NATIONAL ID CARD PROPOSAL SLAMMED BEFORE CONGRESS.Byline: - Bill Hillburg The proposal to create a national ID card to combat terrorism was trashed trashed adj. Slang Drunk or intoxicated. Our Living Language Expressions for intoxication are among those that best showcase the creativity of slang. before Congress on Friday by several high-profile witnesses, who instead pressed for reforms that critics claimed could threaten privacy and civil liberties. In testimony before the House subcommittee on government efficiency, financial management and intergovernmental relations, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said he was opposed to a national identification card. He called for developing tamper-proof Social Security cards, visas, driver's licenses and birth certificates and creating a nationwide data network to track terrorist suspects. ``We already have a primitive, easily cheatable form of identification,'' said Gingrich, who advocated using tamper-proof visas, thumbprints or retinal scans for all foreigners. Rep. Stephen Horn, R-Lakewood, who chairs the subcommittee, asked whether Congress, which has largely opposed national IDs, was out of touch with the public. He cited several polls, conducted in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, that indicated 70 percent of Americans would accept an ID. But former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson Alan Simpson may refer to:
``You do a disservice to the country when you talk about a national ID card. All you do is create a diversion for people who want to talk about tattoos (on concentration camp inmates) and Nazis.'' Simpson said such fears of government abuses were largely misplaced mis·place tr.v. mis·placed, mis·plac·ing, mis·plac·es 1. a. To put into a wrong place: misplace punctuation in a sentence. b. , stressing that improved identification systems and data sharing The ability to share the same data resource with multiple applications or users. It implies that the data are stored in one or more servers in the network and that there is some software locking mechanism that prevents the same set of data from being changed by two people at the same time. would be closely controlled to ensure civil rights. Katie Corrigan, legislative counsel on privacy for the American Civil Liberties Union American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), nonpartisan organization devoted to the preservation and extension of the basic rights set forth in the U.S. Constitution. , said plans advocated by Gingrich, Simpson and several current lawmakers would not have stopped the Sept. 11 attacks and would create a de facto [Latin, In fact.] In fact, in deed, actually. This phrase is used to characterize an officer, a government, a past action, or a state of affairs that must be accepted for all practical purposes, but is illegal or illegitimate. national ID system. ``An identification card simply confirms you are who you say you are,'' she said. ``It does not establish motive or intent to attack a plane.'' Corrigan also called a proposal by Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein to create tamper-proof visas ``a national ID starter kit that could open the door to abuses of the rights of foreigners and citizens.'' The idea of maintaining a data bank of federal, state and local information on foreign visa holders was supported by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., who suggested that foreigners who overstay Overstay The act of holding an investment for too long. It often occurs when traders attempt to time the market by identifying the end of a price trend and the beginning of a new one, but, due to greed and fear, tend to overstay their positions. their visas could have their driver licenses automatically revoked and their U.S. bank accounts frozen. |
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