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Return to Article: Political climate unfriendly to ID devices, backers say

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  The only people afraid to go to New Hampshire are people with big government on their minds. People who believe in "Live Free or Die" have nothing to fear. People who do not want anyone tracking their every move, whether it be big business or big government, have nothing to fear. People who believe you may do as you please as long as your actions do not involve force or fraud, have nothing to fear. I believe these things so strongly that I am running for governor here in New Hampshire to make sure that the Live Free or Die philosophy continues to be a way of life and not just an abstraction: http://www.richkahn.org.

  Richard B. Kahn Posted April 21, 2006 9:24 PM
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  People should be wary of these smart cards. The chips contain a lot of information about the individual, including medical, and not everyone has the right or the need to have access to that data.

  One of the many proposed uses for the card is gate access to secure areas, such as a military base. Not only will this back traffic up for miles as the reader verifies the data and swings an arm up to let the vehicle through, but there's no way to account for passengers in the vehicle.

  The idea behind the card, cloaked in the usual paranoia of security, is to steadily erode the number of personnel employed by the federal government, both uniformed and civilian. The move is to run everything electronically and not have to pay salaries, insurance, retirement, medical, or educational benefits.

  GovExec.com reader Posted April 21, 2006 3:34 PM
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  So the RFID industry is "... scared to go to New Hampshire." Perhaps they should be if they insist upon portraying free, law abiding American citizens as freaks with comments such as; "They [citizens of New Hampshire] have gun racks on their motorcycles."

  How dare they (residents of New Hampshire, New Mexico, California, and Illinois) pass laws that crimp the RFID industries efforts to turn a buck on the backs of free citizens!

  I wonder why that "Unholy alliance ...that isn't a group of fringe players" objects to being told what to do by the likes of the "gentlemen" quoted in this article?

  Those guys are poster children for why the whole RFID industry should be outlawed in the United States - the very concept of making free citizens register so they will be able to be tracked like so many cattle is the very antithesis of freedom and liberty.

  Those who would trade freedom for safety deserve, and will have, neither.

  Cracked & Wired Posted April 21, 2006 10:12 AM
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  ID cards are meant to identify the bearer. When technology by those seeking to defraud surpasses the ability of the cards to do fulfill their purpose then the cards must change or become irrelevant. RFID can be subject to viruses and may not be quite ready for prime time, but critics should address the larger problem of ID obsolescence and come up with viable alternatives instead of just saying "No."

  Richard Barr Posted April 21, 2006 9:50 AM