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For all those conspiracy theorists out there, 2012 just got a little more ominous. As required by legislation passed this last summer, Russia will adopt a universal ID card starting next year. The Universal Electronic Card(UEC) is intended to eventually replace all local, regional, and national forms of ID, providing a central database through which Russians can access everything from medical insurance to ATMs. According to the official website, the UEC will be adopted by around 1000 national and regional services along with about 10,000 commercial enterprises. The mayor of Moscow has already declared it will be able to handle public transportation there, and we can expect similar adoptions throughout the nation. Will all Russians be carrying a single form of ID that is their only passport to all public and private services? Looks like it. A similar project has started in India, and there are experiments for related concepts in Mexico. Universal ID is starting to catch on around the globe. Where will it spread to next?

Ostensibly, the UEC is designed to push the Russian ID system into the 21st century. Not only is the card to provide a way for citizens to easily make electronic purchases (in person and online) it is supposed to cut down on fraud. While it doesn’t seem to include any biometrics, the card has other security measures. All information (whether for public or commercial use) will be stored in a database, not on the card. The UEC will have a number, a ‘passcode’, that points the user to the appropriate record in the database. It’s unclear what kind of readers (RF, magnetic strip, etc) will be able to access the UEC, but the site says that at least one (perhaps the only one ) will be contactless. For financial transactions users will be able to set predefined limits so that the card can only withdraw a restricted amount of funds over a period of time. Each use of the UEC will require the entry of a personal identification number, and get this, everyone will be granted a fake PIN as well! If someone is coercing you into using your UEC, then enter the fake PIN. Authorities will be notified surreptitiously while the transaction appears to be continuing regularly. I’m sure we can think of a dozen ways to get around that, but still, pretty cloak and dagger there, Russia.

Starting in 2012, Russians will be able to carry the UEC and start connecting it to their bank accounts, credit cards, bus passes, etc. Due to the legal mandate most of the businesses and all of the local/regional/national services will be required to accept it. Convenient, yes. Potentially disastrous? Maybe so, but Russia’s not going to be alone in this. India is adopting a universal ID for national identity, and is going to encourage public institutions and commercial enterprises to accept it. That UID, however, will contain some pretty thorough biometrics. Programs in Mexico (powered by a company in the US) will experiment with iris-based identification for public and commercial purposes, albeit on a smaller scale. Universal ID, especially those with advanced security features, seem to be a rising trend on the global stage.

There are some real benefits here. Convenience, certainly. Many Russians simply don’t have a way to make a secure purchase online, and their public system is a warren of overlapping ID cards that require an equally tangled bureaucracy. Properly set up, a UID tied into bank accounts could help you keep track of purchases and manage finances with greater accuracy. Security could also improve, but I think that any such system (even those that employ biometrics) are at best a short step ahead of criminal ingenuity.

I don’t think you have to be a conspiracy nut to notice the dangers either. With a single ID, agencies will be able to track personal activity more precisely. That could mean catching terrorists through financial detective work, but it could also mean a large scale invasion of privacy. Not sure if this is just old Cold War prejudice talking here, but I think Russia’s reputation makes that possibility seem likely.

In any case, whether or not Russia’s UEC proves to be a boon or bane to its citizens, it is certainly coming. And soon. The more often we see universal ID adoption, the more I believe that some form of that technology is going to spread to every industrialized nation around the world. Government or private issue, service or commercial orientated, biometrically enhanced or not – UID is on the rise. Whatever problems or advantages that may cause, we best prepare for them now.

Source: Singularity Hub

Identity cards will be scrapped under plans announced by the new Conservative and Lib Dem coalition government, new Home Secretary Theresa May has said.

Their abolition is among measures the parties have agreed to reverse what they say was “the substantial erosion” of civil liberties in recent years.

Other proposals include reforms to the DNA database, tighter regulation of CCTV and a review of libel laws.

Labour claims ID cards help tackle benefit fraud and identity theft.

The Tories and Lib Dems have both opposed ID cards from the outset, arguing they are expensive, intrusive and have done little to tackle the most serious threats to society such as terrorism and organised crime.

In a statement, the Home Office said it would announce “in due course” how the process of rescinding ID cards and the accompanying National Identity Register would move forward.

Until Parliament passes legislation banning them, ID cards remain valid and people can still apply for them. Migrant workers from outside the EU and thousands if British citizens in the North-West of England, where the scheme was being piloted, have already been issued with cards.

Home Office officials said they would advise anyone thinking of applying to wait for further announcements.

Compulsory ID cards were introduced for foreign nationals in 2008. However, attempts to require certain workers in sensitive roles, such as airport workers, to have them ran into trouble.

‘Freedom bill’

UK nationals have been able to apply for an ID card, on a voluntary basis, since last autumn with the application process being rolled out across the country.

The new government is also proposing to scrap all future biometric passports and the Contact Point Database as part of a new so-called “Freedom or Great Repeal Bill”.

It wants to “roll back” powers it says were taken by the state under Labour and has pledged to defend trial by jury, restore rights to non-violent protest, end the storage of internet and email records without good reason, introduce safeguards against the “misuse” of anti-terrorism legislation.

The new government also wants extra safeguards over the retention of people’s DNA by the police.

During the election campaign, the Lib Dems argued the DNA of innocent people should be removed from the national database and not be stored there in future while the Conservatives called for new safeguards to protect privacy.

Labour have strongly argued that the DNA database is an invaluable crime-fighting tool.

‘Innocent people’

Home Secretary Theresa May said: “We will be scrapping ID cards but also introducing an annual cap on the number of migrants coming into the UK from outside the European union.”

She said there was a “process to be gone through” to decide the annual limit. The coalition government was committed to introducing elected police commissioners and cutting police paperwork to “give the police more time on the streets,” she added.

On the DNA database, she said: “We are absolutely clear we need to make some changes in relation to the DNA database. For example one of the first things we will do is to ensure that all the people who have actually been convicted of a crime and are not present on it are actually on the DNA database.

“The last government did not do that. It focused on retaining the DNA data of people who were innocent. Let’s actually make sure that those who have been found guilty are actually on that database.”

There is no mention in the parties’ policy document of Conservative plans – included in their manifesto – for a British Bill of Rights to supersede the Human Rights Act.

The Lib Dems support a Bill of Rights but have said overriding the Human Rights Act would be “shameful”.

Source: BBC

Lawmakers are proposing a national identification card — what they’re calling “high-tech, fraud-proof Social Security cards” — that would be required for all employees in the United States.

The proposal by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York) and Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-South Carolina) comes as the states are grappling to produce another national identification card at the behest of the Department of Homeland Security. Virtually none of the states are in compliance with this Real ID program — adopted in 2005 — requiring state motor vehicle bureaus to obtain and internally scan and store personal information like Social Security cards and birth certificates for a national database.

Now comes a bid for a second card.

Homeland Security officials pointed to the Sept. 11 hijackers’ ability to get driver’s licenses in Virginia using false information as justification for the proposed $24 billion Real ID program. Schumer and Graham point to illegal immigration as cause for their plan.

“We would require all U.S. citizens and legal immigrants who want jobs to obtain a high-tech, fraud-proof Social Security card. Each card’s unique biometric identifier would be stored only on the card; no government database would house everyone’s information,” they said. “The cards would not contain any private information, medical information or tracking devices. The card would be a high-tech version of the Social Security card that citizens already have.”

Jim Harper, director of information policy studies at the Cato Institute, suggests the plan would undoubtedly lead to a national database. He added that “there is no practical way of making a national identity document fraud-proof.”

What’s more, Richard Esguerra, the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s in-house activist, notes that a national ID card likely would expand from its stated purpose.

“Because of the ID card’s proposed universality, it will likely be requested and required by airlines, insurance agencies, health care providers, mortgage lenders, credit card companies, and so forth,” he said.

And this so-called mission creep is no fantasy.

A recent and clear example of this is the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. The 2007 law requires states to have statutes demanding sex-offender registration for those convicted of the non-sex-related offenses.

Graham and Schumer said they have discussed the immigration plan with President Barack Obama, but that apparently is as far it has gone. Regarding Real ID, beginning Jan. 1 the law was supposed to have blocked anybody from boarding a plane using their driver’s license as ID if their resident state did not comport with the Real ID program.

But the Department of Homeland Security extended the deadline for another year.
Source: Wired

Lawmakers working to craft a new comprehensive immigration bill have settled on a way to prevent employers from hiring illegal immigrants: a national biometric identification card all American workers would eventually be required to obtain.

Under the potentially controversial plan still taking shape in the Senate, all legal U.S. workers, including citizens and immigrants, would be issued an ID card with embedded information, such as fingerprints, to tie the card to the worker.

The ID card plan is one of several steps advocates of an immigration overhaul are taking to address concerns that have defeated similar bills in the past.

The uphill effort to pass a bill is being led by Sens. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) and Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), who plan to meet with President Barack Obama as soon as this week to update him on their work. An administration official said the White House had no position on the biometric card.

“It’s the nub of solving the immigration dilemma politically speaking,” Mr. Schumer said in an interview. The card, he said, would directly answer concerns that after legislation is signed, another wave of illegal immigrants would arrive. “If you say they can’t get a job when they come here, you’ll stop it.”

A person familiar with the legislative planning said the biometric data would likely be either fingerprints or a scan of the veins in the top of the hand. It would be required of all workers, including teenagers, but would be phased in, with current workers needing to obtain the card only when they next changed jobs, the person said.

The card requirement also would be phased in among employers, beginning with industries that typically rely on illegal-immigrant labor.

Mr. Schumer said employers would be able to buy a scanner to check the IDs for as much as $800. Small employers, he said, could take their applicants to a government office to like the Department of Motor Vehicles and have their hands scanned there.

Read the rest of the story at: ID Card for Workers Is at Center of Immigration Plan (Wall St. Journal)