National ID, a bad idea…. Essay

Identity theft is a major concern today in our country, millions of a person’s identity have been compromised for many of years. Identity theft occurs when someone uses another person’s personal information such as name, Social Security number, driver’s license number, credit card number, or other identifying information to take on that person’s identity in order to commit fraud or other crimes. Stealing an identity is, unfortunately, surprisingly easy to do and happens when you least expect it. Just by opening your mail, something that has personal information on it, throwing it in the trash. Therefore, a person can go through your trash and take all that information and use it against you to take on a new identity.

In the digital age, tools of biometric technology are increasingly being used as protection against identity theft. So the principle is that biometrics are a calculable behavioral trait or physical feature. One of the crucial elements while using privacy law to biometrics credit is the difference between identification and verification or in other words authentication. Identification biometrics is used in order to determine who an individual is, which can happen without any knowledge of or permission from an individual. Here ethical issues may arise since these identification systems require a certain databank that may contain personal information without even obtaining consent of the user. While the verification systems are used in a non-secret manner and voluntary way, similar to passwords or PIN’s and it makes sure that who an individual is. There is a continuous risk of abusing basic rights such as dignity and privacy without any major regulations. Biometrics also raises concerns with regards to integrity of human body. According to Irma

Although technology has provided tools to enhance our capabilities in things such as finding a missing person, solving murder cases based on technological assets etc.., this technology also leaves us vulnerable in many ways to slowly losing our privacy (Burten, C., 2012).

There are thirty states in the United States that require some form of official identification in order to register to vote and to vote for federal, state, and local elections. Voter identification laws ensure the integrity of elections by deterring impersonation fraud at the polls. Requiring a government-issued ID to vote will prevent voting under fake names or under the names of deceased voters, which according to The Pew Center of the States “more than 1.8 million deceased individuals are listed as voters”.

I am writing this essay about the importance of a Common Access Card. Which is also known as a “CAC” card. The Common Access Card (CAC) is a United States Deparrtment of Defense (DoD) Smart Card. The card is issued to Active-duty Military Personnel, Reserve Personnel, Civilian Personnel, state employees of the National Guard, contractor personnel, and other non-DoD government employees. The CAC is the size of a standard credit card and stores 64 or 128 kB of data storage and memory on a single integrated circuit. The CAC is used as a general identification card as well as for authentication to enable access to DoD computers, networks, and certain DoD facilities. It also

“Who Am I? Developing Character” by Jodi O’Brien is a secondary source. This piece discusses all the different factors that go into someone’s identity. One of Lyon’s main arguments is the benefits of a nation identification card as it pertains to security, convenience, and efficiency. In addition the benefits they have for enhancing security, Lyon says that national ID cards would make governments run more efficiently.

But the government is not the only authority that has concerns. Many officers today feel that we need new rules and procedures to prevent and solve many identity theft cases (Dadisho). There is truth in this and many citizens agree with this consideration. One of the reasons why Americans feel this way is that not many cases of identity theft are actually solved. One of the reasons being is that companies do not cooperate with law enforcement enough (Dadisho). However, not only the companies are at fault here. Not only are the companies not cooperating, but also law enforcement is not interested in smaller cases, but only large ones, involving hundreds of victims. The police, being somewhat idle in this situation, do not want to be involved in identity theft crimes because they are difficult to investigate (Anderson). Many other authorities do not want to be involved in these crimes because of other reasons as well. These cases are not only difficult to solve, but are also very long-lasting. It may take years to fix the problem after the theft (Chappell 4). By abolishing the practice of identity theft, the authorities need not focus their time on identity fraud cases, but can tend to the larger problems in America. Furthermore, there are more reasons to do away with identity theft, including some of the health risks of this issue.

The REAL ID Act of 2005 is an Act of Congress that was designed to increase the safety of citizens throughout America. As a result of this law, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the states began working together to implement rigorous standards validate and create documentation personal identification, like driver's licenses, identification cards, and other types of legal documentation.

The debate on National Identification card has restarted since the terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. The issue of introducing the National Identification Card came into people’s view after a long time hoping that it would reduce the danger of terrorism in the future. United States is not the only one country who is introducing the National Identification Card. There are other hundreds of countries that have already had National Identification Card in use in order to improve security in the country, assist law enforcement and make a delivery of services more efficiently to all the citizens of the nation. People think that introducing the National ID

I know that some people might say the states can provide an identification card at free of charge, so the laws will not disenfranchise minorities, students, and people in poverty. However, this is not true. This solution would be a no-win situation for both sides in terms of money. Many citizens would find it hard to get an ID or even if it is free because in order to obtain a free identification, those people still would have to submit some sorts of required papers, like birth certificate, passport or naturalization paper to get a free ID. The cheapest option that is available would be a birth certificate, which would cost about $22. According to the Voting Right Institution, "The report concluded that if these 35 states enact a photo ID law, they collectively will spend at least $276 million, and possibly as much as $828 million, in the first four years alone." The States could have used that money to create more job opportunities and build more government senior housings.

National Identification Card (NID) is not a new idea to the American Public or its politicians. The NID has been up and down the political stream as a means of fighting terrorism, welfare fraud, illegal immigration, crime, census “error”, and a vast variety of other so called crimes that you can think of. The NID once again rising up-stream after the terrible attack on the American soil as (again) the means to protect the American Public but is it capable of doing all it claims to or as a matter of facts it will make us more vulnerable to identity theft and more chaos?

The government is actively involved in decreasing the amount of identity theft by providing the most effective tools to investigate and prosecute identity thieves. One of these tools is the Identity

Identity theft affects millions of Americans every day. Scam artists and hackers lay in wait for an unsuspecting person to get caught up their scheme through ignorance or naivety so they can take full advantage of their personal information to do as they desire with it. Problem is, it infiltrates and depreciates the integral infrastructure of our society which creates a cultural lapse through the declination of economic and cultural growth and double jeopardizes an already unstable system to the brink of its destruction. To understand how

Biometrics is used in many places and there is a bright future for them. Coca Cola has recently replaced time card system with hand scanning machines. Finger print scanners are being used in many states of the US. They have been used to trace social welfare fraud. An iris pattern identification system is being used in Cook County, Illinois to ensure that right people are released from jail. ATM machines have been installed with finger scanners to prevent theft and fraud in Indiana (Jain, 2005).

These days, many of the things we do are online. We not only entertain ourselves online, but we also do things that make our lives easier, like paying our bills, buying things we need, and communicating. As time passes, we come up with more ideas to facilitate our lives with the help of technology. Many countries come up with new technology and ways to do this. A country that has succeeded at facilitating their lives is Estonia. In Estonia, not only was Skype created there, this useful tool called the digital ID was produced. The digital ID, like a regular ID but with a chip that contains the owner’s identity information, helps people use many technological services created by Estonia. The United States should adopt this digital ID