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Obama Pushing National ID Card To Control Illegal Immigration?
America’s new national identification system is coming. President Obama and a bipartisan group of senators want to enact a national identification card that would link to a database containing your name, Social Security number, and biometric information such as pictures and fingerprints. The Washington Post editorial board wants one too.
Two points are central to their argument: 1) this identification system is a necessary, effective, and appropriate way to control illegal immigration, and 2) it will be used strictly for employment purposes. Both claims lack any credibility.
Is it necessary?
The Post claims there are only two ways to end illegal immigration: border security or a national ID. But that’s not true. If we simply created an accessible legal avenue for entry, such as we had during the early 1960s, illegal immigration could be eliminated. The same amount of border enforcement with hundreds of thousands of fewer border crossers would secure the border and end illegal immigration.
Is it effective?
“If illegal immigrants can’t get jobs, they won’t come to this country,” The Post editors reason. That’s largely true, but a national ID mandate does Read more…
Troubling signs of the rise of Chinese ultra-nationalists
A still from “Glorious Mission”, a video game created by the Chinese government.
The recent Japanese protest that Chinese warships recently locked their weapons-control radars on to a Japanese navy destroyer and a military helicopter in two separate incidents not far from the bitterly disputed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea raises disturbing questions.
One is the extent to which effective civilian control is being exercised over the armed forces in China. If the military, or rogue ultra-nationalist officers, call the shots in a crisis that potentially involves not just Japan but also its ally, the United States, it could trigger a wider war that would destabilise the Asia-Pacific region.
After several days of silence, China’s Defence Ministry posted a denial on its website on Friday. It said that the radars on the frigates ”kept normal observation and were on alert”, but in neither case were fire-control radars used.
Japan rejected the account and said that it was considering releasing data that would prove the fire-control radar was directed at its destroyer.
Japan’s Defence Minister, Itsunori Onodera, had earlier warned China it may have violated Read more…
Facing up to the law: increasing surveillance raises privacy concerns
I spy the use of facial recognition systems by law enforcement agencies is becoming more widespread. Illustration: Sam Bennett
ABOUT 15,000 people have had images of their faces captured on an Australian Federal Police database in its first year of operation, igniting fears that the rise of facial recognition systems will lead to CCTV cameras being installed on every street corner.
The database includes pictures of alleged criminals who may not know their images are on file.
The AFP say facial recognition may eventually be considered as credible as fingerprints, but images on their database are not being shared with state police forces. Sharing images on a national database could be possible by 2015.
The president of Australian Councils for Civil Liberties, Terry O’Gorman, said it was troubling that technologies such as facial and number plate recognition had become so widespread and there appeared to be no independent monitoring of the impacts on privacy.
The justification for widespread CCTV has also been questioned, with a report by police in London, the most spied-upon city in the world, showing that only one crime was solved per 1000 cameras.
An AFP forensic and data centres biometrics co-ordinator, Simon Walsh, said international agencies were Read more…
Arctic Soil Releases Dangerous Levels of CO2, Speeding Global Warming
For most of the year, the Arctic is frozen: its hard-packed tundra and ice forming solid ground. In fact, some of that ice never melts in what is known as permafrost, which stays solid all year. Now, global warming has caused scientists to worry as permafrost melts, releasing a vast amount of CO2 into the atmosphere and further perpetuating the problem.
Flooding triggered by melting snow washes vast amounts of carbon-rich soil from the land into the water. These waters contain most of the carbon that is currently being released from melting permafrost. Permafrost itself contains years of collected organic matter and when it collapses, it exposes new layers of soil to sunlight. Once this carbon is exposed, it is then oxidized by bacteria and produces CO2. In fact, scientists estimate that carbon from Read more…
Graphic: North Korea successfully tests 7 kiloton nuclear device
Click to enlarge
North Korea has confirmed that it has carried out its third nuclear test, after international monitors detected seismic activity close to the nation’s nuclear test site.
The North Korean regime said it had “successfully” detonated a miniaturised nuclear device with “greater explosive force” in an underground test.
This is the third test by the secretive regime in the last ten years. The first test took place in 2006, and was estimated to have a yield of only one kiloton.
Today’s test is approximately seven times larger, and the miniaturised design of the device could enable it to fit on long range missiles currently under development.
North Korea tested a three stage rocket last year which has the potential for reaching the far west coast of the US.
Gold Sellers in Houston Must Submit to Fingerprints and Mugshots
Instead of reducing crime, the new law will instead put a damper on the sale of gold, silver and other precious metals
Last week the Houston City Council passed an ordinance requiring people who sell precious metals to be fingerprinted and photographed.
According to KTRK-TV, the ordinance is “meant to help track down criminals who try to resell stolen valuables. Gold-buying businesses will now be required to photograph and fingerprint sellers as well as photograph the items that are being sold to the dealer.” In other words, citizens who sell gold will be considered criminals until they demonstrate otherwise.
“It’s going to allow us the tools necessary to combat a lot of the high-end jewelry thefts that’s going on in the city, whether it’s robberies or burglaries,” Houston Police Officer Rick Barajas told the news station last Wednesday.
Audi S8s, Shelby Mustangs, BMW M5s, Dodge Chargers and Honda S2000 roadsters are stolen thousands of times a year and yet people who own them are not required by government to be fingerprinted and photographed in Read more…
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