E-Verify could add biometrics

"en. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has begun laying the groundwork for adding a biometric measure — most likely a fingerprint — to the E-Verify federal employment verification system. If he succeeds and the system covers 140 million U.S. workers, it would be one of the largest fingerprinting programs in the country.

Managed by the Homeland Security Department, E-Verify is a Web-based system in which employers check the Social Security numbers of their employees and new hires. Critics point out that individuals who submit stolen Social Security numbers can fool the system, which has no way to verify that the submitted number belongs to the person who provided it.

Schumer, who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s immigration subcommittee, is promoting a biometric-equipped E-Verify as part of the upcoming immigration reform bill.

Schumer held a hearing July 21 in which witnesses described the benefits of adding a biometric identifier to E-Verify. Schumer said it would make it harder to use stolen Social Security numbers. Individuals would provide their fingerprints and verify their identities with a government agency. Then, when seeking work, employees would provide the same information to E-Verify, and the fingerprint match would prove that the employees were using valid identification.

But critics are already raising privacy, cost and effectiveness concerns.

“A biometric solution may be going too far on the path to a national ID card and jeopardizing privacy,” said Jena McNeil, homeland security analyst at the Heritage Foundation. “It seems to open a door to an area that we haven’t explored yet. I think you could kill [E-Verify] by making it too complicated, costly, and too much an invasion of privacy.'" E-Verify could add biometrics -- Federal Computer Week:

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UK's national biometric ID card unveiled (video)

"Home Secretary Alan Johnson has unveiled the final design of the controversial national identity card.

The card will be offered to members of the public in the Greater Manchester area from the end of this year.

Ministers plan to launch the £30 biometric ID card nationwide in 2011 or 2012 - but it will not be compulsory.

Opposition spokesmen said it was a 'colossal waste of money' and civil liberty groups said it was 'as costly to our pockets as to our privacy'.

Ministers say the card, which follows the launch of the foreign national ID card, will provide an easy way of safely proving identity.

They say this system, backed up by a national identity register, will help combat identity fraud, crime and terrorism." ...more


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Mexico to launch new biometric ID card program to fight corruption

"The Mexican government will issue a new biometric identity card which will carry fingerprints, a retina scan and a photograph on a magnetic strip to fight corruption in social programs, Mexican Interior Minister Fernando Gomez Mont said on Tuesday.

'With this there will be clearer account and it will be clear that programs reach their intended recipients,' Gomez told a press conference shortly after President Felipe Calderon addressed the Senate about the card.

'This will avoid unnecessary intermediation and manipulation that can lead to illicit deviation of federal resources', Gomez said.

The announcement came after Mexican lawmakers declared a shake-up of Procampo, an agricultural support program which takes up a budget of 171 billion pesos. The money has gone largely to the wealthiest, politicians and criminals, not small agricultural producers who were its intended target.

The card will be used in state health service sector, welfare programs and others like Opportunities which gives parents allowance for keeping their children in school and receiving regular medical check-ups.

Gomez added that it could let no one use fake names and might help in the fight against identity theft and other crimes.

Most transactions in Mexico permit the use of three other identity documents: the driving license, the voter registration card and the Unique Population Registry Number (CURP) document issued by the nation's tax office. According to the minister, these were not accurate enough to identify a person.

The new ID card will not have a name and a photo visible on the outside, making it impossible to be falsified. The project's fund will come from the ministry.

A cardholder's address will not be recorded, but blood type data may be included for the sake of medical emergencies.

The first cards will be issued by the end of the year." ...source

Biometric database gets thumbs-up - Haaretz - Israel News

"The initiative to create a biometric database with information on every Israeli citizen took a giant step forward yesterday when a special Knesset subcommittee approved the bill that would require every Israeli to carry a biometric identification card and passport from mid-2010.

The second and third parliamentary vote on the bill will be held in a special Knesset session during the summer recess.
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The biometric documentation will contain chips with digitally stored images of the carrier and scans of their fingerprints.

Within a year, if the bill is passed, all Israelis will have to have their pictures taken and undergo fingerprinting." ...more

BBC NEWS Video: The Cashless Society

Hundreds Protest Against Biometric Database - News Briefs - Israel National News

"Hundreds of Israelis protested Saturday night in Tel Aviv against the establishment of the biometric database the Knesset is considering implementing. Protesters carried signs that said that Israelis would become part of a 'blacklist' when their information is included in the database. Other signs said that 'the small citizens fight Big Brother' in protest against the database, and that MK Meir Sheetrit, the main proponent of the bill, was establishing 'an Israeli secret police.'

The Knesset is expected to vote on the bill on its second and third reading this week." Hundreds Protest Against Biometric Database - News Briefs - Israel National News:

Senate Judiciary debates biometrics 666, smart card for employment

"A hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship discussed ways to fix employment eligibility in the country.

E-Verify is the system in place now and it verifies Social Security number, date of birth and other demographic data. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) says the system is prone to errors and doesn’t work and wants to add additional identification, such as biometrics, to prevent fraud and increase security. He called for a “non-forgeable identification system to completely and accurately identify workers.”

The system would be mandatory and apply to citizens and non-citizens who would use the system to verify employment eligibility. The system would have no other purpose than to verify employment eligibility, Schumer says." ...more

Revelation13:16-17

And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell (can't buy or sell without a job), save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

AFP: New 'shock' report into Irish church sex abuse

"DUBLIN — A shocking new report has identified hundreds of victims of child sex abuse by Irish Catholic priests, officials said Tuesday, two months after a landmark study found 'endemic' mistreatment.

A government-appointed commission of investigation headed by a judge has been probing allegations of abuse by priests in the archdiocese of Dublin -- the country's biggest -- since March 2006.

Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has warned that the report -- presented to Justice Minister Dermot Ahern on Tuesday -- would 'shock us all.'

It is the first time the state has investigated how the once-powerful Church in mainly Catholic Ireland has run its affairs.

It probed whether the Church reported abuse allegations or attempted to 'obstruct, prevent or interfere with the proper investigation' of complaints.

A spokeswoman for the archdiocese said the Church authorities had identified between 400 and 450 people that allege they were abused by one of 152 Dublin priests since 1940.

'I would like to stress that that is a very conservative estimate and is likely to rise,' she told AFP.

Ahern said he was anxious to make the findings public 'as quickly as possible.'

He added: 'Equally, I am concerned that nothing should be done which would harm the prospects of the perpetrators of these horrific acts of depravity against children being brought to the justice they deserve.'

Ahern is required to apply to the High Court for directions if he considers the report's publication might prejudice any criminal prosecution of clerics.

He is to seek the advice of Attorney General Paul Gallagher.

In May Ireland was rocked by a landmark report that concluded sexual, physical and emotional abuse was 'endemic' in Church-run industrial and reformatory schools, orphanages and other childcare institutions dating back to the 1930s.

Prime Minister Brian Cowen said it contained a 'shattering litany of abuse of children in care in this country over many decades.'

He told parliament the report was the gravest in the history of the country and contained 'such horrific stories that it is difficult to know where to begin in talking about it.'" ...source

RFID-Enabled Phones Could Let Credit Card Companies Track Users

"An Ericsson executive says all new mobile phones sold in 2010 will include an RFID chip that will allow owners to open their car or house door with their phone. A handy feature, no doubt, for some people. But the executive says the chip might also be used by credit card companies to track the location of cardholders to cut down on fraud.

Håkan Djuphammar, vice president of systems architecture for Ericsson, speaking at a conference in Stockholm this week, said credit card companies could make use of mobile user location data and IP mapping to determine if the owner of a card is in the same location where a card transaction is taking place.

“In some countries there’s a lot of fraud with credit cards so therefore it’s in the interest of the credit card issuer to be able to match the position of the phone that belongs to the person who has a credit card,” he reportedly said.

He said the chips could also be used to create real-time traffic maps and updates by determining the speed of a driver passing by mobile phone base stations.

Djuphammar said selling the information of mobile phone users to credit card companies and others would be a “win win” situation for all parties concerned.

“That is a typical ‘win win’ where the operator share their assets/knowledge through a broker, and the GPS company can sell a service to the end user. The end user wins, the GPS service provider wins, the broker provider wins and the operator wins,” he said.

Djuphammar did not mention whether users will be able to turn the chip off or otherwise opt out of the sale of their data." ...Wired.com

"A SIGN of the TIMES" Episcopal Church moves toward blessing gay unions

"LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The U.S. Episcopal Church gave its clergy the go-ahead on Friday to bless some same-sex unions, such as civil partnerships in states that legally recognize them, setting the stage for further conflict with the wider Anglican world.

The resolution, passed on the final day of the church's triennial national convention, also directs church leaders to develop official rites, or liturgies, for the blessing of same-sex unions -- a move that could see the church eventually change its definition of marriage.

For now, the church's official definition of marriage is a union between a man and a woman. The same-sex rites called for on Friday will be discussed and voted on at the next general church conference in three years.

The 2 million-member Episcopal Church earlier this week approved a resolution opening the doors to ordain gay men and women as clergy.

Both resolutions are sure to further strain U.S. Episcopal Church relations with its conservative parishes and the global Anglican Communion, whose 80 million members belong to congregations that are offshoots of the Church of England.

Church unity has been strained since 2003, when the Episcopal Church consecrated Gene Robinson of New Hampshire as the first bishop in Anglican history known to be in an openly gay relationship.

The ordaining of gay clergy and related issues have already prompted some congregations to leave the Episcopal fold and form a rival North American church that claims 100,000 believers. Anglican churches in regions like Africa have broken ties with their more liberal U.S. brethren.

'We're doing our best to make room for everybody. We have gay and lesbian members, and gay and lesbian clergy, and we are trying to honor the diversity of belief and theology in the church,' Stephen Lane, the bishop of Maine, told Reuters before the resolution's final passage." ...mores:

India to issue all 1.2 billion citizens with biometric ID cards - Times Online

"It is surely the biggest Big Brother project yet conceived. India is to issue each of its 1.2 billion citizens, millions of whom live in remote villages and possess no documentary proof of existence, with cyber-age biometric identity cards.

The Government in Delhi recently created the Unique Identification Authority, a new state department charged with the task of assigning every living Indian an exclusive number. It will also be responsible for gathering and electronically storing their personal details, at a predicted cost of at least £3 billion.

The task will be led by Nandan Nilekani, the outsourcing sage who coined the phrase “the world is flat”, which became a mantra for supporters of globalisation. “It is a humongous, mind-boggling challenge,” he told The Times. “But we have the opportunity to give every Indian citizen, for the first time, a unique identity. We can transform the country.”

If the cards were piled on top of each other they would be 150 times as high as Mount Everest — 1,200 kilometre"

India’s legions of local bureaucrats currently issue at least 20 proofs of identity, including birth certificates, driving licences and ration cards. None is accepted universally and moving from one state to the next can easily render a citizen officially invisible — a disastrous predicament for the millions of poor who rely on state handouts to survive.

It is hoped that the ID scheme will close such bureaucratic black holes while also fighting corruption. It may also be put to more controversial ends, such as the identification of illegal immigrants and tackling terrorism. A computer chip in each card will contain personal data and proof of identity, such as fingerprint or iris scans. Criminal records and credit histories may also be included....more

Minority Report precrime unit coming to a city near you: "Preempting threats with WeCU technology"

"The presentation opens with a question: What if a threat could be detected before it has a chance to complete its mission? A powerful image ensues of live footage rolling backward in slow motion. In the imaginary scenario, a clock turns back and one of the most devastating terrorist attacks of all time never happens. The Twin Towers in New York City go from being impacted by jumbo jets - their shattering glass frames exploding into flames - to a narrative in which they return to their original structural soundness. As the flames disappear and the glass returns to its proper place along the sides of the buildings, a new slide pops up. The setting sun shines on the former skyline of New York. The original supposition is answered by the following words: Actually, it can.

This ability to detect potential threats defines the innovative new technology of WeCU. The Israeli company is a collaboration among leading experts in diverse fields, including Zipora (Zipi) Alster, a behavioral scientist; CEO Ehud Givon, an experienced engineer who worked in security for many years before founding WeCU; Shlomo Breznitz, a psychology professor who specializes in stress response research; and Dr. Boaz Ganor, the founder and executive director of the International Institute for Counterterrorism at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. For the last six years, the team has been developing a technology that promises to change the future of security." ...more

BusinessWorld Online: A World Without Cash

"IT STARTED as a piece of economic science fiction. The cashless society, a society in which all bills and debits are paid through electronic media, is now more than ever a looming possibility; some say it can be realized as early as the year 2012.

Imagine working in one of the busiest districts of Tokyo. The fight for the last maki during the peak hours of your favorite sushi bar will have had you settling for the next best thing. Yet, the reassuring thought of not having to fall too far behind a long line of hungry customers counting the coins in their purses has somewhat made the extra time you spent waiting for your much coveted sushi all the more worthwhile.

That is the typical lunch break of Toru Nashimito as narrated by an international journal. Mr. Nashimito is a Japanese 40-year-old who, like much of Japan today, finds payment to the last centavo a convenient swipe-of-the-card (or cellphone) away. In but a few seconds, Nashimoto had paid for his $45 lunch tab. No change from the cash register. No waiting for confirmation. No pin code to enter.

A Global Trend

In Japan especially, cashless transactions are fast becoming the norm of everyday life. The Japanese are flashing their smart cards and their mobile phones on virtually all of their purchases, from magazines to fast food to public transport, even vendo machines.

Japan, however, is not alone. Joining the ranks of those countries converting to electronic cash is New Zealand. In fact, a recent report by her Retirement Commission reveals that electronic funds transfer (Eftpos) had already displaced cash as the most common method of payment for such things as groceries, power bills, and mortgages. According to the same study, the number using Eftpos had remained stable at 83%, while those using cash had fallen from 84% in 2005 to 77%, a whopping 6% shy of the now most widely used means of transaction.

The concept has become far from arcane, even to countries with relatively backward technologies such as the Philippines. The smart cards and mobile phones are embedded with unique antennas and integrated circuit chips that allow the devices to receive and emit electronic signals, which in turn, translate to electronic money. This is the same technology employed in Hong Kong’s widely used Octopus card. Launched in 1997, the card is now enjoyed by more than 13 million users.

Europe and the United States are expected to follow suit, albeit not as seamlessly as the transition of their eastern counterparts. Branded as the credit card nation, the U.S. is probably the best example of a country that has done away with cash. In 2005, only 31% and 15% of the public used cash and checks, respectively, while users of credit and debit cards ballooned to 51%. Slowly but surely, Americans are holding onto their cards rather than their currency, and analysts say that eventually e-cash will penetrate the iPod nation, if only for speedier transactions." ...more

"Pope Endorses "World Political Authority"

"Some in the media are calling it just a statement about 'economic justice.' But Pope Benedict XVI's 'Charity in Truth' statement, also known as an encyclical, is a radical document that puts the Roman Catholic Church firmly on the side of an emerging world government.

In explicit and direct language, the Pope calls for a 'true world political authority' to manage the affairs of the world. At the same time, however, the Pope also warns that such an international order could 'produce a dangerous universal power of a tyrannical nature' and must be guarded against somehow.

The New York Times got it right this time, noting the Pope's call for a world political authority amounted to endorsement of a New World Economic Order, a long-time goal of the old Soviet-sponsored international communist movement. Bloomberg.com highlighted the Pope's call for a new world order with 'teeth.'

The Pope's shocking endorsement of a 'World Political Authority,' which has prophetic implications for some Christians who fear that a global dictatorship will take power in the 'last days' of man's reign on earth, comes shortly after the United Nations Conference
on the World Financial and Economic Crisis issued a call for global taxes and more powerful global institutions. U.N. General Assembly President, Miguel D'Escoto, a Communist Catholic Priest, gave a speech at the event calling on the nations of the world to revere 'Mother Earth' but concluded with words from the Pope blessing the conference participants.

The controversial Papal statement comes just before a meeting of the G-8 nations and a scheduled meeting between the Pope and President Obama at the Vatican on July 10.

Sounding like Obama himself, Pope Benedict says this new international order can be accomplished through 'reform of the United Nations Organization, and likewise of economic institutions and international finance, so that the concept of the family of nations can acquire real teeth.'

The 'teeth' may come in adopting the global environmental agenda, which the Pope warmly embraces." ...more

Bill Prohibits Forced Implantation

Bill Prohibits Forced Implantation: "The Pennsylvania House of Representatives on a 195-0 vote has passed legislation to mandate informed consent before an individual is implanted with an identification device. The legislation, H.B. 1175, now moves to the state Senate.

The bill defines an identification device as 'any item, application or product that is passively or actively capable of transmitting personal information, including, but not limited to, devices using radio frequency technology.'

VeriChip Corp., a Delray Beach, Fla.-based vendor of an implantable microchip to provide access to an individual's medical records, supports the bill. 'In general, we are supportive of legislation that prohibits forced implants,' said Scott Silverman, chair of VeriChip, in a statement. 'VeriChip, like any other medical device, should be an election by the patient or his or her physician, loved one or guardian.'

Under the legislation, 'no device shall be implanted or incorporated into the body without the fully informed written consent of the individual. The consent of a guardian, parent or attorney shall not constitute consent. An individual must be at least 18 years of age and of sound mind to undergo implementation of an identification device.'

That language would suggest such devices could not be used to track the whereabouts of persons with dementia.

The bill's provisions would not apply to individuals ordered by a state or federal court to be implanted as part of a sentence or condition for parole or release. It also would exempt military prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay.

The legislation authorizes civil penalties of up to $10,000 and gives victims the right to bring a civil suit.

Text of the bill is available at legis.state.pa.us. Under Find, click on Session Information. Under Bill Information, enter HB 1175. Then select Printer's No. 2239 for the House-passed version.

--Joseph Goedert"

Glenn Beck Agrees US Needs Another Al Qaeda Attack To Protect Us From Immigrants

Glenn Beck nods and agrees with his guest Michael Scheuer that the only way to "save" the US (from illegal immigrants, of course) is for Osama bin Laden to succeed in detonating a major weapon on America.