National
ID card is a form of identification that is required for each citizen or
resident of an issuing country to carry all the times. It is issued by government as means of
tracking their citizens, taxation, provide government benefits, health care and
other government transactions. For
ultimate identity, it has portrait, signature specimen, biometric information
including fingerprint and unique identification number. It is a permanent proper identification to
prove one’s identity. Because of its
ultimate legality, it is almost essential to have one to access both government
and private facilities such as obtaining driver licence, applying gun permit,
applying a job, opening a bank account, credit card, and exercising the right
to suffrage.
While
the head of the state has to ensure the national security above all, implementing
national ID unmasks the potential terrorists and rebels, guard against illegal
immigrants, and enhance national security. Easy to label government profiling since it’s
categorically monitors the suspected antagonist and radical of the state. But apart from administrative cases, having
the national badge number can easily identify to detect fraud, crime acts and
locate the outlaws. Since everyone is liable
to their act and biometric information will not lie, the holders will be very
cautious to enter in an anomalous transaction.
Risking your own identity, who will have the nerve to engineer a
scam? An isolate case might come but
overall, no one will dare to detect that easy to form drug syndicates, get
involved in pork barrel scam, build a pyramid scam, sending spam messages, operate
illegal and others. Biometrics controls
duplicating, tampering and forging to flee accountability, then by all means everyone
will not hesitate to protect themselves.
If
you are not doing anything illegal then you have nothing to fear. The fear of national ID is actually about
politics. Underlying the fear on the
card is the possibility of increasing the power of the authorities, be used for
domestic spying, access our information, finance and whereabouts, be used
against the individual, violation on civil liberties and privacy rights, and
abuse the intent of the Constitution. To
lose this fear, the trust must build. The
government officials then must be trustworthy.
So what if the government can access our physical movements? Like father
to his children, our government has every right to watch our whereabouts. Potential illegal movements have to intercept
to ensure our general welfare. Invasion
of privacy, civil rights harassment, less freedom, and fear of surveillance are
major concerns but it has to be viewed in another standpoint. It’s all for our own good.
If
it is like father to his children, then what we really need is the trust. As long as our government proves its
trustworthy, there will be peace of mind in ourselves. If the persons in authority are true to their
duties, people will entrust their information like we already did in hospitals,
banks, schools and companies. We’ve
entrusted our personal information in these private entities so why not with
our own government? But the situation is with the current trust
rating, our government is not yet prepared to implement national ID. Their level of maturity is low to adhere in
the very purpose of identification card, instead the abuse of national ID will
take advantage. With the reputation of
the general politicians and police institution, it is not improbable that there
should be second thought of believing in national ID.
I
don’t know if my favor in national ID is shallowness. Maybe I am sincere in nature that is why it
is no big deal for me to entrust myself to the government that there is no security
breaches of information. If many feel
having a national badge number make them discriminated being the marginalized
poor, so what if the government know our economic status? So what if the government know I am poor, as
long as I do not violate the laws, peace and order. Their main concern will be the national
threat that personal affair is a little thing that the national security will
not put at stake anyway. If the government officials, low enforcers,
and the persons in authority are trusty, honorable and dependable, and if the abiding
citizens are trustful, submissive and unsuspecting, then using the national ID
is a mutual acceptable and understandable issue that is far from debate, disagreement,
and controversy.
By Alex V. VillamayoR
January 20, 2014
(Note:
90% researched)