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posted by chromas on Monday January 21 2019, @06:02PM   Printer-friendly
from the identification-politics dept.

Civil rights group marks MLK Day with call for 'Trump card' national ID

A prominent civil rights group is marking Martin Luther King Jr. Day by pressing President Trump to honor his promise to create a national photo ID card for citizens.

Martin Luther King III, the oldest son of the iconic civil rights leader and a co-chairmen of the Drum Major Institute, met with Trump two years ago on MLK Day. During that meeting, the then president-elect endorsed the idea of a national photo ID. This year, the group is calling on Trump to follow through.

William Wachtel, co-founder of the Drum Major Institute, said the group sees the issue as critical to ensuring King's work to remove barriers to voting.

[...] The idea has invited controversy in the past, in particular over privacy concerns. In 2013, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced a measure, the Protect Our Privacy Act, attached to a Senate immigration bill. The Paul amendment sought to prevent the creation of a national ID card, citing worries that it would make it easier for the government to track people. Wachtel sought to ease concerns about such an ID, saying it would not be mandatory and would only be an option for those who sought it.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by PinkyGigglebrain on Monday January 21 2019, @08:44PM (1 child)

    by PinkyGigglebrain (4458) on Monday January 21 2019, @08:44PM (#789757)

    A Federally issued photo ID that

    "... would not be mandatory and would only be an option for those who sought it."

    So, in other words a standard passport?

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  • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday January 22 2019, @10:15AM

    by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Tuesday January 22 2019, @10:15AM (#790012) Homepage
    The problem is that US passports are prohibitively expensive, and do way more than they need to (such as satisfy the needs of authorities in hundreds of other countries round the world).

    The question in my mind is "why do you want a national ID card, when all you need is a state ID card?". Anything at the national level will have way more beaurocracy than anything at a state level - why is a more inefficient, less responsive, and more expensive system desireable?
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