What's a good reason not to have a national ID card?

[cynatnite]

A national ID card sounds like good idea, but to me it seems like if there was one it would open up more counterfeiting and identity theft.

[Zorra]

1. I don't need one? n/t

[journalist3072]

2. Here's my take....

We already have PLENTY of IDs in this country: Drivers and non-driver's IDs, social security cards, etc.

What would a national ID program accomplish? Not a thing!

Why do we need another government program on top of the many we already have?

This is why I was so against creating the Department of Homeland Security. I thought "We don't need another Department. Just make the people in the ones we already have talk to each other and share information!"

[ProudDad]

3. Nor do I

Waste of time and money.

[tubbacheez]

4. The old-fashioned reason is to avoid having a Federal database of everyone

Historically, the individual states have maintained the power to issue such cards and keep databases of citizens.

[jobycom]

5. I need a license to drive, but I shouldn't need one just to be an American

Every other ID we carry is really a license or some authorization to allow us to do something. Drivers licenses prove we can drive. Social Security is a like an account number. Passports allow us to leave the country. A national ID allows us... waht? To be citizens? To be tracked? To be identified Recruited?

I don't like the idea one bit.

[eallen]

6. We have a national ID card already.

It's called a passport. I have one in my deskdrawer. There's no issue of whether we should have a national ID card. The issues are a bit more subtle:

(1) Can Americans be required to acquire a national ID card if they don't want it?

(2) Can Americans be required to carry a national ID card, or to show it on request? (By whom?)

(2) What data does the government maintain on those who acquire an ID, and how can it be used?

[tocqueville]

7. Europeans have had ID cards many years (not UK)

and there have never been really a debate about that

the problem is that classic ID cards are "easy" to counterfeit and even the modern - plastified, pincode and hologram ones - (compared to them a US driving license is a joke) have also been counterfeited.

A lot of the counterfeiting is done by using false documents (birth certificates, photos etc...) so that the authorities issue authentic false cards (or passports, even if the later is more difficult).

The new French cards will involve biometrics and electronic chips, which make them very difficult to counterfeit. The discussion involves if besides identity, medical and bank records will be added.
The pros argue that the only difference is that you won't have to carry 3 cards in your wallet, which is the case for most of us right now.

The basic problem is not the ID-card, but the database : transferring all data into a central database gives a lot of power to the authorities, if the authorities turn out to be non-democratic. And there is always a risk.

Spain has already a system where a chip is injected under the skin and contains all your data : identity, social security, medical record and bank account. So you can get to a disco by showing your upper arm to a scanner. If your bank account is empty, you don't get in... it's very popular among richer teens in Madrid and Costa Brava...

My dogs have similar chips, but no bank account (not even at the bone bank)

I wonder when they will introduce a chip with GPS.... could be good for the dogs...

[JackRiddler]

11. Spain really has that?

Sick.

The problem with any additional means of control over the individual given to government is that power is inevitably going to be abused.

You many not think Bush is Hitler but obviously Hitler can happen here. Why make it easy for the future Hitler?

There is no comparison between state criminality and the retail kind. States have been responsible for the vast majority of crime in the world.

[tocqueville]

12. It's only if you choose it

they have a regular ID too

but the chip is getting more and more popular

[JackRiddler]

14. I never had any doubt

Back then, when imagining the dystopian future, that the first people to carry "the chip" would do so enthusiastically.

[FreedomAngel82]

8. Spying

It's all about spying on people. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5702505.html

[mr blur]

9. Here's why many are against them in the UK:

http://www.trevor-mendham.com/civil-liberties/identity-cards/

[tocqueville]

10. with the bombings, it will get through

[amazona]

13. more than there is now?

Who hasn't had their identity stolen at some point?

I'm not sure how a national ID card differs from a passport, if the feds want to know where you are, they know if you're in the building or not.

[Misskittycat]

15. Because it's like being in Nazi Germany. n/t