One of the many ideas being bandied about in the post-9/11 era has been that of a single national ID card, to replace the various forms of ID we carry around now (state IDs or driver’s licenses, military IDs, company ID badges, etc.). Bruce Schneier points out that this might not be a good idea…
…my primary objection isn’t the totalitarian potential of national IDs, nor the likelihood that they’ll create a whole immense new class of social and economic dislocations. Nor is it the opportunities they will create for colossal boondoggles by government contractors. My objection to the national ID card, at least for the purposes of this essay, is much simpler:
It won’t work. It won’t make us more secure.
In fact, everything I’ve learned about security over the last 20 years tells me that once it is put in place, a national ID card program will actually make us less secure.
Definitely worth reading, especially if the national ID program was sounding like a good idea.
(via Boing Boing)
iTunes: “District Sleeps Alone Tonight, The” by Postal Service, The from the album Give Up (2002, 4:44).