Here's looking at your ID
As I was standing in line to vote last Tuesday, a thought crossed my mind: How come I can put my credit card into a gizmo at virtually any kind of store, and in no time at all the machine verifies its authenticity and credit status, rings up the charge, and spits out a paper receipt I can keep in case any questions later arise? Why can't I do the same with my voter registration and ballot?
Of course, the credit card system is far from foolproof. In most cases, there is still no way for it to know if the person inserting the card is the rightful owner, even if a salesperson thinks to ask for further identification. But some card issuers have already addressed that problem by embedding biometric identifiers, such as iris scans or fingerprints, into their plastic. Piggly Wiggly installed a biometric payment mechanism in four of its South Carolina markets a few months ago that allows customers to pay their grocery tab with a swipe of the finger. Firms such as San Francisco-based Pay By Touch are busily installing similar systems in stores, fast-food outlets, and even gambling casinos across the land. As new forms of ID theft surface almost daily--the latest warning I received was to watch out in checkout lines for shoppers bearing cellphone/camera combos that can snap photos of your credit card--it's a sure bet that more retailers will follow suit. And if you prefer to let your keyboard do the walking, tech firms even make computer mice (mouses?) that transmit your finger- or eyeball-print for on-line purchases.
So why not a biometric voter card that would let people register their votes no matter where across the country--or even the world--they happen to be at election time? For that matter, why couldn't it be the same counterfeitproof identifier that serves as your passport? As Wired magazine recently reported, the feds will soon be testing a U.S. passport in which an embedded silicon chip will carry your photograph and other identifying information along with a "digital signature" certifying that it was issued by the U.S. government. The passports--which are slated to become the worldwide standard--would be accessed wirelessly and analyzed by facial-recognition software. And why couldn't people who so choose even have lifesaving medical information, such as blood type, severe allergies, or need for insulin, also encoded in case of medical emergency?
This, of course, is the cue for civil libertarians to rise up in protest: Wouldn't such a document be the functional equivalent of, heaven forfend, a national identity card? What about our sacred right to freedom? Well, like every other right, freedom requires some trade-offs. True, a national ID card would make it harder for parents to skip out on their child support obligation or other debts. Or for a felon to escape justice by assuming a new identity. Or an illegal immigrant to secure employment. And, no doubt, there are other more innocent reasons why people might want to disguise their true personas.
Trade-offs . But think of the far more prevalent opportunities for enhanced liberty. For example, New York lawyer Rhonda Gaynier might gladly trade her freedom from foolproof identification for freedom from being "groped by a stranger," an intimate intrusion that, the New York Times recently reported, she and many other female passengers have endured under new, tighter airport security rules. Many other innocent air travelers would probably rather have their eyeballs scanned than be bumped from flights because their names erroneously show up on a government "watch list." In fact, the American Civil Liberties Union has been busy filing suits on behalf of clients misidentified as terrorists. And then, of course, there is the huge everyday increase in freedom all of us would enjoy if we didn't have to keep ever closer guard over our credit cards, driver's licenses, and Social Security numbers.
And if, like many voters on November 2, you put protection from terrorism at the top of your issues list, you might want to consider that, despite all the attendant hassle and aggravation, watch lists and pat downs are easily evaded by anyone with access to stolen ID--and experts say that identity theft now claims 10 million victims a year. That's why the 9/11 commission report cites fraudulent travel documents as among the most important terrorist tools. "Don't kid yourself here," commission Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton said recently, "homeland security is expanding the role of government. I don't know how you get away from that."
In Hamilton's view, biometric identifiers on passports are a must. Still, lest he raise the hackles of the civil libertarians, he hastened to add, "note I didn't say a national identity card." Well, maybe he should just go ahead and say it. Maybe it's time to take a national ID card off the list of Great Unmentionables and enjoy the freedoms it could bring us.
This story appears in the November 15, 2004 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.