[ale] U.S. National Identity Cards All But Law

[Jim Popovitch]

On Fri, 2005-05-06 at 16:15 -0400, Randal Jarrett wrote:
> Bad news follows good!!
> [snip]
> The worst part is the completely machine-readable/automatic 
> nature of the thing -- you might not even know you're giving 
> your information away." 

Isn't that exactly the state of the current mess?  How many
"unauthorized consumer information disclosures" were reported in the
past 6 months, how many weren't reported?  Thieves are abusing the
current ID situation so much that drivers licenses are as bad a joke as
social security cards.  

Frankly the US States have done a horrible job of issuing consistent
quality IDs.  Most banks consider your ATM card (w/ picture) better ID
than your state drivers license.   Even college ID cards are better
managed than state issued IDs.

I'm not 100% for a national ID, but I am 100% for a national standard
for ID as well as a national standard for retention of personal data.

Btw, my US Passport trumps all other ID no matter where I go.  The US
government did get it right with Passports, and they probably will get
it right with something like RealID.

Let me know if they start talking about tattooing it across your
forehead. ;-)

-Jim P.