Sample of Larry Ellison's new National ID Card

Larry Ellison is promoting a new National ID Card based on Oracle software. He'll give the database engine away free to show his good spirit (but maintenance and upgrades will not be free.)

Here's a prototype of what his new card might look like. Of course, it would do nothing to combat terrorism, but it would help the government and corporations keep closer tabs on innocent people in the USA.

Turns out Jefferson may have gotten in backwards. The price of excessive vigilance is liberty.

More ironic than funny: Ellison's family took its name (not that long ago) from Ellis Island. He wants his card to be "optional" for citizens who don't mind being interrogated and searched when they travel, but mandatory for immigrants.

Has it been over a year since you last donated to the Electronic Frontier Foundation? We fight stuff like Larry's card. Here's an EFF Essay on National ID.

If you want to understand why surveillance is bad for freedom, read my essay on how A Watched Populace Never Boils.

You can read reports on why a National ID card would not be such a good thing at EPIC and CPSR and Privacy Internationa.