Help kill the Surveillance State Bill

[Bill Freeman]

Fred writes:
 > Keep in mind that your microwave oven can be your best friend in the
 > defense against RFIDs.

	Or if you want it to work sometimes, like when/if it becomes a
requirement for some transactions, and you just want to prevent remote
readings, keep it in an aluminum foil envelope (similar to the
magnetic stripe protection envelope that comes with your ATM card).

 > > And, even if it's only a magstrip, I don't want the clerks at the
 > > liquor store, or the store owners to have access to my identity that
 > > easily.

	Don't let them scan it.  If they insist, shop elsewhere.  (I
don't shop at the Stop and Shop family of grocers any more, since you
have to use their card to get there best price.  I still occasionally
shop at CVS, because the price difference is tiny, and is only a store
credit that comes significantly after the purchase time.)

 > And a deguasser is your best friend there. However, none of these would
 > be effective against bar codes.

	What we need is a plastic cover that is clear in visible light
but opaque or reflective or stippled in the IR.

 > I found this out the hard way once when I crossed into Canada, and the
 > Canadian customs ran my DL and pulled up a 5-year-old case of
 > "disorderly conduct" in which I was found not-guilty. Didn't matter.
 > They harassed me about it anyway.

	And they could do that with just your driver's license number,
or the number on any other document that they accept as ID.  Border
control is actually a reason for record aggregation that I support.
The problems here are that: 1. That they felt that they should hassle
you over a charge that resulted in a not guilty verdict; and 2. that
not guilty cases aren't expunged from the level of record that they
can access without first bringing a charge against you.

	Basically I agree that we effectively already have national
and even international ID.  Fighting the provision under discussion of
the pending legislation is just spitting into the wind.  You cannot
prevent organizations, and especially government, from keeping track
of you and much of what you do.  Having a national ID card probably
makes it harder to delude yourself that you have some degree of
anonymity, and thus may actually be a good thing.  At least we don't
yet have finger print scanners on public restroom doors.

							Bill