October 8J
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pmeone is looking over your shoulder...
Me national identification cards an unnecessary invasion of privacy?
night explain
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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
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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
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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
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