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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 8, 2001)
October 8J ver iggins advanced ps twice in hisfj .1 brought pmeone is looking over your shoulder... Me national identification cards an unnecessary invasion of privacy? night explain :r. ot of us g down here,: almost ever)' Reed said, playing, we wet t got to strife fhalid Al-Midhar and Nawaf Alhamzi were two known terror- w ists among the passengers on the planes in Sept. 1 1th tragedy. Alarmingly, both the FBI and the CIA knew that the men were leUnited States almost a month before the attack but they were Red River Cl arley will hav ill leadershipn tuys that need cause you can ' said, ic begins t with 36 holes; Tuesday. unable to locate either of them. The terrorists were lost in the American public, a pountry with some of the loosest personal identification laws in the world. Four of the hijackers used fake passports to obtain personal identification documents in the United States, while another obtained drivers licenses’ in multiple states, even though he had an outstanding arrest warrant. These occurrences bring to light the fact that the ability to create a pseudo-identity in the United States eft on the clod irtooeas y- To th ink that a known terrorist can slip into our socie- >t very satisfid innot ' ced by an y °* t,ie identification measures currently in place “We didn’t pit hrming. Americans must adopt a stricter identification system to r of the lasts v entourown enemies from hiding among us. d tolookatwi Hie most plausible solution is the creation of a national identifica- tinue toimprov. icard that carries information about the holder and some kind of e Aaaie defea metric identification, like a thumbprint or retinal scan. This card, eekinarowm (injunction with a national database containing information on has seven sad erican citizens, would greatly benefit our society, three contesj iomefeara database like this would evolve into a misused citizen Bears ?<tw& eidance system, a theory popularized by Hollywood movies like sacks andcd'm of the State. The truth is that a similar system already :ssure on CM its. According to the College Station Police Department, every L \\ into the aii! ean officer puffs over a citizen and runs his/her driver’s license 3r. jugli their computer, the citizen's identification is sent to Austin /q were pla\ii ereitisrun through a statewide database and an already exist- defense.” si national database that checks for past criminal activity. The head coachR! :i\sion of this system to include a citizen’s DNA informa- are a muchkfiand thumbprint poses no threat to the average law-abid- icw they won play well.” : defense w |itizens and government officials alike are searching for ways to guard against future terrorist attacks. 'One option that has been suggested in the past weeks is implementation of a national identification card system. This idea was proposed to President Bush in a classified briefing last week. Proponents say ID cards would allow air lines to accurately identify passengers, which would help in the fight against ter rorism. According to a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center, 70 percent of Americans support such a program. Despite this support, ID cards are not the solution to terrorism. They would do little, if anything, to prevent future attacks. And they could do a great deal to destroy freedoms that Americans have enjoyed for more than 200 years. Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle, the world’s leading maker of database software, has offered to donate the soft ware necessary to make a national ID program work. Under , Ellison’s plan, all I American citizens would be CHARLTON WIMBERLY well next wet! iducea birth certificate,” said John A. Munday, res travel ., to take on aloes. citizen, but would pose a great stumbling block to ter- stgroups that prey on the current system. ‘Anyone with a laser printer and Photoshop could ies... mntmr Fining Linger ek I 7:30 •mail stott of Polaroid. Terrorists have become •lygood at forging fake information, but ilestealing a person’s Social Security mberor forging a birth certificate is with- theirmeans, stealing a thumbprint is not. society made these ID cards an everyday rtofAmerican life — similar to a dri- ii'slicense — then a terrorist could not )nctm in our society. As^from the'threat of terrorism, :secards would solve other problems, g Social Security fraud and iden- .With the ID cards in place, an lividual could no longer milk the system lhmultiple Social Security numbers to multiple checks. The national ID cards luldeffectively match one individual with identity by linking every Social Security mber with a corresponding fingerprint. Secondly, it would stop the problem of theft. The U.S. Secret Service esti- itesthat in 1997, consumers lost more S745 million to identity theft. If more lof of existence were demanded, such as a imbprint, then this threat would also be quashed, tbeworld grows more and more linked through iredinformation, it becomes only necessary that we istincrease security to guarantee the valid information, tional ID cards are a step in the right direction and adopted by the United States to match faceless with their thumbprints. Tim Dyll is a senior electrical engineering major. RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION required to carry an ID card with personal information, a photograph and a digitized thumbprint. All of the informa tion on these cards would be kept in a database used by airport security. Before a passenger could board a plane, he would have to swipe his card and place his thumb on an electronic reader. The computer would then match the thumbprint with the ID card and database information to verify his identity. If this system had been in place a month ago, it would not have prevented the hijackings of Sept. 1 1. None of the terrorists were American citizens, and most appear to have been in the country legally. Even if the hijackers had been Americans, the organization responsible for these attacks could still have beaten the system. It could afford to teach people to fly airplanes, so it could surely have managed to produce a few fake ID cards. High school students have been doing it for years. An even more serious problem with the ID card pro posal is that there is little chance the information on the cards and in the databases would be used solely for air travel. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has already approved a national ID card system in Great Britain, and it will be much more extensive than Ellison’s plan. According to the UK’s Daily Mirror, British citizens will not only have to present an ID card to board aircraft, but also to buy gas, open a bank account or start a job. Also, in a nationwide poll performed by News of the World, a majority of the British respondents believed that, in addi tion to personal information, an ID card should contain its holder’s DNA details, criminal records and religion. Under this system, anyone to whom an individual had to present his card, such as a gas station attendant, could become privy to personal information. ID cards could become scarlet letters alerting the public to an individual’s religious, ethnic or political affiliations. For example, how might merchants treat citizens who present cards with “Muslim” — or whatever other group has currently fallen out of favor with society — stamped on it? Or, if the card carried DNA evidence, what is to stop prospective employ ers from discriminating against applicants with high likeli hoods of developing certain diseases? The cards and associated databases would also give the federal government tremendous power. In the book 1984, George Orwell describes a nightmarish future police state where the government, known as “Big Brother,” monitors every move of its citizens. Mandatory ID cards could almost make Orwell's vision a reality. The government would be able to track where people go, what they buy, how they worship — the possibilities Lire limitless. In Nazi Germany, lack of proper identification papers resulted in immediate arrest. What would happen to Americans caught without tin ID card? If an unscrupulous ruler came to power, the gov ernment could cause plenty of harm with the infor mation at its disposal. Of course, few people think that our country is in danger of becoming a totali tarian nation. Some of these possible outcomes seem almost laughable right now. But to think that our government could never move in that direction is naive. Power corrupts, and controlling this kind of infor mation would be dangerously close to absolute power. It is both necessary and appropriate that our nation seek ways to avoid future terrorist attacks. We must be careful, however, not to overreact and put an end to indi vidual rights in the process. A national ID card would cre ate more problems than it would solve. Big Brother should find other ways to fight terrorism. Charlton Wimberly is a graduate student in accounting. Sccority national d Now Zealand' 5 ..113Oa-l230p 7 23Op-330p ... 123Op-130p ,1030a-1130a ... 115p-145p ode of Honor sometimes ot taken seriously am writing as a kind of warning to all fellow lies. I was under the naive impression that stAggies took the Aggie Code of Honor seri al). Therefore, I have never been really over- attentive to my possessions while around itipus or neighboring businesses. Friday St, my purse was stolen and 1 innocently iumed that I had lost or misplaced it and irefore waited to call my credit card compa- S. I assumed if an Aggie had found it that it tild be returned to me. be were plenty of ways to contact me: my dent ID, my drivers license, my checkbook, ttomention the ID card contained in the wal- .1 finally called the police and filed a report, lunderthe impression that it would make its n N mstomers omers buy. I back to me. Ifound out recently not only had it been , but that my possessions were being and that the person using it is a fellow student. So the important lesson to be ed here is where the warning comes in. Uiotblindly believe in the innate goodness of bits at A&M over other places. Expect your possessions to be stolen and all the information on what you carry in purse and wallet filed away at home so Hwhenyour identity gets stolen unexpected- won’t have to go to the hassle of trying to ttbings together so that you can go on with H to day activity. This may seem trivial to he, but then again you still have all of your Sessions and your naive belief in the good- ^ of the Aggie spirit. MAIL CALL Separate facilities a bad idea In response to Kelln Zimmer's October 5th column: Except for having read Eric Dickens' opinions in The Battalion the past couple years, I would have to say that Ms. Zimmer's column was one of the most ridiculous columns 1 have read in The Battalion. She suggests that a "separate, but equal" public facility, paid for with public funds, be created for women on this campus to have "separate, but equal" access to work out equipment. It is my understanding from basic high school history and political science classes that the US Supreme Court ruled many years ago that "separate, but equal" was inherently unequal. That being said, if Ms. Zimmer wants a private place to work out and exercise, she can do what everyone else has the right to do - join a private club. As long as everyone is paying the same Rec Center fees, there should be no men- only, women-only, blacks-only, etc. areas. It is a facility funded equally by every student on campus and therefore the whole facility should be equally accessible to all students on campus. Everyone, regardless of race or gender, should be able to have full access to the Student Recreation Center and all its advantages. Tara Afrakhteh Class of 2001 Marc Barringer Class of 1992 Innovative punishment Here's an innovative way to fix the situation in Afghanistan. Killing Bin Laden will only create a martyr. Holding him prisoner will inspire his comrades to take hostages to demand his release. Therefore, let us do neither. Have the Special Forces covertly capture him, fly him to an undisclosed hospital, and let surgeons quickly perform a complete sex change operation. Then return her to Afghanistan to live as a woman under the Taliban. Keith Wilson Class of 1999 Irish fan enjoyed Aggieland I attended the Notre Dame game at Kyle Field. Although I did not like the outcome, I wish to compliment the students and alumni on the reception I received from the time I arrived in College Station until leaving. Although I was dressed in my Notre Dame cap, golf shirt and jacket, everywhere I went I was greeted cordially with many fans. I can not remember being greeted that way at any other school while out in my Irish outfit. The maroon crowd even had me locking arms with them and swaying to your school’s fight song. I enjoyed my stay immensely, and thanks to the fans. I hope South Bend fans will do the same. Bart Cooper The Battalion encourages letters to the editor. Letters must be 300 words or less and include the author’s name, class and phone number. The opinion editor reserves the right to edit letters for length, style and accu racy. Letters may be submitted in person at 014 Reed McDonald with a valid stu dent ID. Letters also may be mailed to: The Battalion — Mail Call 014 Reed McDonald • MS 1111 Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-1111 Fax: (979) 845-2647 Mail Call: mailcall@thebatt.com Email: opinion@thebatt.com Submissions made to old hotmail.com accounts will not be published. Attachments are not accepted.