There was a time during the early months of the 21st century when we all lived in the calming peacefulness of knowing that we lived in a country that trusted in the safety of living in the most technologically advanced, military-protected country in the world. We all felt that because our country was separated from the “Axis of Evil” and other terrorist countries by oceans of water, we would be safe and far removed from the life-altering impacts of terrorist attacks. I would not be surprised if, before the events of September 11, 2000, we all thought that we lived in the safest country in the world.
A mental belief that was brutally shattered by the trio of airplane terrorist attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center and The Pentagon. Before that happened, our tendency was to trust everybody around us, even if we did not really know who or where they came from. That has all changed now. It is the fear of the unknown and the suspicion of those whom we do not know that have caused the country’s leaders to seek a version of racial profiling in order to keep the country safe from another terrorist attack. Their plan of action? Getting a national I.D. card into place. A card that carries all the important information on a person who is supposed to be a free citizen of this only truly democratic country in the world.
When Alan M. Dershowitz wrote his opinion paper entitled “ Why Fear National ID Cards” for the New York Times. He did so in support of a system that he hoped would fast-track the lives of the American public. A life that has been mired in red tape and slow action due to the terrorist threats that hit America on that fateful day of 9/11. His argument was that it was okay to lose a little privacy in order to ensure the safety of many. To quote:
I prefer a system that takes a little bit of freedom from all to one that takes a great deal of freedom and dignity from the few — especially since those few are usually from a racially or ethnically disfavored group. A national ID card would be much more effective in preventing terrorism than profiling millions of men simply because of their appearance.(Dershowitz, Why Fear National ID Cards, par. 9)
Somehow I cannot bring myself to agree with what he stated in his opinion paper because even though the constitution does not guarantee our right to privacy, we do have laws that protect our private information from anonymous access without our consent. Which is exactly one of the things that can be done to all of us in the event that a national ID card finds itself implemented.
We should also consider that there is absolutely no way that we, the public, can be assured that each person who is issued a national ID card is actually the person he claims to be. Keep in mind that all the terrorists who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks all had proper documentation that allowed them to stay in the country legally. Yet we did not know their real end game till it was too late. That is why Slate writer Bill Barnes indicated in his column for Slate titled “The National ID Card: If They Build It, Will It Work?” that the national ID system, though impossible to fake, could still be used for unscrupulous means simply by faking the information contained by the card. He explained that:
The data in a digital ID can only be as good as its source. The people entering the data into the cards can be deceived by forged birth certificates or they can be bribed to issue fake IDs. The problem is compounded when you produce ID cards for visitors arriving from countries where visas, passports, and driver’s licenses are easily forged. (Barnes, “The National ID Card: If They Build It, Will It Work? par. 11)
If national ID cards were being envisioned originally as one of the potential means to end racial profiling, the card would have only made the situation worse. This is because people or nations who tend to get racially profiled would then simply be held for a possibly having a fake ID card. The very people whose lives were supposed to be eased by the ID card would then have it even worse than before.
Keeping in mind that the card, although forgery-proof, will not be data reliable, it will only take a matter of time before the supporters of the national ID card realize that the card will then help to foster that which it was envisioned to oppose. I am talking about a new level of discrimination and harassment. The American Civil Liberties Union, in their opinion paper entitled “National ID Cards: 5 Reasons Why They Should Be Rejected” explained that the ID card will not make racial profiling and discrimination go away. Instead, it will only aggravate the problem because:
Rather than eliminating discrimination, as some have claimed, a national identity card would foster new forms of discrimination and harassment of anyone perceived as looking or sounding “foreign.”
Our national security cannot solely be based on a piece of biometric enhanced technology. If anything, the technology will provide everyone with a false sense of calm as the powers that be promote it as the be-all and end-all of national security. Let us not forget that the criminal and terrorist minds are constantly working to discover a way to use our own security measures against us. Therefore, although technology will offer us a degree of safety and security, nothing will beat constant vigilance where it matters the most. Giving up our privacy to the database that will make the national ID card use is not my idea of securing our country.
References
Barnes, Bill. “The National ID Card: If They Build It, Will It Work?”. Slate. 2001. Web.
Dershowitz, Alan. “Why Fear National ID Cards?”. The New York Times. 2001. Web.
“National ID Cards: 5 Reasons Why It Should Be Rejected”. American Civil Liberties Union. 2003. Web.