July 18, 1998

Controversy erupted in 1996 when the Department of Public Safety announced its fingerprint collection plans for Georgia driver's licenses. Many citizens opposed the intrusive practice and its Big Brother implications. The fingerprints, we were assured, would be used only for the authorized purpose described in Ga. code 40-5-2, which is to combat fraud and counterfeit licenses.

It shouldn't surprise anyone when Washington defines new "authorized purposes." Americans were promised that social security numbers (SSNs) would never become identifiers, but the IRS assigned SSNs as taxpayer ID numbers in 1961, followed soon by other government agencies and the private sector.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued proposed regulations Jun. 17th that require all states, by Oct. 1, 2000, to include social security numbers on drivers licenses and to include security features like digitized biometric identification.

Biometric data are any form of unique biological identifiers such as fingerprints, retina scans, iris scans, hand geometrics, DNA prints, voice prints, face recognition or facial thermography.

View the regulations from the Federal Register (Docket no. NHTSA-98-3945) at the Free Congress Foundation web site, http://www.freecongress.org/ or at http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/ .

In essence, the federal government mandates state compliance with standards for identification documents to create a national ID card system. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 authorizes this power-grab.

Current Georgia law (40-5-100) forbids the use of SSNs as the drivers license number unless the person specifically requests it. Accordingly, Georgia meets the exception stipulated in the Act and isn't "required" to put SSNs on its driver's licenses. But the catch is that Georgia must obtain SSNs and store them in a database after verifying their validity with the Social Security Administration.

Many Americans wanted action on illegal immigration but we didn't bargain for making the phrase "your papers, please" a ritual expression of the national vocabulary. In addition to requiring standardized ID for employment, the law will make it impossible to cash checks, open bank accounts, vote, board planes, buy guns, receive medical services or receive government benefits without an ID card that meets the national ID standard.

Don't bother invoking the 10th Amendment. President Clinton neutered it when he signed Executive Order 13083 on May 14th authorizing the federal government to do anything it wants provided the action meets one of the ambiguous (by design?) justification criteria in the order.

Among my contacted elected representatives, Senator Max Cleland responded via email to advise me that he's "a strong supporter of states' rights." He indicated that other constituents have expressed discontent and that he will write President Clinton requesting "a detailed response" to our concerns. While noting that Congress can repeal Executive Orders, Cleland didn't indicate whether he'd support such a repeal or support legislation to abort a national ID system.

A national ID system----especially the aggregation of demographic data, photos and biometric data-----is an open invitation to abuse. As the saying goes, no competent totalitarian regime would be without a national ID system. Human nature ordains the irresistible temptation to use the information for unauthorized purposes, including citizen surveillance.

With advancing information technology, our privacy deteriorates from a valued right to a quaint memory. Without steadfast limitations, our government will compile more expansive dossiers, documenting our every movement and transaction. The "tracks" of our SSNs await analysis.

According to Covert Action Quarterly magazine, the FBI, IRS and DEA already "secretly" purchase enormous mass-marketing databases from the private sector to bolster their investigative databases. These aren't black helicopter plots; it's efficient law enforcement. But how much more of our remaining privacy will we surrender in the name of security?

Biometric technologies combined with automated video camera systems make extensive citizen surveillance and tracking economically feasible. China, Thailand, Turkey and other repressive regimes are using this technology to crush political dissent. Let's not join their Orwellian nightmare. Let your voice be heard while you're still free to speak.

A few related links---

http://www.caq.com/caq/caq56brother2.html

http://www.worldmedia.com/caq/articles/brother.html

http://www.aclu.org/library/aaidcard.html

http://www.freecongress.org/ctp/natlidtp.htm

http://www.epic.org

http://www.cc.gatech.edu/computing/SW_Eng/people/Phd/cin.html

http://www.privacy.org/pi/activities/idcard/campaigns.html

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