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Perfect Security According to the French Home Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, his countrymen will soon be able to enjoy the benefits of a "'perfectly secure' electronic identity card." This marvel of modern technology is set to debut in the land of wine and chocolates in 2006. The card's chip will hold your personal information and contain a "digital authentication system with a public key infrastructure" so those who access your card will be confident that you are, indeed, who you claim to be. Whether biometric information will be included is supposedly still undecided. If you're the betting type, you can take odds that such individual identifier(s) will eventually be deemed "necessary" to ensure "security" so no nefarious Pierre will be able to pretend he is Jacques. Sarkozy poses as a member of that breed of bureaucrat who believes he is "compassionate." You know. The kind that contributed to 15,000 dead French folks during last summer's heatwave. "'It's no longer up to the citizens to come to e-government, it's up to e-government [to] go to them.'" How thoughtful of him to make this ratcheting of dependence on the State so convenient . . . and involuntary. None of that inefficiency of trying to convince people that they can trust the government in any and all things. The grand plan is to have the common people enjoy one-stop-shopping. These visionaries foresee their wards utilizing one card when they deal "with central government, local authorities as well as businesses." The inclusion of the latter is hardly a surprise. As the world lumbers unsteadily towards a burgeoning fascist blending of the State and "private" industry, the politicians benefit from a further blurring of the distinct boundaries that should exist between the coercive nature of the State and the voluntary nature of financial transactions. Already, in the United States, most citizens view corporations with hostility, as a set of entities wielding "power" the ignorant equate with the force employed by the State. (Though, of course, the "power" of the State is perfectly acceptable since it is used only for "good" things, and its agents are untainted by such distasteful motives as "profit" and "greed.") Of course, many businesses fall all over themselves in their eagerness to steal from the public coffers or to use the leverage of the State to quash any would-be competitors. All is not yet peaches-and-cream, of course, in the world of identity politics. The French currently have access to a number of different cards. What if the average person prefers a card other than this "perfectly secure" national ID card? A forum on the subject of a single NID card concluded that French citizens really have nothing to fear: "'The government will give the citizen the freedom of choice.'" And choice, of course, is the hallmark, the sine qua non, of State action. Freedom uber alles is the State's guiding light. Uh-huh . . . Beyond the simple fact that lies spring from the lips of politicians with practiced ease, no card will be "perfectly secure." What one set of individuals can create, another set of people can subvert. Beyond technical challenges to the cards, corruption of those responsible for issuing NID cards will doubtless follow the same pattern evidenced by IRS, census, and other governmental employees who "promise" that the information about you is "secure" . . . even as they sell your privacy out from under you or "share" your data with other appendages of the State. ("Instant check" gun registration lists, anyone?) Assuming the French do institute their NID card, problems will inevitably ensue. Indeed, such failures will be welcomed by those who are never satisfied with how much they know about others . . . or how much they can twist that knowledge into control. When cards are lost or stolen, when counterfeit or blank cards appear on the scene, when hassles and misidentifications pile one upon the other, the next step will be unveiled. Probably something along the lines of the VeriChip. This "subdermal, radio frequency identification (RFID) microchip" is suitable for "a variety of security, financial, emergency identification and other applications." Sounds right up Sarkozy's alley. Why worry about loss or theft when you can carry your ID in your body? Every place you go, every time you pass through a reader, your location will be registered. But beyond keeping track of everyone's whereabouts, the chip can regulate your entrance to various buildings or rooms. Unauthorized? Keep out! And all the while, media, schools, and government continue the gradual process of garnering public approval and acceptance of this radical technology. Look for the "human interest" stories to appear with increasing frequency. Chipped pets that are returned to their grateful owners. Chipped children who are found after being lost or kidnapped. Chipped elderly suffering from senility who are rescued after wandering off from their nursing homes. Chipped soldiers who are retrieved from the battlefield or whose ravaged remains are identified for grieving relatives. Our schools inculcate the dogma of government-approved identification into students as they enter the school, as they eat, as they access school equipment. The children learn that invasive searches are the norm as lockers disappear, urine tests grow routine, and metal detectors frame every entrance. Both they and their parents are subjected to endless searches, checkpoints, X-raying, and indignities when they fly to visit Grandma. The military demands their suppliers use RFIDs and are joined by that biggest gorilla on the block, Walmart. Financial institutions are required to obtain positive identification before accepting your money. Thumbprints, retina scanners, picture IDs, smart cards, "Digital Angels" worn on the wrist, implantable chips . . . What once was unthinkable to employ becomes unthinkable to live without. Indeed, the Marked become the most vociferous defenders of being tagged, tracked, and detected. To "protect" us . . . from terrorists, criminals, and, that horror of horrors, inconvenience. And so easy the process is: " . . . just a few minutes . . . [involving] only local anesthetic followed by quick, painless insertion of the VeriChip. Once inserted just under the skin, the VeriChip is inconspicuous to the naked eye." Out of sight, out of mind. Just like withholding taxes and just as accepted, just as innocuous . . . Best of all, this wonder of the modern age "is not a regulated device with regard to its security, financial, personal identification/safety applications." And, I am sure, "perfectly secure." Let us hope, though, that it never is. Because that, of course, would set the stage for the perfect nightmare. Once private usage is blended with State permission — for employment, for driving a car, for licenses of all kinds, for health care, for retirement, for hunting, for firearms purchases, for the thousand-and-one aspects of life that fall under the purview of the State — once this seamless cage is installed via implantable chips, the suffocation will be complete. Even though the State fails at most of what it attempts, it does excel in the areas of death and control. Just ask the Jews under Hitler, the kulaks under Stalin, the peasants under Mao. I, for one, do not relish suffering for decades before the system collapses from the inherent cracks that plague all government programs. The State murdered 170,000,000 million of its own citizens last century. I shudder to ponder what it could do with modern technology. No. There is no "perfect security." But the best that will ever be possible to fallible, ignorant human beings will exist only when we are free . . . and, especially, free to be anonymous. Postscript"A Mexican company has launched a service to implant microchips in children as an anti-kidnapping device . . . the Mexican distributor of the VeriChip . . . is marketing the device as an emergency ID under its new VeriKid program . . ."The company envisions placing walk-through scanners . . . in malls, bus stations and other areas where a missing child may appear. The chip also could be used to identify children who are found unconscious, drugged, dead or too young to identify themselves . . . "VeriChip manufacturer Applied Digital Solutions said it plans to roll out the VeriKid service in other countries, including the United States, in the future." ReferencesApplied Digital Solutions, Inc. "VeriChip Corporation Launches First in a Planned Series of 'VeriGuard' Secure Access Control Applications." Press Release. 10-09-03. http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/031009/95382_1.htmlSilicon.com. "French Home Secretary Announces Chip ID Card." 10-01-03. http://silicon.com/news/500022/1/6228.html Postscript ReferenceJulia Scheeres. "Tracking Junior With a Microchip." Wired.com. 10-10-03. http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,60771,00.html
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