being allowed to board an airplane, enter a federal building, or apply for social security. President Bush is expected to sign the bill eagerly on Thursday.

In three years -- by May 2008 -- this Stalin-style internal passport will be an American reality. But your government will have more control over you than Stalin ever dreamed in his most violent, vicious, anti-freedom dreams. (See links to the text of the law and articles about it at the bottom of this article.)

But that's only the beginning.

The creator of the Real ID Act, Rep. James Sensenbrenner, smiles and tells us that his Real ID Act is all about "solving illegal immigration" or "preventing terrorists from entering the country." This is one of the biggest of the thousands of "Big Lies" we've heard from the tyrants in Washington. The Real ID Act is about tracking and controlling Americans. You. Me. Our children. Everybody.

In May 2008, barring a miracle, America as we once knew it will be in ruins. It will be gone. And the rights of gun owners will be among the first scheduled for destruction.

GUN OWNERS: PREPARE TO RESIST

Here's your future:

*

You walk into a gun store, fill out your 4473, and show your government ID just as you now do. But instead of looking at your license and taking down some information, the clerk runs the license (which is likely to contain a radio-frequency ID chip) through a scanner. Your purchase is instantly recorded in your state drivers license registry. The federal government isn't currently allowed to keep a gun registry. But no problem; the Real ID act gives them an open door into your state records.

*

Complete information on every firearm you buy will be instantly available to every police officer (and possibly every government employee, store clerk, or computer hacker) you ever encounter. You'll be an instant criminal suspect every time you deal with someone who has access to the database.

*

Just as travelers are encouraged to get background checks and give fingerprints to avoid some of the worst excesses of TSA screening, gun owners will be encouraged to get background checks and give whatever biometric ID the Department of Homeland Security requires. This will be sold as a "benefit," ensuring you'll never again experience an "instant-check" delay. In fact, Congress, the ATF, or the FBI might even "mandate" 5-day or 15-day delays for anyone not enrolled in the "Trusted Firearms Buyer" program.

*

The private purchase "loophole" will be closed, so that all gun buyers must make trackable purchases. (The ultimate goal is for every purchase of every kind to be trackable.)

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Buying ammo? The store scans your national ID card and -- bingo! -- your purchase is registered in the state database.

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The federal government or state governments can now also _effectively_ legislate limits on the amount or kind of ammunition you're "allowed" to purchase. Try to buy more and the database instantly rejects you.

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The federal government or state governments can now also _effectively_ legislate limits on the number of guns you may own. Try to buy more, and the database rejects you.

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Eventually -- after the federal government "discovers" the obvious, that national ID won't stop either illegal immigration or terrorism -- the old attack on "evil guns" will resume. When they want your .50 BMG they'll know just where to find it (because the Real ID act says your home address _must_ be revealed). When they want your evil "scoped sniper rifle" (you know, the one you hunt deer with), they'll know just how to get it. Ditto with you "Saturday Night Special" or your "assault weapon."

*

If you don't surrender your guns, well, then the Department of Homeland Security will cut off your driving "privilege," as well as your right to escape the growing police state via plane. You'll be a prisoner in your own home, in your own country. Or you'll be forced to function as an outlaw, operating and living a precarious existence beneath the government radar.

PARANOID? OR PAYING ATTENTION?

You say these projections are ridiculous? That we're paranoid?

Well, frankly, if the Real ID Act doesn't make you paranoid, you're not paying enough attention. We ask you to consider the long-term impact of a few other acts of government.

In the 1930s, Congress promised us that our social security numbers would never, absolutely never, be used for identification. Now, they're the key to everything about us -- and without a social security number you won't get a drivers license and you won't even be "allowed" to drive after May 2008.

In 1913, Congress and the media swore to us that the brand- new income tax would only affect the rich. Well, how rich do you feel after paying 40 percent of your income (or more!) in taxes?

This is the way government works. They've even got a term for it: mission creep. And there is no creepier mission than the mission the federal government has currently set itself: to track everyone, everywhere, and to control what we do.

We warned you in The State vs. the People that this was coming. That book is still relevant, still a good read, and still filled with information about what our future will be like in this new American police state.

Be forewarned. Be aware.

[forbeskin]

I don't mind the whole "gun control" thing, I think it's out of hand as it is, but that's a whole other topic.

[Prosperity]

Hmmmm... On its surface it doesn't sound horrible, but anything that passes unanimously without any debate should be seriously scrutinized by the public.

[MaddogCT]

"Pardon me sir. But can I see your papers?"

:logo:

[NoCalMike]

The National ID card is an idea that always sounds innocent in the beginning, but the mere fact that corporations run our government now makes me think our personal information/medical records/buying habits/etc...will be sold to the highest bidder.

[Thiebear]

I dont mind the gun control thing myself.. what is the difference than a car registration?

Have you ever seen the "Govt" computer ahahahahahhaha

Just like the Patriot act it needs to be monitored and fixed as a year by year basis...

I have the right to bear arms.. I never read that I have the right to bear them secretly... Even if i'm wrong o.k. that will be fought as a part of the bill as things are being fought in PA...

[China]

Originally posted by MaddogCT

"Pardon me sir. But can I see your papers?"

:logo:

"Papers? We don't need no steeenkin' papers!";)

Edit: Looks like a good follow-up to this National ID thread.

[Larry]

I'm not opposed to a national ID card. In fact, I'd consider the issuing of a reliable ID to be a legitimate function of government, and I'd think that it would be best done if done at the national level. (Just as I think a database of criminal convictions and warrants should be national).

Where I have a problem is the requirement that all of the mandatory information (drivers license number, birth date, current address, full name, citizinship status, and whatever else they decide ought to be there) be machine readable.

I think this is a dangerous thing, when combined with existing laws and policies that say that

• Any private company is allowed to capture any information that they can get their hands on, using any means available, and do anything with the information once they get it.
  
• Any piece of information that private companies are allowed to have, the government really ought to have access to, without a warrant, because well, it's public information, anyway.
  

Right now, if I use a credit or debit card at, say, Borders, they're allowed to use that information to create a database with my name (it's on the mag stripe) and every book I've ever bought. The grocery store is allowed to know what kind of dog food my dogs like, and roughly how much they eat. The drug store can tell if I've been buying more Pepcid lately, and I can start getting mail telling me which doctor I should go to for a prescription for new, improved,

Thanks to this law, every business that makes you show ID with your credit card, can now add your address, etc, to that database.

And I've read that they want the new IDs to be readable by radio. Now, you can be ID'd when you walk through the door at Hooters. (And anybody with the right equipment can ID you from accross the street.)

I don't have a problem with the ID, I have a problem with the law saying that I have no privacy.

[Major Harris]

i don't know what to think.

[tex]

Originally posted by dviands

i don't know what to think.

Starting three years from now, if you live or work in the United States, you'll need a federally approved ID card to travel on an airplane, open a bank account, collect Social Security payments, or take advantage of nearly any government service. Practically speaking, your driver's license likely will have to be reissued to meet federal standards.

The Real ID Act hands the Department of Homeland Security the power to set these standards and determine whether state drivers' licenses and other ID cards pass muster. Only ID cards approved by Homeland Security can be accepted "for any official purpose" by the feds.

How will I get one of these new ID cards?

You'll still get one through your state motor vehicle agency, and it will likely take the place of your drivers' license. But the identification process will be more rigorous.

For instance, you'll need to bring a "photo identity document," document your birth date and address, and show that your Social Security number is what you had claimed it to be. U.S. citizens will have to prove that status, and foreigners will have to show a valid visa.

State DMVs will have to verify that these identity documents are legitimate, digitize them and store them permanently. In addition, Social Security numbers must be verified with the Social Security Administration.

What's the justification for this legislation anyway?

Its supporters say that the Real ID Act is necessary to hinder terrorists, and to follow the ID card recommendations that the 9/11 Commission made last year.

It will "hamper the ability of terrorist and criminal aliens to move freely throughout our society by requiring that all states require proof of lawful presence in the U.S. for their drivers' licenses to be accepted as identification for federal purposes such as boarding a commercial airplane, entering a federal building, or a nuclear power plant," Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, said during the debate Thursday.

No, no it won't...

Who were the three Republicans who voted against it?

Reps. Howard Coble of North Carolina, John Duncan of Tennessee, and Ron Paul of Texas.

Paul has warned that the Real ID Act "establishes a national ID card" and "gives authority to the Secretary of Homeland Security to unilaterally add requirements as he sees fit."

Is this a national ID card?

It depends on whom you ask. Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's technology and liberty program, says: "It's going to result in everyone, from the 7-Eleven store to the bank and airlines, demanding to see the ID card. They're going to scan it in. They're going to have all the data on it from the front of the card...It's going to be not just a national ID card but a national database."

At the moment, state driver's licenses aren't easy for bars, banks, airlines and so on to swipe through card readers because they're not uniform; some may have barcodes but no magnetic stripes, for instance, and some may lack both. Steinhardt predicts the federalized IDs will be a gold mine for government agencies and marketers. Also, he notes that the Supreme Court ruled last year that police can demand to see ID from law-abiding U.S. citizens.

I'm very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very leery of a national ID system. Mostly because this is the kind of thing you'd expect to see in the Soviet Union or some sort of fascist government. Keeping track of where people go and what they buy(if 7-11 can demand to see my ID...no...) is, in my opinion, intrusive and very anti-American.

http://www.preventgenocide.org/prevent/removing-facilitating-factors/IDcards/

Group Classification on National ID Cards

as a Factor in Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing

Presented on November 15, 2001 to the Seminar Series of the Yale University Genocide Studies Program

by Jim Fussell, Prevent Genocide International (*)

The role played by group classification on national identity cards in crimes of genocide in Rwanda and in Nazi Germany should trouble all persons concerned with prevention of genocide. In Nazi Germany in July 1938, only a few months before Kristallnacht, the infamous "J-stamp" was introduced on ID cards and later on passports. The use of specially marked "J-stamp" ID cards by Nazi Germany preceded the yellow Star of David badges. In Norway, where yellow cloth badges were not introduced, the stamped ID card was used in the identification of more than 750 Jews deported to death camps in Poland. (1) Ethnic classification on ID Cards in Rwanda instituted by the Belgian colonial government and retained after independence, was central in shaping, defining and perpetuating ethnic identity. Once the 1994 genocide in Rwanda began, an ID card with the designation "Tutsi" spelled a death sentence at any roadblock. (2) No other factor was more significant in facilitating the speed and magnitude of the 100 days of mass killing in Rwanda.

National ID cards of all kinds are controversial. In recent years in the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia proposals for introducing national ID cards and registry systems have raised debate about governmental control and privacy issues. Classification of ethnic, racial or religious groups on ID cards, however, is a distinctively different issue. Group classification on ID cards or other official personal documents (passports, residence permits, etc.) force a person to be affiliated with a governmentally-defined group and expose persons to profiling and human rights abuses based upon their group identity. In times of crisis such classifications facilitate the targeting of persons on the basis of group affiliation, making individuals readily identifiable for possible detention, deportation, or death.

The hazard posed by group classifications of ID cards has been recognized in specific instances. In July 1991, for example, consultants recommended to the Habyarimana regime that it eliminate the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic classifications from the Rwandan ID cards. Later the elimination of ID classifications was agreed upon as part of the 1993 Arusha Accords. (3) Action to eliminate these classifications was ultimately not taken until 1997 by the new post-genocide regime established in July 1994.

Survey of Classifications on ID cards

In a majority of countries in the world, national identification cards are issued to all adult persons. The cards are typically issued to everyone over age 15 and in many places the law requires that the cards be carried in public at all times. From such ID cards a person's group affiliation can sometimes be extrapolated from characteristics such as family name, place of birth, place of residence or the person's face in a photograph. These elements are usually suggestive of a person's background, but do not provide a definitive answer to someone seeking to determine a group identity. In more than 20 nations, however, a line appears on the card stating an ethnic, racial or religious affiliation. Many of these nations are places where intergroup tension or violence is prevalent. Another set of nations, including some of those with group classifications on their national ID cards and some without, issue special cards to particular population groups. (4) These groups include native-born permanent alien residents who must show an additional card, a separate card, cards of a distinctive color, or a specially marked or stamped card distinct from the larger population. This kind of special card is also included in this survey. The survey does not include the many examples of special cards issued to individual immigrants, based upon their status as foreign-born non-citizens. An effort has been made to include all definite examples, including those where there appears to be no danger of violence. (5)

This summary chart, arranged by group category and ID card type shows which nations have ID cards with group classifications, based on a survey derived from human rights country reports and news accounts. Past examples appear in italics.

Table 1: Summary of nations with classification on ID cards,

arranged by group category and ID card type

Group Category Group classifications are listed on all National ID cards Special Card or Mark (Special ID Cards issued and/or a special mark on the standard ID card )

Nationality Israel Native-born residents issued special ID or documents: Cambodia (ethnic Vietnamese), Ethiopia (Ethiopians with Eritrean affiliation); Indonesia (Ethnic Chinese); Japan (alien residents, especially ethnic Koreans); Kenya (ethnic Somalians); United States (some Native Americans, ethnic Japanese during WWII)

Ethnicity Bhutan, China, Ethiopia, Kenya, Vietnam, Burundi, DRCongo, Russia (and other former republics of the USSR), Rwanda Syria (Kurds). Text on National ID cards in Macedonia, in Serbia and Montenegro and in Slovenia appear in minority languages on some cards only.

Race/Color Dominican Republic, Malaysia, Singapore; South Africa, United States (some State Driver's Licenses only) Nazi Germany and war-time occupied European countries (Jews, Roma Sinti); Free Blacks in the United States during the time of slavery.

Religion Afghanistan, Brunei, Egypt, Jordan, [Pakistan - see details], Turkey; Greece, Lebanon Iran (Christians), Saudi Arabia (nonmuslim foreigners), Syria (Jews)

Multiple Categories Myanmar (Burma), Indonesia, Sri Lanka -

Special Status (legal, residential or territorial status where such status impacts national, ethnic, racial, or religious groups) - Territorial: Israel (East Jerusalem), Spain (North Africa enclaves), France (Alsace-Lorraine); Legal: Indonesia (ex-Tapol);

More detailed descriptions and sources appear in the appendix and on a regularly updated website (www.preventgenocide.org/prevent/removing-facilitating-factors/IDcards/survey/ )

In recent decades, partly as a result of international action against the former Apartheid policies in South Africa, ID cards or documents with racial categories have come to be viewed with international disapproval. At the same time ID cards displaying other group categories such as ethnicity and religion continue to be used in many parts of the world. Group classification on ID cards often reflects an aspect of national identity and tradition, but the cards are also a manifestation of governmental power. With or without ID cards, national traditions may favor or privilege one part of the population, while marginalizing others. Classification on cards however, fixes or reifies group identities and takes the power to define group identity away from individuals, families and communities, putting that power in the hands of government authorities. (6)

Most countries in the world do some sort of official classification of their population by groups using one or more of categories such as national origin, race, ethnicity or religion. Most commonly this information is gathered during a census or on birth certificates. Such classification schemes treat group difference in overly simplified ways treating group identity as an unchanging constant not subject to ongoing changes in society. What classification on national ID cards does is take group classification schemes one step further - from the classification of populations as a whole (in aggregate) - to the classification of individual persons by group. The effect of policies which apply group classifications upon individuals is to make group identity more rigid and to make one form of societal affiliation excessively prominent (usually religion or ethnicity), highlighting that particular area of difference above others, such as regional or local identity, social class or others. In most pluralistic societies a particular person's highlighted identity and affiliations differ by context and the situation at the moment. In a rigid or polarized society that a single identity is being reinforced and articulated.

The presence of group classifications on national ID cards is usually viewed as a matter entirely of domestic concern. It is possible to consider it in the same manner as widespread forms of group classification, such as information gathered during a census or on birth certificates. But the fact that these classifications on National ID cards must actually be carried and used by individuals makes the practice unlike other classification practices. The ramifications of this form of classification for individual persons should cause the practice to become a matter of international concern. Such international concern played a role in the elimination of Tutsi, Hutu and Twa classification in post-genocide Rwanda in 1997 and also influenced Greece, which eliminated a religious classification from its national ID card in July 2000. This change in Greece was made amid great controversy and opposition from the leadership of the Greek Orthodox Church, but with the strong encouragement of the European Union, which had been in the process of standardizing identification cards of all member countries. (7)

In response to a controversial initiative in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia to restore the ethnic nationality category on national ID cards, Antti Korkaakivi, a senior official at the Council of Europe's Human Rights Division, stated on January 21, 1999 that the mandatory inclusion of an ethnicity category on public documents could violate the Council of Europe's 1995 European Framework Convention on National Minorities. (8) More recently a July 2001 conference of non-governmental organizations and people's organizations in Southeast Asia meeting in Bangkok, Thailand called on members of ASEAN to "be accountable for discriminatory policies and practices" such as using "racial/religious identification in national identity cards and official government documents, that promotes greater racial and religious segregation." (9)

These examples show that governments may be influenced by international and regional concern over the practice.

Intergroup polarization and classification on national ID cards

Group classification on national ID cards does not indicate a government will engage in massive human rights violations. Classifications on ID cards are instead a facilitating factor, making it more possible for governments, local authorities or non-state actors such as militias to more readily engage in violations based on ethnicity or religion. ID cards are not a precondition to genocide, but have been a facilitating factor in the commission of genocide. Additionally the presence of group categories on ID cards, used constantly in routine official and business transactions, can contribute to polarization that can lead to genocide or related crimes.

Classification on ID cards is only one method perpetrators might use to identify a population group during genocide or ethnic cleansing. Group classifications did not appear on ID cards in the former Yugoslavia, for example. Other means of identifying a group such as creation of lists, marking buildings or mandating the display of distinguishing cloth badges can be used instead of or together with ID cards. Unlike these other means of identifying groups, however, group classification on ID cards has been a more universally accepted or tolerated practice, perceived as a normal and legal governmental function. The world did not respond to the presence of religious categories on the Afghanistan ID booklet, but has responded vocally to the announcement in May 2001 that Hindus in that country would be required to wear distinguishing yellow badges. Where a particular identity is stigmatized or vilified, it is of minimal difference that a person must carry that identity on the outer clothes, or must display it upon demand on a card.

ID cards are public documents over which the bearer has very limited rights of privacy. From the information on the ID card a person with card-viewing authority is usually required to make some judgment about whether the card bearer is eligible or permitted to engage in a given activity. When information about group identity (such as ethnicity or religion) becomes a factor in the interaction, that information alters the card-viewer's judgment. At a minimum, the presence of group classification categories on national ID cards creates and reinforces heightened awareness of group differences.

The following chart is an attempt to understand ways in which group classification on national ID cards can impact on society in the very diverse set of societies where this practice has been a factor. The category "Deindividualization", which could also be called depersonalization, represents societies where classification reinforces voluntary and traditional social separation of groups, as in Malaysia or Singapore. "Dehumanization" represents societies where the classification of groups is institutionalized, such as Apartheid-era South Africa. "Demonization" represents societies in an advanced stage of a genocidal or eliminationist process, such as Rwanda in 1993 and 1994, Nazi Germany after 1938, or countries engaging in mass expulsion such as Vietnam in 1978, Bhutan in 1991, Ethiopia in 1998. The special significance of classification on the ID cards may be heightened at moments of crisis or in regions of conflict, such as in May 1998 in Indonesia or in Tibet in China.

Table 2: Classification on Identification Cards and three types of Polarized Intergroup Relationships

Categories of Relationship:

Deindividualization

Dehumanization

Demonization

Form of polarization Societal polarization Institutional polarization Eliminationist polarization

Us-Them Type of Relationship They are different from us;We are different from them. They are inferior, less than us; We are superior, better, than they are. They are a threat to us; We are endangered by them.

Types of language Used by Dominant Population Group The "other" a negative reference group, "what we are" is defined in juxtaposition to the "other." Members of the group are viewed as less human or subhuman, through hate speech, pejorative, ethnic and racial slurs. Fear and hate are combined. Genocidal hate speech: emphasizing a threat from all members of the group (including children and elderly) and calling for the elimination or destruction of the group. Use of metaphoric nouns and verbs characterizing the targeted population groups as non-human, i.e. animals, insects, diseases, and/or demons.

Role Played by ID Cards Card viewers profile the individual card bearers in terms of group affiliation. Classification on ID cards reifies group identity. The ability of the individual to determine when and how to identify self is constrained. Cards play a role in governmental, financial, employment seeking interactions. Group classification on ID Cards is central in the enforcement of institutional and legal domination. Cards determine where a person is permitted to live, to work and restricts freedom of movement. Threat of confiscation of the ID card is an additional means of control. Classification on ID Cards is central in selection of the targeted population group. Issuing and enforcing use of the ID cards is one segment of a destruction process. Persons who select or control a group prior to death contribute as much to their destruction as the immediate killers.

Actions and policies Implied for the Dominant Group Social distancing ("keep to your own kind"). Defacto residential segregation, intermarriage disapproved -an individual in "them" group is perceived as representing the whole.

Domination, subordination, control, apartheid, enslavement,

Defeat, conquest

Legal segregation, reservations, Bantustans, ghettoization, partition

Isolation, absolute separation, concentration, walled ghettos, quarantine, internment, concentration camps

Elimination, deportation, expulsion, forced relocation,

Massacres, pogroms, "ethnic cleansing," partial genocide, extermination, total genocide

Groups Perceived and Portrayed Monolithically

Coexistence based on limited social separation

They are the same, we are all the same; Deindividualization forced upon both groups

Coexistence is only possible through domination;

Rebellion or alleged criminal activities responded to with partial elimination

Mutual coexistence is impossible,

Groups portrayed as mortal enemies (Kill or be killed)

Human rights reports sometimes mention the role group classifications on ID cards play in particular incidents, though often the significance of the ID cards are a secondary or tertiary aspect of the report. In such incidents ID cards play a role often early in the incident when authorities or a militia first encounter the victims. As an institutional structure ID cards are tremendously significant, curtailing and constricting individual actions that would not become part of an incident report. When smaller numbers of victims are targeted in order to intimidate or terrorize a group, ID cards are one of several ways to accomplish this end.

When all members of a group or a large portion of a group are targeted for special treatment, however, ID cards can have enormous significance in facilitating that crime. In the last decade, in addition to the role ID cards played in the Rwandan genocide, group classifications on ID cards also played important roles in facilitating the large-scale expulsions of tens of thousands of persons on account of their group identity from Bhutan in 1991 and Ethiopia in 1998. Acts of "ethnic cleansing" to eliminate or drastically reduce a group's population on a given territory require systematic methods to identify and select persons to be targeted.

Group classification on ID cards in Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing

and other eliminationist population policies

Identification of individual members of a targeted population group is a necessary task for perpetrators of genocide and ethnic cleansing. To accomplish this task, perpetrators either adapt existing administrative structures to their new purposes or create new structures. Identity cards are often the key element in a larger identification system. Their central position in such a system is due to their role in attaching the identity of the targeted group onto individual persons, combining individual identity information with a group profile.

In his 1996 book Ethnic Cleansing, Andrew Bell-Fialkoff locates genocide and ethnic cleansing within a continuum of eliminationist population policies, offering the following as a definition of population cleansing:

"Population cleansing is a planned, deliberate removal from a certain territory of an undesirable population distinguished by one or more characteristics such as ethnicity, religion, race, class, or sexual preference. These characteristics must serve as the basis for removal for it to qualify as cleansing." (10)

An understanding of genocide and ethnic cleansing as the most extreme acts within a continuum is very significant from the perspective of prevention. Often genocide and genocidal massacres are preceded by deportations and mass expulsions. Until Nazi Germany closed off all borders in October 1941, the persecution of Jews in Germany and occupied Europe had features which we would now call "ethnic cleansing." Perpetrators may use ethnic cleansing and massacres to test the responses of internal and external bystanders before escalating to genocide. Additionally, perpetrators may claim to be engaging in relocation, resettlement or deportations and use the claim to disguise acts of genocide. Finally, the conditions under which a population is moved during the course of relocation may actually have the characteristics of described in Article II, section 3 of the Genocide Convention: "Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part."

The following chart takes many of the countries included in the survey and locates those countries according to policies facilitated by group classification on ID cards or by situations in which classification on ID cards was a factor:

Table 3: Governmental population policies facilitated by group classification on ID cards

Eliminationist policies:

Genocide Nazi Germany (1938-1945), Rwanda (1990-1994)

Mass Expulsion Ethiopia (Persons with Eritrean affiliation 1998), Bhutan (Lhotshampas, 1991), Vietnam (Hoa ethnic Chinese 1978-1979), France (Alsace-Lorraine 1918-1920)

Forced Relocation USSR (ethnic Koreans 1937, Volga Germans 1941, Kalmyks, Karachai, 1943, Crimean Tatars, Meshkhetian Turks Chechens, Ingush, Balkars 1944, ethnic Greeks, 1949)

Group Denationalization Cambodia (ethnic Vietnamese 1993), Myanmar (Rohingya Arakanese 1992), Syria (Kurds 1962)

Other situations where classifications on National ID Cards are present:

Civil conflict Macedonia (2001), Israel (2000 to present), Georgia (1992), Myanmar (Burma) 1988 to present, Sri Lanka (1983 to present), Tajikistan (1992-1997), Lebanon (1975 to 1989), Indonesia

Restrictions China (Tibet, Uigahr), Pakistan (Amadiya), Syria (Jews), Laos (non-Buddhists), Japan (ethnic Koreans), Iran (Christians), Indonesia (ethnic Chinese), Malaysia

Legacy of past ID classification policy Burundi, former Czechosolvakia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Russia, Rwanda, South Africa, former Soviet republics

No reported problems with classification on IDs Brunei, Jordan, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovenia

Under some of these policies and in many of these situations ID cards or internal passports were one element in a larger identification system, involving creation of lists and registration, marking of dwellings and sometimes mandatory display of badges. Systematic marking of buildings was reported in Rwanda in 1994 and the former Yugoslavia in 1992-1995 as well as during the May 1998 "riots" in Indonesia in which ethnic Chinese were targeted. In some instances a government introduces new national ID cards but withholds the cards from a targeted population group in an apparent effort at mass denationalization.

The most elaborate identification system created was that of Nazi Germany, though it was not applied uniformly in all territories occupied by Germany. Raul Hilberg describes that system and its impact upon Jews in especially great detail in his 1985 edition of The Destruction of the European Jews, summarizing as follows:

"The whole identification system, with its personal documents, specially assigned names, and conspicuous tagging in public, was a powerful weapon in the hands of the police. First, the system was an auxiliary device that facilitated the enforcement of residence and movement restrictions. Second, it was an independent control measure in that it enabled the police to pick up any Jew, anywhere, anytime. Third, and perhaps most important, identification had a paralyzing effect on its victims. The system induced the Jews to be even more docile, more responsive to command than before. The wearer of the star was exposed; he thought that all eyes were fixed upon him. It was as though the whole population had become a police force, watching him and guarding his actions. No Jew, under those conditions, could resist, escape, or hide without first ridding himself of the conspicuous tag, the revealing middle name, the telltale ration card, passport, and identification papers. Yet the riddance of these burdens was dangerous, for the victim could be recognized and denounced. Few Jews took the chance. The vast majority wore the star and, wearing it, were lost." (11)

In the development of the identification system, the ID card and the yellow badge served different complimentary purposes. In most countries where the "J" stamps were introduced, theywere typically added to already existing identity cards, passports and other personal documents soon after occupation. The yellow badges were mandated at a later time, usually in the months immediately preceding deportations. Among Nazi-occupied territories Salonkia Greece is notable because the stars worn on clothing display individual ID numbers corresponding to those numbers appearing on individual identity cards. Secondary personal documents were also used alongside the ID cards, including ration cards and work permits. During 1941 in the closed ghettoes of Nazi-occupied Poland "schein" cards (work permits) were issued. Persons without the documents were rounded up and deported to death camps. (12)

Most writers on the 1994 Rwandan genocide note the introduction of group classification on ID cards by the Belgian colonial government in 1933, an action most significant because it introduced a rigid racial concept of group identity where it had not previously existed. Of great significance also, however, was the repeated decision by the post-colonial Rwandan authorities to retain the group classifications on ID cards. Prior to independence, nine Hutu leaders declared their intention to retain such classifications in the Hutu manifesto of March 24, 1957, writing: "we are opposed vigorously, at least for the moment, to the suppression in the official or private identity papers of the mentions 'muhutu', 'mututsi', 'mutwa'. Their suppression would create a risk of preventing the statistical law from establishing the reality of facts." By "statistical" the authors meant dominance by the Hutu majority population group.

One of the nine authors of the 1957 Manifesto, Gregoire Kayibanda, became the first president of Rwanda in 1961 and under his leadership the Rwandan carte d'identité continued to display the "ubwoko / ethnie" group affiliation of the card bearer. His successor, after a 1973 coup, President Juvenal Habyarimana also retained the cards until on November 13, 1990. On that day, at the same time he announced a new multi-party system, President Habyarimana announced his intention, which he never acted upon, to abolish ethnic identity cards. He was later encouraged in April 1991 to follow through with this statement by American Ambassador Robert A. Flaten, but according to Philip Gourevitch the French ambassador opposed the plan. Alison De Forges reports that in July 1991 independent consultants encouraged France and other governments giving aid to Rwanda to require the removal of group affiliation from ID Cards be taken as a prerequisite for assistance, but those governments failed to take that advice. (13)

In massacres northwestern Rwanda in early 1993, ethnic categories on ID cards facilitated the identification of victims. When this event occurred negotiations were in progress for power-sharing under a Transitional Government. Among the provisions in the August 4, 1993 Arusha Accords was the following, " The Broad-Based Transitional Government shall, from the date of its assumption of office, delete from all official documents to be issued any reference to ethnic origin." This continued presence of group classification on ID cards, even after their role in facilitating genocidal massacres in 1993, should remind us that very nature of the genocidal killing that later ensued in April 1994. The Rwandan genocide was not the indiscriminate or wanton slaughter as it is was sometimes portrayed. Instead, like most actions taken by perpetrators of genocide, the killing process was segmented into multiple distinct steps, with persons involved as administrative accomplices as well as direct killers. The testimony of one witness concerning the actions of Captain Ildéphonse Nizeyimana, a man who is a fugitive at large, underscores the bureaucratic nature of the task.

"Soldiers had orders to take identity cards from those whom they killed. According to one witness, Nizeyimana regularly received these cards from his men as they reported on the progress of the killings. They often appeared at his house shortly after a volley of gunfire was heard and handed the cards to the captain with the report, "Mission accomplished." In the captain's absence, his wife received the cards." (14)

In addition to facilitating the identification of Tutsi victims, another role of ID cards in the genocide was that of psychologically distancing the killers from their victims and from the nature of their task as killers. This distancing of perpetrators from their targeted victims facilitated by group classification on ID cards occurs whether the task is genocide, deportation or applying discriminatory restrictions. (15)

Removing group classifications from ID cards

This paper is an attempt to creatively explore a possible area of action for early stage genocide prevention. The findings are tentative and they are suggestive of an approach for further research. This approach involves perceiving the crime of genocide as the worst possible scenario in a continuum of violations. Another approach, late stage response through humanitarian intervention, involves halting or mitigating genocide through interdicting it as an imminent crime or one already in progress.

Early stage genocide prevention will entail addressing the precursors and facilitating factors that precede genocide. In part this shifts the focus away from the crime of genocide to pursuing more general positive outcomes such as building social peace and a stable economy. Nevertheless, there are specific factors that contribute to genocide that can be addressed. It is more difficult to hold leaders of government accountable for complex factors over which they have limited or partial control, such as the economy or the actions of irregular militias. In comparison, governmental policies based in law may be more readily addressed and reversed. Group classification on national ID cards is one such policy.

Table 4: Recent actions to remove or to add Group Classification on National ID cards

Removal or action to remove Adoption, partial adoption or action to restore

Change in Law

Full Removal: Greece 2000, Rwanda 1997, Georgia 1997

Malaysia 1999, Thailand 1999, Kenya 1997

Incomplete removal or partial adoption Reports of policy still in effect, despite removal: Indonesia 1998, Lebanon 1997, Russia 1997 Pakistan (Registration form for ID card requires religion, Passports include religion)

Proposal for Changes Israel (Legislative), Turkey (Legislative), Egypt (Court Action 1997), Malaysia (Court Challenge April 2001) Georgia (Legislative proposal to restore), Greece (Orthodox Church advocates restoration)

In the last five years governments have eliminated group classifications from national ID cards in Greece in 2000, and during 1997 in Georgia, Lebanon, Russia and Rwanda. In the same period calls to end classification on ID cards have also been made in Egypt, Indonesia, Israel and Turkey. In the same time period, in Georgia, Greece, Israel and Russia forceful advocates for retaining religious or ethnic classification have also spoken out. In 1992 in Pakistan an attempt by the government to add religious classification to National ID cards was partially halted by domestic opposition, leaving the classification on the application form but not on the card itself. Also recently in Kenya, a country with continuing ethnic tension, the government added a line for "kabila / tribe" to new National ID Cards issued prior to the 1997 Presidential election.

The policy decisions related to adding, eliminating or retaining group classifications on national identity cards are several steps removed from the issue of genocide prevention. Nevertheless when more governments end the practice, those which continue to use ID card classifications will likely be those with greater polarization and intergroup conflicts. In such situations a call to abolish the classification on ID Cards or special cards can be a rallying point for moderates who seek a less polarized society. Governments, regional and international organizations and nongovernmental organizations can support such efforts.

Over the past decade more people have come to recognize that genocide is not a rare, isolated or unique event, but instead is a crime that occurs with disturbing frequency. With that insight, the often repeated phrase "never again" can become a motivation not only for commemorating victims or punishing the perpetrators of past genocide, but also a basis for rejecting and condemning policies that make genocide more likely.

__________________________

* An earlier version of this paper was presented on June 10, 2001 as "Group Classifications on National Identity Cards as a Facilitating Factor in Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing, and Massive Violations of Human Rights." at the International Association of Genocide Scholars Conference, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA. [ www.isg-ags.org/conferences/2001ags-schedule.html ]

1. Transcript of the trial of Adolf Eichmann, Session 36 (11 May 1961), Testimony of Henrietta Samuel.

2. Prosecutor vs. Jean-Paul Akayesu, (Case No. ICTR-96-4-T), Judgement, 2 September 1998, paragraph 123. The comparison between the Nazi and Rwandan ID cards and a call for further research on this topic was made by Henry R. Huttenbach in an article entitled "The letter of the Law and the Mark of Cain: When "J" was and "T" is lethal," Genocide Forum, year 1 (1994), no. 5

3. Alison Des Forges, Leave None to Tell the Story (Human Rights Watch, 1999) , p. 92, note 60.

4. Questions about special cards for a single ethnic group or the inclusion of religious affiliation on a possible National ID card were asked by pollsters in the United States in the fall of 2001. Immediately after the September 11 attacks by hijackers on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll of Americans conducted September 14-15, 2001 found 49% of the public in support and 49% opposed to special ID cards for Arabs living in this country -- including those who are U.S. citizens. Persons were asked, "Please tell me if you would favor or oppose each of the following as a means of preventing terrorist attacks in the United States . . . Requiring Arabs, including those who are U.S. citizens, to carry a special ID." The item was third of eight items asked. (POLL ANALYSES, The Impact of the Attacks on America, September 25, 2001, by Jeffrey M. Jones, GALLUP NEWS SERVICE, PRINCETON, NJ. See www.gallop.com/poll/releases/pr010914c.asp . In a second poll in mid-November at the height of the Anthrax letter scare, questions about religious affiliation appearing on a possible future U.S. National Identification card were asked in a NPR/Kaiser/Kennedy School Poll on Civil Liberties. In response to the question, "Would you favor or oppose the following measures to curb terrorism. . . Requiring that all citizens carry a national identity card at all times to show to a police officer on request" a total of 70 percent favored and 26 percent were opposed to this measure. Those who favored a national identification card were asked what information they would favor having on it. Ninety-six percent favored a photograph; 88 percent were in favor of fingerprints; 59 percent favored religious affiliation; 73 percent favored criminal record information; and 64 percent were in favor of DNA information on the card. (NPR/Kaiser Family Foundation/ Kennedy School of Government National Survey on Civil Liberties, 30 Nov 2001) See http://www.people-press.org/terrorist01que.htm and http://www.npr.org/programs/specials/poll/civil_liberties/civil_liberties_static_results_7.html

5. The survey does not include the many examples of special cards issued to individual immigrants, based upon their status as foreign-born non-citizens. Another practice, much harder to document, is the failure or refusal of authorities to issue national ID cards to a particular population group. This practice can make it impossible for such persons to receive services, conduct business, travel or vote depending on the extent to which ID cards are required for these activities.

6. "tate-defined identity categories can have a substantial impact on people, altering pre-existing lines of identity divisions within the society. . . The categories used by the state, writes James C. Scott, in his 1998 book Seeing Like a State, can become "categories that organize people's daily experiences precisely because they are embedded in state created institutions that structure that experience." James C. Scott Seeing Like a State, New Haven (Yale University Press 1998), p. 81- 83.

7. On January 21, 1993 and April 22, 1993 the European Parliament in Strasbourg urged Greece to remove all mention of religion from national ID cards. On June 27, 2000 the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) of the Council of Europe noted that "although the constitution provides for freedom of religion, non-Orthodox religious - notably other Christian - groups have faced administrative obstacles and legal restrictions on religious practice, and members often experience intolerant behavior and sometimes discrimination."

8. Antti Korkaakivi stated "The main rule of the Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities, which entered into force in early 1998 -- its main rule and underlying idea is that a person belonging to a national minority has the freedom, or should have the freedom, to choose to be treated or not to be treated as such [see Article 3] . . . And if there is an ethnicity line included in an identification document, that should definitely reflect this rule -- i.e., ethnicity should not in any way be imposed upon a person. If a person does not want to be treated as a member of a national minority, he or she should have the right to stay out of that." ( "Georgia: Ethnicity Proposal Stirs Debate On Nationality And Citizenship," by Jeremy Bransten, Prague, 22 January 1999 [ Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty www.rferl.org ]

9. "We, representatives of various non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and people's organisations in Southeast Asia … call on members of ASEAN to … e accountable for discriminatory policies and practices:1. Which force minorities to change their surnames as in the tribal peoples in Thailand; 2. Which force minorities to carry a national identity cards which eliminate or change people's distinct ethnic identities like in Burma; 3. Which uses racial/religious identification in national identity cards and official government documents, that promotes greater racial and religious segregation and or discrimination as in Malaysia." (Southeast Asian Peoples' Statement on Confronting Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, Conference Statement, 18 July 2001).

10. Andrew Bell-Fialkoff, Ethnic Cleansing (New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 1996); Barnett R. Rubin, "Russian Hegemony and State Breakdown in the Periphery: Causes and Consequences of the Civil War in Tajikistan," Paper prepared for the Carnegie Project on Political Order, Conflict and Nationalism in the Former Soviet Union, September 1995, p. 4.

11. Raul Hilberg, The Destruction of the European Jews, (Holmes & Meier Publishers, New York, 1985), 173-180; Einführung der Kennkarte für Juden ab 1.1.1939 (Introduction of the identification card for Jews starting from 1.1.1939), 23. Juli 1938, Reichgesetzblatt 1 I, 922; ; Verordnung Reisepässe von Juden vom (Regulation of passports of Jews), 5. Oktober 1938Reichgesetzblatt l. I, 1342.

12. Lucy S. Dawidowicz, The War Against the Jews 1933-1945, (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975), 280-282, 297-298.

13. The full paragraph from the Hutu Manifesto reads: "Les gens ne sont d'ailleurs pas sans s'être rendu compte de l'appui de l'administration indirecte au monopole tutsi. Aussi pour mieux surveiller ce monopole de race, nous nous opposons énergiquement, du moins pour le moment, à la suppression dans les pièces d'identité officielles ou privées des mentions "muhutu", "mututsi", "mutwa". Leur suppression risque encore davantage la sélection en le voilant et en empêchant la loi statistique de pouvoir établir la vérité des faits. Personne n'a dit d'ailleurs que c'est le nom qui ennuie le Muhutu; ce sont les privilèges d'un monopole favorisé, lequel risque de réduire la majorité de la population dans une infériorité systématique et une sous-existence imméritée" from "Manifeste des Bahutu: Note sur l'aspect social du problème racial indigène au Ruanda: 24 mars 1957" in C.M. Overdulve, Rwanda: Un peuple avec une histoire, (Paris, l'Harmattan, 1997), p. 98-111; Philip Gourevitch, We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda, (Farrar Straus and Giroux, New York, 1998), p. 90;

14. Arusha Accord (Peace Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Rwanda and the Rwandese Patriotic Front), August 1993, Article 16: "Deletion of reference to Ethnic Group in Official Documents:The Broad-Based Transitional Government shall, from the date of its assumption of office, delete from all official documents to be issued any reference to ethnic origin. Documents in use or not yet used shall be replaced by those not bearing any reference to ethnic origin," Arusha Accord (Peace Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Rwanda and the Rwandese Patriotic Front), 4 August 1993.Alison Des Forges, Leave None to Tell the Story, p. 501, citing Human Rights Watch/FIDH interview, Brussels, December 12, 1995; Republique Rwandaise, Parquet de la Republique, P.V. no. 189 and no. 260.

See also Timothy Longman, "Identity Cards, Ethnic Self-Perception, and Genocide in Rwanda" in the forthcoming book Documenting Individual Identity: The Development of State Practices in the Modern World, edited by Jane Caplan and John Torpey (Princeton University Press).

15. Christopher R. Browning, Ordinary Men : Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland, (Harper, 1993), chapter 18.

[Larry]

Um, was it really necessary to paste a 25,000-word study that says "ID cards that put people into groups are bad"?

[tex]

Originally posted by Larry

Um, was it really necessary to paste a 25,000-word study that says "ID cards that put people into groups are bad"?

Tune in tomorrow for the next episode entitled “I didn’t want the author(s) to be taken out of context”……or…did we stop the “couldn’t you just paste the article to save me the trouble of clicking” syndrome. :laugh:

[Thiebear]

This is all it boils down to:

If they get the card is there a check and balance: You cant be able to use it as identity and pay for something AT THE SAME time.

If they steal my Drivers license they can't just empty my account.

If they steal my Debit Card they can't just empty my account.

(technically).

As an ID card will it have a "Date" field for the last day in the US for the "worker" program?

[unsonny]

we need to control the illegals - how do you propose we do it - they are running wild

[Kilmer]

Terrorism is winning. Our government is gradually taking everything away that our soldiers have fought to protect.

Sad sad day.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

I don't have a problem with having a federally approved ID card to board a plane, open a bank account, or enter a government building.

I think this is something that should already be in place.

I think they need to be careful not to overstep their boundaries, but the fact that they want a centralized way of monitoring their citizens does not bother me.

[SnyderShrugged]

http://www.voxday.net/

The Devil's own?

May 9, 2005

It is more than a little ironic, I think, that the North Carolina minister forced almost 50 people to leave his church for the newly discovered sin of failing to support George Bush.

As one former member of East Waynesville Baptist Church was reported as saying: "... if we didn't support George Bush, we needed to resign our position and get out, or go to the altar and repent, and support George Bush."

The minister, Chan Chandler, insists that he is acting according to God's Word. However, despite searching the King James, the New International Version and the American Standard Bibles - not to mention running various letter sequences through the Bible Code - I was unable to find the verse that said "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the President George Bush, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

I did, however, run across Jesus Christ's parable of the tree and its fruit in the book of Matthew, warning of false prophets, wolves dressed as sheep. And I wondered: Who might these false prophets be? Who are the false Christs working evil, deceiving even the elect as they bring about the dominion of the last and greatest antichrist?

Then I considered the following description of the RealID plan:

Starting three years from now, if you live or work in the United States, you'll need a federally approved ID card to travel on an airplane, open a bank account, collect Social Security payments, or take advantage of nearly any government service.

This sounds more than a little remniscent of words written on the isle of Patmos almost 2,000 years ago: "He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark ..." That's a rather impressive forecast, especially if you consider how far off the best science fiction writers of the Golden Age were from accurately portraying a reality only 50 years after their time. But then, I suppose one could argue that divine inspiration is a form of cheating.

It is true that even in latter-day America, which is already 40 percent government-owned, it will still be theoretically possible to do some buying or selling after our Republican House, Senate and president impose this RealID monstrosity on us. After all, who has a bank account, travels on airplanes or pays income taxes, right? And no doubt some bright Three Monkey Republican will be quick to point out that an ID card containing digital information is not the same thing as a mark on your body.

Not yet, anyway.

Homeland Security is permitted to add additional requirements - such as a fingerprint or retinal scan - on top of those. We won't know for a while what these additional requirements will be.

It will be a delicious surprise to almost everyone except me, I think, when the Department of Vaterland Security informs a surprised American people in a few years that due to the theft of RealID cards by suspected Islamic terrorists, it has determined that the most effective way to ensure security of the RealID system is to implant miniaturized RealIDs into the card-owner's body. This will be mandatory, of course, because otherwise it will be impossible to protect America from the imminent threat of destruction by people paying cash for their Cheerios at the supermarket.

I realize that many Christians believe George Bush is a godly man, that he has been selected by a higher power for a special mission at a critical time in this country's history. Nor do I deny that this may well be so. But the vital question is to discover which god he serves - God, the Father of Jesus Christ, or the god that Jesus Christ described as the prince of this world.

For it is written that many will be deceived, and it is impossible to argue against the fact that this president, like his father before him, is dedicated to expanding the size and scope of government, to sustaining and supporting the legitimacy of the United Nations, and to building a new world order on the ashes of American sovereignty.

No man can judge another man's heart or his soul. That is for God alone. But we can, as Jesus Christ told us, know the tree from its fruit. And while I did not believe the president's qualified claims to being a conservative during his 2000 campaign, I saw no reason to doubt his religious faith.

Now, after five years of a presidency that has conclusively proven George Bush is no conservative, I am beginning to wonder if his claims of sharing a faith with the Christians of America might not be dubious as well.

as most of you know, I normally support Pres. Bush in most things. I am troubled, however, on topics like these. This was a hard piece for me to read overall and I don't concur that Pres. Bush is a devil incarnate at all. It was written harsh in that regard. I do believe that the national ID card is potentially a horrid move toward government control and the parts about retina scan, etc are simply frightening to me. I hope that potential is never realized and sincerely wish that a balance could be achieved between freedom and safety from terrorism. Just not at all sure how that can be done in reality.

[Skins24]

Not saying I support this and all but

1. It's not a National ID and

2. There really are a few unbiased articles on it. Really.

Here's one:

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5702505.html

Good FAQ: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5697111.html

What's all the fuss with the Real ID Act about?

President Bush is expected to sign an $82 billion military spending bill soon that will, in part, create electronically readable, federally approved ID cards for Americans. The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the package--which includes the Real ID Act--on Thursday.

What does that mean for me?

Starting three years from now, if you live or work in the United States, you'll need a federally approved ID card to travel on an airplane, open a bank account, collect Social Security payments, or take advantage of nearly any government service. Practically speaking, your driver's license likely will have to be reissued to meet federal standards.

The Real ID Act hands the Department of Homeland Security the power to set these standards and determine whether state drivers' licenses and other ID cards pass muster. Only ID cards approved by Homeland Security can be accepted "for any official purpose" by the feds.

How will I get one of these new ID cards?

You'll still get one through your state motor vehicle agency, and it will likely take the place of your drivers' license. But the identification process will be more rigorous.

For instance, you'll need to bring a "photo identity document," document your birth date and address, and show that your Social Security number is what you had claimed it to be. U.S. citizens will have to prove that status, and foreigners will have to show a valid visa.

State DMVs will have to verify that these identity documents are legitimate, digitize them and store them permanently. In addition, Social Security numbers must be verified with the Social Security Administration.

What's going to be stored on this ID card?

At a minimum: name, birth date, sex, ID number, a digital photograph, address, and a "common machine-readable technology" that Homeland Security will decide on. The card must also sport "physical security features designed to prevent tampering, counterfeiting, or duplication of the document for fraudulent purposes."

Homeland Security is permitted to add additional requirements--such as a fingerprint or retinal scan--on top of those. We won't know for a while what these additional requirements will be.

Why did these ID requirements get attached to an "emergency" military spending bill?

Because it's difficult for politicians to vote against money that will go to the troops in Iraq and tsunami relief. The funds cover ammunition, weapons, tracked combat vehicles, aircraft, troop housing, death benefits, and so on.

The House already approved a standalone version of the Real ID Act in February, but by a relatively close margin of 261-161. It was expected to run into some trouble in the Senate. Now that it's part of an Iraq spending bill, senators won't want to vote against it.

What's the justification for this legislation anyway?

Its supporters say that the Real ID Act is necessary to hinder terrorists, and to follow the ID card recommendations that the 9/11 Commission made last year.

It will "hamper the ability of terrorist and criminal aliens to move freely throughout our society by requiring that all states require proof of lawful presence in the U.S. for their drivers' licenses to be accepted as identification for federal purposes such as boarding a commercial airplane, entering a federal building, or a nuclear power plant," Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, said during the debate Thursday.

You said the ID card will be electronically readable. What does that mean?

The Real ID Act says federally accepted ID cards must be "machine readable," and lets Homeland Security determine the details. That could end up being a magnetic strip, enhanced bar code, or radio frequency identification (RFID) chips.

In the past, Homeland Security has indicated it likes the concept of RFID chips. The State Department is already going to be embedding RFID devices in passports, and Homeland Security wants to issue RFID-outfitted IDs to foreign visitors who enter the country at the Mexican and Canadian borders. The agency plans to start a yearlong test of the technology in July at checkpoints in Arizona, New York and Washington state.

Will state DMVs share this information?

Yes. In exchange for federal cash, states must agree to link up their databases. Specifically, the Real ID Act says it hopes to "provide electronic access by a state to information contained in the motor vehicle databases of all other states."

Is this legislation a done deal?

Pretty much. The House of Representatives approved the package on Thursday by a vote of 368-58. Only three of the "nay" votes were Republicans; the rest were Democrats. The Senate is scheduled to vote on it next week and is expected to approve it as well.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan has told reporters "the president supports" the standalone Real ID Act, and the Bush administration has come out with an official endorsement. As far back as July 2002, the Bush administration has been talking about assisting "the states in crafting solutions to curtail the future abuse of drivers' licenses by terrorist organizations."

Who were the three Republicans who voted against it?

Reps. Howard Coble of North Carolina, John Duncan of Tennessee, and Ron Paul of Texas.

Paul has warned that the Real ID Act "establishes a national ID card" and "gives authority to the Secretary of Homeland Security to unilaterally add requirements as he sees fit."

Is this a national ID card?

It depends on whom you ask. Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's technology and liberty program, says: "It's going to result in everyone, from the 7-Eleven store to the bank and airlines, demanding to see the ID card. They're going to scan it in. They're going to have all the data on it from the front of the card...It's going to be not just a national ID card but a national database."

At the moment, state driver's licenses aren't easy for bars, banks, airlines and so on to swipe through card readers because they're not uniform; some may have barcodes but no magnetic stripes, for instance, and some may lack both. Steinhardt predicts the federalized IDs will be a gold mine for government agencies and marketers. Also, he notes that the Supreme Court ruled last year that police can demand to see ID from law-abiding U.S. citizens.

Will it be challenged in court?

Maybe. "We're exploring whether there are any litigation possibilities here," says the ACLU's Steinhardt.

One possible legal argument would challenge any requirement for a photograph on the ID card as a violation of religious freedom. A second would argue that the legislation imposes costs on states without properly reimbursing them.

When does it take effect?

The Real ID Act takes effect "three years after the date of the enactment" of the legislation. So if the Senate and Bush give it the thumbs-up this month, its effective date would be sometime in May 2008.

*

There's even articles that support it.

http://www.nationalreview.com/editorial/editors200505050920.asp

Again, I don't necessarily support this, just trying to add balance.

I really don't care about this. It's what comes next after this, when this is shown not to work, that scares me.

[dreamingwolf]

"One possible legal argument would challenge any requirement for a photograph on the ID card as a violation of religious freedom"

**** them. No burquas no the camera is gonna steal my soul excuses.

They want to play that game let them go without.

[Thiebear]

It's Marylands fault.

[chomerics]

Here is the problem and why it is attached to the military bill, because if you vote against it, you will be voting agains our troops. This is the type of crap going on, and it has got to stop. LINE ITEM VOTING people, it is really simple. Just push line item voting, and the politicians will no longer have the ability to do this crap. . .

BTW, National ID cards, bad very bad. We are very quickly turning into a police state where big brother knows your every move. Orwell was right all along. :doh:

[TD_washingtonredskins]

Originally posted by chomerics

BTW, National ID cards, bad very bad. We are very quickly turning into a police state where big brother knows your every move. Orwell was right all along. :doh:

Maybe so, but he jumped the gun a bit...I mean, he was about 20 years too early with his prediction!

[Larry]

Originally posted by TD_washingtonredskins

Maybe so, but he jumped the gun a bit...I mean, he was about 20 years too early with his prediction!

Or, he successfully postponed "Judgement Day" by 20 years, and now John Conners thinks it can't happen.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

Originally posted by Larry

Or, he successfully postponed "Judgement Day" by 20 years, and now John Conners thinks it can't happen.

:laugh:

[Mickalino]

Is this the Mark of the Beast ?

Or does that come later ?