Canadians Wary of 'Enhanced Drivers Licenses'

Dr.Merkwurdigeliebe writes ""Enhanced drivers licenses such as those to be issued in B.C. will lay the groundwork for a national identity card", federal privacy commissioner Jennifer Stoddart said yesterday. Stoddart said the licenses, touted as an alternative to a passport for the purpose of crossing the U.S. border, closely resemble the Real ID program in the United States. She characterized that program as a way of introducing a "type of national identity card" for Americans."

Yes

[lawnsprinkler]

It would.

Re:So how long until global identity cards?

[Remusti]

No, but they will need them to get back in.

Bunch of pussies.

[Seumas]

Stop crying you whiny Canadians! In America, we don't worry about such things, as long as we have sports heroes who make $50m/yr that we can still worship and our favorite sit-coms are still on the air and we can still teach our children that the world is 6,000 years old and we can still own machine guns for hunting elk!

Re:Canada Americans

[Grendel70]

So would those BC residents become americans when they receive this card?

Why do you think they're wary?

Re:Is that a typo in the subject?

[Bastard of Subhumani]

I reckon they've run out of those stupid extra 'u's that they randomly insert in words so they're using 'e's instead.

Re:Bunch of pussies.

[scottv67]

as long as we have sports heroes who make $50m/yr

It looks like you are taking a shot at those "sports heroes" with the big salaries. But those athletes with $50M/year salaries are actually a good thing. What do nearly all sports heroes do with their salary? They spend it! Big-name athletes drive expensive cars, they live in huuuuuuge mansions, they eat in expensive restaurants, and they buy lots of "bling". Those expensive cars pay the salaries of the salespeople at the car dealership as well as the mechanics who change the oil. The huuuuge houses provide wages for carpenters, electricians, house keepers, etc. Every $500 dinner tab at a fancy-schmany restaurant pays the wages of wait-staff, cooks, etc. What better way to stimulate the economy and get money into the hands of people who work for a living than to give it to a pro athlete? When was the last time you heard a story about a pro athlete who had millions in the bank? It's very rare. Nearly all of them spend it as fast as it comes in (or faster).

Giving an athlete $50M/year is like giving hay and water to a cow. The cow doesn't hoard the hay and water in its body. After the cow ingests the hay and water, a number of "calves" can all take a turn at one of the teats. (How's *that* for a Slashdot analogy?)

Re:Won't fly.

[somersault]

"My government (Germany) introduced biometric information into passports through the EU backdoor"

Eww. Why were they keeping their passports in there anyway?

Re:Won't fly.

[somersault]

"A note to the Department of Homeland Security: Terrorists can get passports too."

Yeah, but then they have 6 months to consider the error of their ways! Well, if they're Americans going to another country to commit terrification.

Re:Is that a typo in the subject?

[Anonymous Coward]

I, for one, welcome our new fatigue-inducing licences.

Re:Yes

[smittyoneeach]

Wood knot.

Re:National ID Register

[johneee]

Tinfoil hattery aside, there are a lot of people in the government who would love to have everyone + dog in a single database with a single primary key that is indelibly attached to a single person, but perhaps not for the same reasons the tinfoil people think.

I bring your attention to the following inflamitory, apocryphal, forward I got the other day:

--

Actual letter to the Canadian Passport office

  Dear Mr. Minister,

I'm in the process of renewing my passport, and still cannot believe this.
How is it that Radio Shack has my address and telephone number and knows that I bought a t.v. cable from them back in 1997, and yet, the Federal Government is still asking me where I was born and on what date.

For Christ sakes, do you guys do this by hand?

My birth date you have on my social insurance card, and it is on all the income tax forms I've filed for the past 30 years. It is on my health insurance card, my driver's license, on the last eight goddamn passports I've had, on all those stupid customs declaration forms I've had to fill out before being allowed off the planes over the last 30 years, and all those insufferable census forms that are done at election times.

Would somebody please take note, once and for all, that my mother's name is Maryanne, my father's name is Robert and I'd be absolutely astounded if that ever changed between now and when I die!!!

$^&**%^$#@#

I apologize, Mr. Minister. I'm really Tee-ed off this morning. Between you an' me, I've had enough of this poop! You send the application to my house, then you ask me for my #$&*^%' address. What is going on?
You have a gang of Neanderthals workin' there?

Look at my damn picture. Do I look like Bin Laden? I don't want to dig up Yasser Arafat, for %^&((&% sakes. I just want to go and park my ass on a sandy beach.

Well, I have to go now, 'cause I have to go to the other end of the city and get another (*&&%^^$%^ copy of my birth certificate, to the tune of $60!!!

Would it be so complicated to have all the services in the same spot to assist in the issuance of a new passport the same day??

Nooooo, that'd be too damned easy and maybe make sense. You'd rather have us running all over the place like chickens with our heads cut off, then find some #$%^&*&&$% to confirm that it's really me on the goddamn picture - you know, the one where we're not allowed to smile?!

($%^&** morons)

Hey, you know why we can't smile? We're totally irate!

Signed - An Irate Canadian Citizen.

P.S. Remember what I said above about the picture and getting someone to confirm that it's me? Well, my family has been in this country since
1776 when one of my forefathers took up arms against the Americans. I have served in the military for something over 30 years and have had security clearances up the yingyang.

I was aide de camp to the lieutenant governor of our province for ten years and I have been doing volunteer work for the RCMP for about five years.

However, I have to get someone 'important' to verify who I am - you know, someone like my doctor, WHO WAS BORN AND RAISED IN COMMUNIST &&*(()%^ CHINA !!!

Hamilton, Ontario Canada

--

And I gotta say, a lot of people in government would love to do everything he says, but the problem is that they'd have to remember all the personal information about everyone in the country and share all that information not only between departments but between jurisdictions as well, and currently, we can't break down the walls that exist between departments to share information because of our privacy and security rules and regulations. There are a lot of very smart people trying very hard to get a good balance between these two things, but it's very very difficult to reconcile them.

You want the same kind of service from your government as you get from Radio shack? You gotta allow them to collect and store your personal information and identify it reliably. You want to keep your privacy? You won't get the kind of service some people want.

TL, DR: Choose only one: Good customer service from government or no big government databases.