National Id Cards

National ID Cards

The question of a national ID card is a controversial issue in our country today. Many people feel that a national ID card would make them safer and help prevent terrorist attacks. However, a national ID card would cause more problems than it would solve. Instituting a national ID card would create the need for a new database, the card wouldn't make Americans feel safer, and the government's standpoint on the issue is very unstable, making American's question the real intention of this new national ID card. Since the terrorist's attacks on September 11th, the United States has been in a state of fear, but instituting a national ID card would not ease the fear in Americans.

If a national ID card went into effect, there would be a need for a new database to hold all American's sensitive information. The cost of this new database could be anywhere from the millions to billions of dollars. In Margaret Carlson's essay, The Case for a National ID Card (513), she stated that Larry Ellison, chairman of Oracle, would donate the pertinent software if the United States chose to go through with the idea. Supposing Mr. Ellison would follow through with his offer that would eliminate the question of how to pay for such a database. American citizens, though, would have to pay to receive their national ID. Larry Dzieza, budget director of the Department of Licensing, estimated that the fee for a national ID card would be around $58-$60 for one's first REAL ID. In Bruce Schneier essay, A National ID Card Wouldn't Make Us Safer (518), he stated that the creation of this new database would be incompatible, full of erroneous data and unreliable. Computers scientists do not know how to keep a database of this magnitude secure, whether form outside hackers or the thousands of insiders authorized to access it (Schneier, 520). What about the inevitable worms, viruses, or random failures that happen and the database goes down, what then (Schneier, 520)? Is America supposed to shut down because we no longer can identify who we are? There is also the delays and interruptions that would occur in everyday life such as airports, malls, doctor's appointments and any other place where your identity would be necessary for you to use the service (Arnott, Computing Jul 2005). The creation of this new database would seem like a huge problem for the creator and also the everyday American citizen.

Instituting a national ID card will not make Americans feel safer. No matter how unforgeable we make the ID, it will more than likely will be forged. Two of the 9/11 terrorists had valid Virginia driver's licenses in fake names (Schneier, 520). This fact sates that terrorists will find a way to get past the unthinkable to do the unthinkable. Just because a person has a national ID card does not make me feel any safer than if he/she never had one. The United States already has several forms of identification; there is no reason for another way of identifying yourself. If the United States issued National ID cards Americans would actually feel less safe because of the breaches of their individual privacy. With the terrorist attacks on September 11th the United States has been in a state of fear and the U.S. government is coming up with bogus ways to make Americans feel safer. Americans would feel safer if the government stopped trying to prove our citizenship and find ways to secure our security.

National ID cards have long been advocated as a means to enhance national security, unmask potential terrorists, and guard against illegal immigrants (Dodson, Oct 2004). In the two years since the plan was first mooted, its primary purpose has skidded from public service entitlement, to fighting