Proposed Immigration Law Contains Biometric Database Provision

By Jeralyn, Section Civil Liberties
Posted on Fri May 10, 2013 at 12:31:31 PM EST
Tags: national ID, photo tool (all tags)

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Via Wired's Threat Level: Buried in the 800 page proposed immigration reform bill is a provision creating a biometric database for all Americans, not just immigrants.

The bill, titled Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act is here.

Buried in the more than 800 pages of the bipartisan legislation is language mandating the creation of the innocuously-named “photo tool,” a massive federal database administered by the Department of Homeland Security and containing names, ages, Social Security numbers and photographs of everyone in the country with a driver’s license or other state-issued photo ID.

Employers would be obliged to look up every new hire in the database to verify that they match their photo.

Privacy advocates say "Think of it as a government version of Foursquare, with Big Brother cataloging every check-in." [More...]

For now, the legislation allows the database to be used solely for employment purposes. But historically such limitations don’t last. The Social Security card, for example, was created to track your government retirement benefits. Now you need it to purchase health insurance.

Hearings on the bill are set to resume Tuesday. Let your congressperson know this provision needs to be deleted.

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Frightening... (5.00 / 3) (#1)
by kdog on Fri May 10, 2013 at 12:48:14 PM EST

and I'm sure it will be the one part of this legislation to get full bipartisan support.

Great point about what the SS number has become...a national ID number. Even though it used to say right on the damn card "not to be used for identification purposes". Any safeguards in relation to the database in the bill will be eliminated faster than you can say "dystopian nightmare".

Perfect description, Kdog (5.00 / 1) (#2)
by shoephone on Fri May 10, 2013 at 02:30:01 PM EST

And when SS benefits are slashed to laughable levels, the ID # will be the only thing of any value remaining -- for the government's surveillance purposes.

And the biometrics regime is what they have been working towards for ages, because it encompasses everything, it tracks us wherever we go. We are all just slaves to the state. Science fiction is now present day reality.

Constitution? What constitution? Oh, that "quaint" little thing Alberto Gonzales famously referred to, long ago and far away, when Democrats were still pretending to care about liberty.


Ya gotta hand it to the state... (5.00 / 1) (#3)
by kdog on Fri May 10, 2013 at 02:51:46 PM EST

they're geniuses...they set the honey trap and we fall for it everytime.

I think all the paperless are gonna get outta this thing is their place in THE DATABASE. Between that and all the fines and background checks and back-taxes and god knows what else, I think if I had no papers I would stay without papers...I would not turn myself in for this path to citizenship. Sh*t who wants to claim citizenship to this? Half a mind to revoke my sh*t, but things are tough all over.


: Here's an interesting subject (none / 0) (#5)
by Slayersrezo on Sat May 11, 2013 at 09:39:27 AM EST

Did you ever look into renouncing your citizenship and moving to say, Canada or Mexico or someplace else?
It's remarkably:
A. Time consuming.
B. Expensive
C. Hard to do in that getting initial entrance papers to Europe/Canada is rather easy but they and just about any third world heckhole make actually obtaining citizenship nearly impossible.
Yep, short of being rich and/or owning your own island somewhere you pretty much are stuck being an American citizen legally and for tax purposes. And the US government extends its reach to nearly all corners of the world if there's a citizen to punish or tax...

"database to be used solely for .. (none / 0) (#6)
by Chuck0 on Sat May 11, 2013 at 02:04:43 PM EST

employment purposes"

Yeah, riiiiight. How many Americans are stupid and naive enough to believe that? Unfortunately too many.

My disgust and contempt this country grows daily. I've got my exit strategy formulated, unfortunately I cannot put it into place for another 5 to 6 years. I may not be able to gain citizenship elsewhere, but nothing says I have to continue living here and participating in this kind of nonsense.