National Identity

Hidden within a bill to fund our troops in Iraq is a deeply alarming, profoundly un-American measure, the Real ID Act. There are so many reasons why a national identity card is a horrific idea, I couldn't possibly list them. But think about this: Checkpoints. No nation with checkpoints can really be free. If you cannot freely move about within your own country, you are certainly not free. With a national identity card, everyplace will become a checkpoint. Passing through a toll booth? Show your ID. Renting a video? Show your ID. Checking out at the grocery? Show your ID.The Real ID Act will centralize all the information about you in one location. Your national ID will show what your purchasing habits are, what kind of debts you have, what videos you have rented, and what books you've purchased. Expect this information to be sold to any corporations who are willing and able to pay; they already shell out big money for inforation like your email address, mailing address, and your web browsing habits. The Real ID Act, if adopted into law, will centralize everything about you.If you're still not convinced that this is a bad idea, read on.The mainstream media has barely noticed the Real ID Act, attached as it is to a larger bill funding the war effort in Iraq. And anybody who dares to vote against this package will surely be labeled as "voted against funding our troops." This bill has got to be stopped, and the only way to stop it is to raise awareness of it, and to help everybody in the U.S. to understand just what a horrible idea it is.One last thing to consider: The Dominican Republic has such a national identification card. In recent years, when a hurricane inflicted great damage on people's homes there, all applying for funds to repair and rebuild their homes had to show their ID card. People who supported the current government recieved the money they needed, but those who had opposed those then in power were denied the funds.Here's my new podcast audioblog XML feed. You can also directly download the first entry.Addendum: Wow, massive skips in that first podcast entry, eh? Yuck! Well, I was testing a piece of software that I was hoping would do a better job than that. I'll record the next one differently so there won't be any skips at all.