How Creepy Can It Get?

The American Spectator ^ | May 23, 2006 | Eric Peters

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

We used to fingerprint felons -- now, we're "inking" traffic scofflaws.

Run a couple of mph over the speed limit in the state of Kansas (or even fail to "buckle up for safety") and you'll be duly entered into the Kansas Bureau of Investigation's electronic fingerprint database -- a privilege once reserved for actual criminals, not ordinary citizens who commit minor violations of the motor vehicle code. KBI, authorized by the state government, will be "testing out" 60 automated fingerprint readers throughout the state beginning this month -- all of it funded by a $3.6 million grant from the Department of Homeland Security.

Who knew Kansas drivers were such an ominous lot?

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated aberrance. California began fingerprinting driver's license applicants as long ago as 1977 (when it was optional; it's now mandatory) and other states (Georgia, Colorado, Hawaii, Texas) routinely fingerprint motorists as well -- with digitized/electronic systems coming on line. Most of this is done at license issue time, however.

Kansas is the first state to run fingerprints during traffic stops.

Recently passed federal legislation will soon require all states to catalogue motorists' whorls and swirls (and other so-called "biometric tags," including eye scans) within the next couple of years.

Virginia and a few other states are looking at incorporating microscopic "radio frequency" ID transmitters into driver's licenses that would make it possible for anyone with the right scanner to download all your pertinent (and even not-so-pertinent) information -- without your even being aware of it. These RFID transmitters work sort of like those EZ-pass thingies some of us already have on our cars to help us breeze through tolls. Only in this case, it would be a matter of making it easier for government to breeze through our personal data.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

PING!

And remember, if you're doing nothing wrong, what is there to worry about? /s

[BigTom85]

Big brother is keeping tabs on everyone!

[jwh_Denver]

"How Creepy Can It Get?"

They're just getting started.

[cardinal4]

Fingerprinting during traffic stops? Why dont we give DNA samples as well??

[AFreeBird]

And remember, if you're doing nothing wrong, what is there to worry about?

Yea, I like to hear the superior ones say that.

Forgive them Lord, for they know not what they do...

Anyway, coming to police state near you: full body cavity searches for jaywalking.

Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom... but nobody's watching, or caring, anymore

[GulfWar1Vet]

hehe..you are in Colorado, I am in Missouri.

Let's bumrush Kansas ;)

[Pearls Before Swine]

Maybe real American citizens will soon be able to enjoy the benefits of "catch and release" justice and 3 out 5 tax year payments. Nahhhhh, this sort of data collection will only put legal citizens more under the government thumb. Might as well police the law-abiding. Its easier.

[sheik yerbouty]

to quote Bob grant: "The forecast is sick and getting sicker!"

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Fingerprinting during traffic stops? Why dont we give DNA samples as well??

Please don't give them any more ideas...

[cardinal4]

I heard they will be putting this info on our licenses here in MO, too. You know that black stripe on the back? Pretty soon they will swipe it during a traffic stop and now how much you owe Visa..

[CrawDaddyCA]

They're just getting started.

I disagree, this was started a long time ago, it's just now getting noticed.

[KoRn]

I wouldn't give them my finger print, no matter what. I'd drive away first. I used to have great respect for law enforcement, like I have for the military. Now, after being an adult who drives everywhere they are nothing more than a menace, a tax collector on wheels all in the name of public safety.

[CrawDaddyCA]

Why dont we give DNA samples as well??

Give it a couple of years. I have no illusions, obtaining the DNA of every American citizen is the goal.

[GulfWar1Vet]

Well, hell. Let's bumrush Jeff City then.

666 is getting closer each and every minute it seems...

[Lokibob]

"radio frequency" ID transmitters into driver's licenses that would make it possible for anyone with the right scanner to download all your pertinent (and even not-so-pertinent) information"

 

Wrong.  A RFID only identifies the person or the product (probably by number).  You then need to go to the database to pull up that persons records.

 

All of this is bad enough, but the RFID is not a data storage item, it is only an ID system.

 

No flames, please, I'm not in favor of RFIDS.

[pabianice]

So what? Lawful gun owners in Massachusetts have to register with the state Criminal Records Bureau and cannot move without letting the state and local police know where they have moved to. You see, if you own a gun, you are automatically a criminal. Perhaps if enough people get fed-up with this crap things will change.

[xrp]

microscopic "radio frequency" ID transmitters into driver's licenses

THe information on how to disrupt or destroy these will hit the Internet before the government can say "Big Brother".

[Citizen Tom Paine]

For all you inhabitants of this brave new world out there - about 25 years three DEC mainframes running in a cluster could sort 250 million records in less that one second. This meant (among other things) that every man woman and child living in the US could be tracked by anyone with the desire. It also meant that financial transactions on a world wide basis could be tracked, if desired.

One wonders what is out there now with artificial intelligence and data base programs. As an aside, I also understood that the major commercial data bases could easily sort through 250 million records.

[xrp]

but nobody's watching, or caring, anymore

Sure we are! DIDJA SEE AMERICAN IDOL? I can't believe the guy who looks like a chubby George Clooney won! CAN YOU? LIKE, OMG LIKE LIKE OMG LIKE LIKE LIKE LIKE.

[brazzaville]

Good Evening.
"Why dont we give DNA samples as well??"

Ssshh. They might hear.

Michael Frazier

[jwh_Denver]

"I disagree, this was started a long time ago,"

You are right. It's just I don't think we've seen much of what's coming.

[fish hawk]

You mean you haven't got the 666 chip in your hand or forehead yet?

[MrLee]

I've had a concealed weapons permit for over 25 years (in Maine). This years I was finger printed when I applied for my renewal. Never had to before.

[thoughtomator]

I think the DNA samples in this case are being given TO us. BOHICA, as they say...

[jwh_Denver]

"Let's bumrush Kansas ;)"

Done deal.

[ovrtaxt]

Why dont we give DNA samples as well??

Put your hands on the hood and spread em, big boy.

[GulfWar1Vet]

oh, that is so wrong.

[observer5]

Sure this will be linked to the PATRIOT CRAPED system.

Great!

[doc30]

I wouldn't give them my finger print, no matter what. I'd drive away first.

Then you would be arrested as a felon. Fleeing police is never a wise move.

[ordinaryguy]

Fingerprinting during traffic stops? Why dont we give DNA samples as well??

Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg thrust himself into the national immigration debate Wednesday, advocating a plan that would establish a DNA or fingerprint database to track and verify all legal U.S. workers.

[ovrtaxt]

Yep- you don't want to be speeding through that village!

[TexasTransplant]

DING DING DING

We have a Winner!

Our little Tourist Town is lit up today with Flashing Lights!

This three day weekend is going to net the City BIG BUCKS!

Next week will be even Bigger.

TT

[wjr]

Actually you are incorrect about RFID. An RFID can contain an ID element that is defined as up to several hundred bytes of data -- enough to contain key recognition information.

Further, new proposals (for passports and the like) could contain up to several Kilobytes of data.

The reason that RIFD tags do not contain more data now has nothing to do with the technology or the standard(s) but current commercial usage.

[hedgetrimmer]

We must stop them.

[Trajan88]

guilty until proven innocent... now, off to my state-mandated housing unit.

[Lokibob]

Are you talking about "smart Cards" instead of RFID?

[org.whodat]

a tax collector on wheels all in the name of public safety.

Sooner or later everyone figures it out, however, if you are an illegal it doesn't apply.

[MortMan]

I believe RFID is only limited by the battery strength and endurance. The amount of data can be scaled.

Basically RFID simply refers to the mechanismfor transmitting data - radio frequency electromagnetic waves.

[Verginius Rufus]

The Senate's "No Illegal Alien Left Behind" bill (as Jeff Sessions called it) probably makes it illegal for the cops to do this to anyone who might be an illegal alien. So only those in the US lawfully, such as actual US citizens, will be affected.

[MarkL]

I'm all for it! As someone who lives in MO but works in KS, I have to deal with the KS drivers every morning and evening! Most of them shouldn't be on the road at all!

Mark

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

THe information on how to disrupt or destroy these will hit the Internet before the government can say "Big Brother".

Try exposure in the core of a ferrite magnet wrapped with an active coil or boil it in mineral water with a microwave oven.

[annelizly]

I was raised that you don't want to give anyone your fingerprints, ss number, or any other pertinent information. My parents believed in keeping your information to yourself and to be suspect of anyone who wanted to know too much about you. My parents were NOT criminals, in fact they were two of the most law abiding people I knew, but they were seriously suspicious of big brother and I learned all this at their knee. For me, the idea of having my fingerprints on file somewhere literally makes me queezy.

[Sarajevo]

I believe RFID is only limited by the battery strength and endurance.

It's limited by the amount of time it takes an individual to smash the RFID chip with a 2lb sledgehammer.

[weegee]

In Texas all drivers are fingerprinted when they renew their licenses (not a full set of prints but they do grab one from each hand).

[weegee]

..and this has been the policy since before 2001.

[wildcatf4f3]

This is why I say America is over. I am so in love with the memory of her but she no longer is here. It is very sad, I am left with a blow up doll of her who refuses to return my caresses at night....oh woe is me to have seen what I have seen, see what I see!

[DB]

There's no reason a RFID can't provide other infirmation as well.

[weegee]

The city of Houston hasn't issued a warrant for an unpaid traffic ticket in 7 weeks. Normally they issue a million a year (roughly 25% of the area populace).

And the chief of police just announced a program in "increase traffic safety" through the issuing of more moving violations.

"Give me the money, we don't have the time or interest in locking you up over this..." < /sarc >

[weegee]

And now routinely we hear of single computers that a compromised and that put hundreds of thousands to millions of social security numbers at risk of being compromised.

AND we have numerous cases of identity theft by illegal immigrants and elected politicians DEFENDING the criminals who use someone else's SS number for employment.

This country is NOT for Americans anymore. It is for the bureaucrats to do as they wish and to remain in power by seeking new voters as they continue to piss off the populace. Rob Peter to pay Paul. Well Peter is fed up.