ID Scanners

Via Gothamist: an New York Sun article on night-clubs owners who may use ID-scanners to separate the wheat from the chaff, ID-wise. Casinos also use ID-scanners.

I do believe that a federal ID card is needed to avoid fraud, but I sometimes wonder if I am right to advocate an ID card. There are so many pros and cons, and I dsiscover new arguments regularly.

There is an opinion in the New York Times today that argues that Missouri ID Law's purpose was not to deter fraud, but "to deter voting by blacks, poor people, and other group that are less likely to have driver's licenses." The author points out that one will need to pay to some fees in order to get an ID card, partly because one needs a birth certificate to obtain an ID, and apparently a birth certificate is not free in Missouri. That part puzzles me, and makes me once aware that I cannot merely transpose my French opinions in the US. ID in France, good. Birth certificate come free there.

And now I wonder if advocating an ID is elitist, and if ID may actually lead to disenfranchising? Quite an upsetting thought. Anyway, it may be another reason why a federal ID is needed, not a state ID. Fees could, and should be waived if needed.