Mercury News: Support grows for Ellison’s national ID card proposal. Under Ellison’s plan, the government would create a national identification card. The card would contain basic information about the holder, including Social Security number, and would be linked to a federal database containing detailed personal data, including digital records of the person’s thumbprint, palm print, face or eyes.
Larry Ellison’s push for a national ID system is opportunism, even if well-intentioned. But it’s not a surprise, considering the source.
Nor is it a surprise that California’s senior senator, Dianne Feinstein, supports the plan. She has never cared for the Bill of Rights, and now she’s getting her chance to give the police more power than ever.
It’s depressing, however, to hear of civil-rights attorney Alan Dershowitz’ agreement with this anti-liberty plan, which would do little to stop committed terrorists but would ultimately be the linchpin for a police state. Dershowitz is not a naive man, but he is blatantly naive if he believes, as he claims, that these IDs would not be used in all kinds of encounters, from buying groceries to entering a movie theater. The police will insist on — and will get — the ability to demand that people produce it at will.
“Your papers, please.” Once those words were the chilling reminder of dictatorships. We’re not learning from history, just repeating it with modern methods.