National ID card

This is how this Golden Shield will work: Chinese citizens will be watched around the clock through networked CCTV cameras and remote monitoring of computers. They will be listened to on their phone calls, monitored by digital voice-recognition technologies. Their Internet access will be aggressively limited through the country's notorious system of online controls known as the "Great Firewall." Their movements will be tracked through national ID cards with scannable computer chips and photos that are instantly uploaded to police databases and linked to their holder's personal data. This is the most important element of all: linking all these tools together in a massive, searchable database of names, photos, residency information, work history and biometric data. When Golden Shield is finished, there will be a photo in those databases for every person in China: 1.3 billion faces.

All but six states have complied with federal requirements to seek an extension of the deadline they face for implementing more secure driver licenses for U.S. citizens or legal residents only under the REAL ID Act.

With Real ID Act regulations lurking somewhere around the corner, secure ID management provider, Digimarc, is well-positioned to help states comply with the new requirements. The fact that the Oregon-based company is already in more than two-thirds of U.S. state driver license offices certainly gives it a leg up as well.

"We're in 32 U.S. driver license programs, five Canadian provinces and Mexico with its voter ID project," said Scott Carr, Digimarc's executive vice president.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 — Opposition among state officials is turning into an open revolt against a federal law calling for the creation of standardized driver’s licenses nationwide that are meant to be less vulnerable to fraud.

Maine overwhelmingly rejected federal requirements for national identification cards on Thursday, marking the first formal state opposition to controversial legislation scheduled to go in effect for Americans next year.

Both chambers of the Maine legislature approved a resolution saying the state flatly "refuses" to force its citizens to use driver's licenses that comply with digital ID standards, which were established under the 2005 Real ID Act. It asks the U.S. Congress to repeal the law.

The vote represents a political setback for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Republicans in Washington, D.C., which have argued that nationalized ID cards for all Americans would help in the fight against terrorists.

The Real ID Act was passed in the House of Representatives on Feb 10, 2005. It will require all citizens to prove their own identity in May of 2008. You must supply your birth certificate, photo id, verified social security number and identification that notes your full home address. It puts the burden on each state for licensing and other requirements, which according to the latest numbers will cost each state at least 11 billion dollars.

How nice that sounds to those not involved. Along with all the other important rights Americans are in line to lose from the merger of the U.S., Canada and Mexico is the effort being made currently to create a common “North American ID card.” It is being promoted as a “radio frequency identification devise” (RFID). It puts your life on a computer chip. Biometric identification chips can contain reams of personal information, including thumb prints, iris scans and personal health and education history, skills, work history, job evaluation, credit information, etc. This ID is being presented in the name of national security n it is our turn to be “tagged.”

How do you feel about the prospect of having to painstakingly document who you are next time you get a driver's license, and then do the same thing five years later when you have to renew? That's the burden that would be placed on Americans under the federal Real ID law passed in 2005 and scheduled to go into effect in 2008. The act requires - among many other things - that motor vehicle departments verify, copy and store both in paper and electronic form all the foundation documents such as the birth certificate and Social Security card required to prove your identity, and to keep those records for up to 10 years.