Just heard on the news a few minutes ago. The latest incarnation of Obama care requires what was called a “High Tech ID Card”. Supposedly it has much greater support and confidence for pushing it through is high.

Just to be clear, what exactly does “High Tech ID Card” mean? Could it mean RF ID? Is this entire thing a bait and switch simply designed to track people better?

I remember the old computer store Comp USA. At the checkout table was an artistic rendering of a hand with a star shining in the fleshy part between the index finger and thumb. I asked the clerk what that was for and she did not know. The emblem was right next to the bar code reader. It seemed to me at the time, that they were preparing our minds for the shape of things to come. As if one day we could just wave our hands across the terminal and have all info downloaded.

This type of scenario would best describe it.

So the main Q I have here is, do we need mandatory “High Tech ID Cards”? What would be the benefits and drawbacks? And who exactly would benefit the most? How would the common consumer benefit from this level of open identity sharing?

Topics: privacy, security, identity, health care reform, tracking, RF ID