The Noble Lie

Mexico is signing up for biometric identity cards. The purpose is to stop drug traffickers and is unrelated to the globally-coordinated effort to push biometric identity cards on those nations which don't already have them.

If they gotta stop drug traffickers over there, don't you think they're gonna need the same program set up over here, too? Funny how election-stealing Calderón's "vision" is identical to the "vision" of so many other national leaders.

From Security Document World:

Mexican president, Felipe Calderón, has announced his vision for nationwide citizen’s ID card, which would be used to provide a guarantee of every Mexican’s legal identity.

Calderón said that the citizens’ ID card will contain the full biometric identity of each Mexican.

According to press reports the roll out will begin this year and by 2012 everyone would have one. It is understood the cards will contain fingerprint, iris and facial information.

Many Mexicans currently use voter ID cards for identification purposes.

Bill Gates was recently in New Delhi, blasting the United States for reducing the amount of H-1B visas into the country. Gates no longer works for Microsoft, but he is still undoubtedly the beneficiary of a tech industry that hires cheaper labor.

However, the bigger story for the purposes of this site is what he had to say about data privacy. He thinks we have too much of it.

Microsoft, the company Gates helped create, wants to be part of the Indian national biometric identity card plan. Gates also blasted the United States for being so hesitant to accept a national identity card:

Mr. Gates was also critical of the United States government’s unwillingness to adopt a national identity card, or allow some businesses, like health care, to centralize data keeping on individuals.

“It has always come back to the idea that ‘The computer knows too much about you,’ ” he said.

The United States “got off to a bad start” when it comes to using computers to keep data about its citizens, he said. Doctors are not allowed to share records about an individual patient, and virtual doctors visits are banned, he said, which “wastes a lot of money.” The United States “had better come up with a better model” for health care, he said.

Correction, Mr. Gates: Doctors are not allowed to share records about an individual patient without the patient's consent.

It looks like biometric identity cards are on the way for India, as well. They'll finally have proof of existence!

From the Times Online UK article, a list of fun facts about identity cards:

• Compulsory national identity cards are used in about 100 countries including Germany, France, Belgium, Greece, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain
• ID cards are not used in the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the Irish Republic or Nordic countries
• German police can detain people who are not carrying their ID card for up to 24 hours (a commenter from Germany disputes this claim)
• The Bush Administration resisted calls for an identity card in the US after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 (ed note: you mean the guy who started DHS and Real ID?)
• In Australia street protests in the 1980s forced the Government to abandon its plans for a card
• Plastic cards are favoured over paper documents because they are harder to forge
• Most identity cards contain the name, sex, date of birth and a unique number for the holder
• South Korean, Brazilian, Italian and Malaysian ID cards contain fingerprints. Cards in some countries contain information on any distinguishing marks of the holder
• Objections to card schemes have focused on the cost and invasion of privacy
• Supporters say that they prevent illegal immigration and fraud
• In the European Union some cards can be used instead of a passport for European travel

Recently the issue of citizen identification has come up in both the United States and the United Kingdom, around the issues of fraud and identity theft.

From MP Alan Johnson, in the UK Guardian, "We Need Identity Cards, and Soon"

Our identity, the information that makes us unique, is something that we get called upon to prove each day, when we are opening a bank account, renting a flat, proving our right to work. It is this unique information that fraudsters and criminals want and this is why we guard it so carefully. Shredding machines, once only found in offices, are now found in many homes as people protect their personal information by destroying personal bank and billing information.

The introduction of identity cards is a simple means of helping you, and I, protect our unique identity from fraudsters. Identity fraud costs the UK economy £1.2bn on average each year and causes misery for tens of thousands who fall victim. At a cost of just £30, the identity card is a cheap way of helping fight back. So, despite the headlines that would have readers think otherwise, I'm not scrapping identity cards – I'm committed to delivering them more quickly to the people who will benefit most.

I know that some of you have real concerns about the government's motives for introducing the card. When I announced this week that I would make identity cards wholly voluntary it was because I believe that there are real benefits that will make the card an attractive proposition for many people. I think the case for identity cards has been made, but understand that getting a card will be a big decision for some people. Easy or hard, I think it should be a voluntary decision, one that people choose to take, because they agree and welcome the benefits an identity card will provide.

He sounds like a pleasant enough chap, and he's there to re-assure us this is a completely voluntary decision. Of course, it will be mandatory if you and your fellows want to get sloshed, and no doubt anything else that currently requires any sort of age or other form of verification. How long until banks, government buildings, and public transportation requires same? That was the plan for the "voluntary" Real ID in this country. From the same UK Guardian article:

In particular, I'm pleased that the government will be looking at bringing forward proposals for pensioners aged 75 and over to receive an identity card free of charge. I also want to see young people with identity cards. They will not only act as a proof of age for the individual but also empower communities tackling underage drinking and crime by enabling local retailers, including pubs and supermarkets, to help ensure they aren't selling restricted goods, such as knives and alcohol, to those who are underage.

On this site of the pond, right on schedule, researchers from Carnegie-Mellon develop techniques for guessing a person's Social Security Number.

From the Washington Post, "Researchers: Social Security Numbers Can Be Guessed"

"We can't pretend anymore that SSNs can be kept secret," said Peter Swire, a law professor at Ohio State University and chief counselor for privacy during the Clinton administration. "This report puts a nail in that coffin. We'll need new approaches, and it will cost money for the government and the private sector to build the new approaches."

UVGarden mused on this issue as well, recalling how getting a SSN also used to be voluntary at one point, and how the study received funding from the National Science Foundation and the Army's Research Office.