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US Card
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1994-06-09
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6KB
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113 lines
excerpted from THE SPOTLIGHT JUNE 1, 1994
Please take a moment to read this column.
We, as Americans, have a serious Smart Card problem. Yes, today. Right now,
dear readers. he problem is called the U.S. Card. It's a Smart Card from Hell.
If the Clinton administration proceeds with its plans, you could receive a
""US Card" in the mail within months. Some spokespeople claim your U.S. Card
will be "voluntary"-but others say it will be required for you to access
government data (information about you), receive government benefits (like
Medicare) or file your income taxes with the IRS.
Furthermore, without legislative approval, Clinton may soon sign two
already-drafted Executive Order that will tie your bank accounts and personal
financial records into your U.S. Card.
THE U.S. CARD
The widely read computer industry magazine PC Week has confirmed reports from
sources about the so-called U.S. Card proposed at last month's CardTech/
SecureTech" conference in Crystal City, Virginia.
According to PC Week the Clinton administration is working on creating an
identification card that every American will need to interact with any federal
agency. In all likelihood, that identification. card will be the U.S. Card.
The magazine also quoted sources close to the Clinton administration who
revealed that the Clinton cabal plans to tie citizens' financial and banking
records and funds to a national identity device. Executive orders are said to
be drafted to accomplish this without congressional approval. The White House
refused to comment to PC Week on the story.
Whose brainchild is the U.S. Card? Hold on to your seats. It was proposed at
the CardTech conference by the Postal Service, a semiprivate corporation. The
IRS proposed a Smart Card, too, but conference attendees say the Post Office's
card is the clear favorite.
20 MILLION 'LITTLE BROTHERS' (those against paying federal tax)
According to an independent source who attended the 'security track" of the
CardTech conference, the Postal Service proposed the U.S. Card as a Mediation
device. Doesn't that sound friendly?
It won't be part of a big, nasty government database soaking up the tiniest
personal details about every American for tracking, political profiling, and
near-instant IRS audits. Oh, no!
Instead, it will mediate all government databases. The U.S. Card will
front-end for everything from the Social Security Administration to the IRS to
the Veterans Administration to your bank and credit-card companies. A Postal
Service spokesman reportedly claimed the U.S. Card will protect us from 20
million little brothers and a pocketful of inconvenient little plastic ball-
and-chain Smart Cards from different government agencies. Isn't that precious?
Why settle for Little Brother' when you can have the real thing? The spokesman
reportedly made 'another claim--one that PC Week didn't report. He claimed the
Post Office could mail 100 million U.S. Cards to Americans in a matter of
months.
SMART CARD POWER PLAY
Why would the Postal Service want to go into the Big Brother business? First,
the post office equipped with superb computer systems. They can Indeed
accomplish their claimed goals for the U.S. Card. Second, don't forget Smart
Cards represent power. They will control vast amounts of personal and
financial data about whoever accepts one. And information about you, dear
reader, is power over you.
That's why Smart Cards have suddenly become a government bandwagon. The
technology is here and every government agency wants to foist one on you. Once
you accept it, they can use it to pull your chain--and broker the details of
your private life to other agencies. Swapping the details of your existence
like baseball cards, to bureaucracies that might have an interest--or a profit
motive--in watching you, harassing you, arresting you, protecting your
children or seizing desirable property you might possess.
Make no mistake about it, whoever controls the information about American
citizens has vast power-- over citizens and power over other government
bureaucracies that want information for their own purposes.
WHAT COULD HAPPEN SOON
How invasive can this information be? How fast can it travel? Consider this:
Let's say you have a business lunch on a Saturday and charge it to your
corporate credit card. IRS computers could flag your business expense: real
time, as transaction is processed at your bank. The computers could then
allow the Saturday-lunch deduction automatically. And finally, they could
flag you for tax audit--or perhaps just a whopping penalty--in microseconds.
You'd better pay them what they demand, too. Or their computer will take your
house. With you in it. And don't expect a thank-you note from the Federal
Reserve, either. But maybe they'll let you stay on as a tenant.
CAN IT BE STOPPED
Can Americans stop the U.S. Card? Congressmen and senators are starting to
stand up to Clifton's evil information initiatives. In particular, Senator
Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has been forceful in his opposition to Big Brother-like
devices. Certainly, Leahy will pay special attention to citizen protests of
Clifton's info-tyranny. And your elected representatives had better, too.
A recent opinion poll showed that 80 percent of all Americans oppose Clifton's
Clipper chip. I believe the reported results. Computer-industry polls usually
aren't big news--and therefore they usually aren't fixed by media
organizations. Clifton's cabal undoubtedly believes the results, too--so
they're trying to force technologies like Clipper chips unto our lives with
Executive , Orders. Or sneak them into household appliances...
The U.S. Card is literally the worst' case personal identity device and
tracking system I have described here several times in the past. It can and
almost certainly will function as a Soviet-style internal passport for
Americans.
Let us demand that Congress stops is monstrosity in its tracks--and then stand
up to the sleazy, underhanded tactics of the Clinton administration and its
masters.