Freedom Under Surveillance, Part II

There's a lesson in the Aesopian tale of the man who wanted to cook a frog. When he tossed the amphibian into a pot of boiling water, it leapt out to safety. The thwarted cook then changed tactics. He placed the frog in cold water... and slowly brought up the heat.

In much the same way, American freedom is slowly being cooked away. When I was growing up, "Papers, please!" was once the bark of Communist soldiers patrolling state lines. Yet every day, we move closer to that reality happening here.

On September 17 of this year, the House passed the “School Safety Enhancements Act of 2008.” As part of this $50 million initiative, surveillance equipment is specifically earmarked and encouraged.

Why would the federal government be so interested in mandating surveillance equipment for schools? Isn’t that the job of the states in which those schools dwell? And really, isn't this going a little far... for any level of government?

I’ve worked in public schools. There isn’t wholesale carnage taking place, and very often the problems that can arise can be dealt with through concerted parent-teacher-administration effort. A federal gift of $50 million dollars earmarked for surveillance cameras is unnecessary, is suspect, and is chilling.

As Jim Babka from DownsizeDC.org says, “Perhaps if the younger generation are always being watched at school, they'll get used to it and won't mind the same on the streets, at their jobs, or in their homes.”

Or maybe power-mongers don’t have the patience to wait that long. Maybe they prefer to try to force such a situation on adults as well.

Enter the National ID card.

In 2005, slipped insidiously into an $81 billion bill for "supporting troops" and "tsunami relief" was a tiny law - The Real ID Act - which creates a de facto National ID card. Originally, the law required it be in place by 2008, but it met with ferocious resistance from the states. Yes! The states actually rebelled…  but don’t break out the champagne yet. The Feds have "allowed" an extension through 2009 for states that request it.

Every driver's license will be required to include "physical security features" and "a common machine readable technology." The cultists who support this National ID card say that it's all voluntary.

And it is. You can refuse to comply, in which case you won't be able to open a bank account, enter a federal building, ride a plane or train, etc. Yes, quite voluntary. A nice card, containing all sorts of sensitive information about you, which can be scanned everywhere you go.

"This is almost a frontal assault on the freedoms of America when they require us to carry a national ID to monitor where we are," railed Missouri state Representative James Guest, a Republican. "This does nothing to stop terrorism."

One of only eight Republicans to oppose the measure, Representative Ron Paul of Texas added, "Supporters claim it is not a national ID because it is voluntary. However, any state that opts out will automatically make nonpersons out of its citizens."

Today we face a thriving identity-theft market. National ID will be like adding chum to a sea of sharks; a veritable African diamond war for the digital age. Everyone's value will be melted down to cold equations which will be stolen, which will be seen by people who have no business seeing it, and which will make it very hard to get your life back when this happens to you.

Let's forget the cost to the states, which has been estimated at more than $14 billion. The ID card will, making use of RFID technology discussed in the first part of this series, be able to show where you are at all times. Information ranging from mailing address to DNA can be encoded into this little spy.

Supporters of the card say it will help prevent terrorism. Not only do they fail at giving real examples of how this card can magically do this, they completely turn tail from the scores of problems - and yes, security problems - that this card will create.

For starters: The National ID card will eventually be forged. To whom do you protest when this happens? Roughly 20 percent of identity papers, cards, and documents are lost each year; what do you do when your digital self is misplaced? How do we hold the government, FBI, NSA, and president accountable for how they use this information? What magic firewall or force-field will be put into place to prevent hacking? And oh yeah... what happens when the database crashes?

Having all this information available on a database will result in a Golden Age for identity-theft, surveillance, and blackmail. It will make our lives less secure. And there's something very suspicious in putting a system in place under the guise of "protecting us from terrorists" when all that system really does is staple a lab-tag onto American citizens.

Fortunately, a real civil war is heating up over this -- though to what extent that protest will go remains to be seen. Maine was the first state to rebel, passing a resolution to outright refuse implementation of the Real ID Act. Following this trailblazing defiance came Idaho, and a recent storm of protest from Arizona, Hawaii, Georgia, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wyoming. For anyone keeping score, this is a coalition of states not often seen on the same side of an issue.

It shouldn't come as a surprise. Historically, Americans have rejected any effort at mandating a National ID card. Sneaking this into law was the coward's way of circumventing public debate; slipping it under our skin might be next. Or perhaps we'll have a nice tattoo on our right hands and foreheads? Citizen John Valjean, 24601!

“A despot always has his good moments” wrote Voltaire in addressing the issue of tyranny. "But an assembly of despots? Never. If a tyrant does me an injustice, I can disarm him through his mistress, his confessor, or his page ... but a company of tyrants is inaccessible to all seductions." In a world of constant surveillance, omnipresent cameras, and tracking devices, American life may well be thrust under the microscope of a legion of would-be tyrants as inaccessible to "seductions" as they are to public accountability.

Ronald Reagan vehemently opposed an ID card. George W. Bush happily embraced it and demanded we comply. How will the Obama administration deal with this issue?

That remains to be seen. The debate isn’t going away, and will likely heat up as we move into the next few months. Exactly how hot it'll get is up to us.

The Aesopian frog, meanwhile, is cooking.

 

(This is the second section of a 4-part series)