RFID Saves the Day, Again

Seems the Homeland Security genius' are at it again with RFID tagging. Now in the Real ID licenses.

The article, from World Net Daily, suggests that, sooner than some might wish, we might all have driver's licenses that are embedded with a very clever chip. Clever in the kind of way Heath Ledger's Joker is.

It's an article with many words, some of them technical and some political. The gist, however, seems to be that your driver's license could soon be adorned by a radio frequency identification, or RFID, chip. This might have some advantages, but I'm not quite sure what those might be just at this rainy moment.

However, as I understand it, anyone with the appropriate reading unit will be able to scan your personal information, even though your license is tucked into your wallet, your jeans, or that secret pocket near your chest area, just by passing you by.

The World Net Daily article is here. And has a lot to add, including this:

Privacy advocates are issuing warnings about a new radio chip plan that ultimately could provide electronic identification for every adult in the U.S. and allow agents to compile attendance lists at anti-government rallies simply by walking through the assembly.

The proposal, which has earned the support of Janet Napolitano, the newly chosen chief of the Department of Homeland Security, would embed radio chips in driver's licenses, or "enhanced driver's licenses."

"Enhanced driver's licenses give confidence that the person holding the card is the person who is supposed to be holding the card, and it's less elaborate than REAL ID," Napolitano said in a Washington Times report.

REAL ID is a plan for a federal identification system standardized across the nation that so alarmed governors many states have adopted formal plans to oppose it. However, a privacy advocate today told WND that the EDLs are many times worse.

I wonder how this lines up with the Bush phone taps? Seeing as that focused on individuals (under investigation related to national security) and this is sounding like a requirement for everyone. No doubt the government won't abuse them while the dems are in control. No, they wouldn't do that. They are the good ones and will only use these to collect taxes or some worthy cause. (BULLSHIT!)

Read the article.

Schneier hasn't commented on this as of yet, but he does point to an interesting article on the ethics of military robots. Hopefully Schneier won't prove to be as much of a partisan twit as he did during the Bush administration.