http://www.washtech.com/news/regulation/14215-1.html By Robert O'Harrow and Jonathan Krim, Washington Post Staff Writers Monday, December 17, 2001; 8:06 AM Second in a series of occasional articles [...] Almost from the day the planes hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, members of Congress, security experts and high-tech executives have endorsed the idea of some new form of identification system as a critical weapon in the fight against terrorism. They believe the cards, linked to giant databases, would be invaluable in preventing terrorists from operating under assumed names and identities. Any such proposals in the past foundered on a distrust of centralized government as old as the American republic. Opponents raised the specter of prying bureaucrats with access to databases full of personal information, of Gestapo-like stops on the street and demands to produce papers, and the kind of unchecked police authority that would erode constitutional protections. The nation's new consciousness of terrorism, a product of both the fear and anger engendered by Sept. 11, has markedly changed the way Americans think about security, surveillance and their civil liberties. For many people, the trade-off of less privacy for more security now seems reasonable. As Alan M. Dershowitz, a Harvard University law professor, wrote in October in endorsing a national ID card, the "fear of an intrusive government can be addressed by setting criteria for any official who demands to see the card." "Even without a national card, people are always being asked to show identification," he said. "The existence of a national card need not change the rules about when ID can properly be demanded." The new enthusiasm for ID cards is not the only example of a changed attitude toward privacy issues. Face recognition systems that link computers and cameras to watch passing crowds spurred so much controversy last summer that many public officials refused to consider using the technology. Now airports across the country are clamoring to test and install such systems. Congress in October approved a sweeping anti-terrorism bill that gives authorities much broader powers to monitor e-mail, listen to telephone calls and secretly gather records. And the Bush administration, led by Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, has proposed a series of other measures with wide public support. [...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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