Public revolt quashes biometric ID chips

Public revolt quashes biometric ID chips
Citizens score success abroad while opposition to national card grows in U.S.
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Posted: January 27, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

While opposition grows to a national ID card in the U.S., citizens of the southeast European nation of Serbia have successfully pressed their government to back off on a plan to make biometric data chips compulsory in the country's new citizen cards.

The decision followed a pitched battle prior to the Jan. 21 election as opponents criticized the accompanying plan for a centralized database of citizen information and the taking of fingerprints. Biometric technology uses data from sources such as fingerprints, facial features and iris scans to authenticate a person's identity.

In the U.S., the Real ID Act passed by Congress in 2005 calls for a national ID portion to go into effect by May 2008. It requires states to participate in a federal data-sharing program when issuing driver's licenses, making those licenses de facto national ID cards.

A number of state legislatures have passed nonbinding measures in opposition, including the Maine House and Senate, which yesterday almost unanimously approved a resolution refusing to implement the Real ID Act.
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