Those familiar with reading our columns know that we are not normally exercised by minor debates.  But we are amazed by the report (which we rely upon as being true) by ZDNet at http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6228910.html?tag=nl.e550 (correct at the time of publication) that the United States has mandated Federal identity controls on the back of a Bill ostensibly to do with "Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief, 2005."

Well, OK, we do have the text in there about the ‘Global War on Terror’ so I guess that this might be a fine argument.

But come on – get real – if you read the text it’s all about making the driver’s license the authorized Federally approved identity document!

Now I realize that in the USA if you do not have a driver’s license then you are probably some kind of low life that does not exist, so therefore you are of no significance, and obviously not a terrorist, and therefore we do not need to worry about you.  After all, a terrorist could not possibly drive a car without a license just to deliver a bomb, could they?

Hey, but that’s only a social analysis that says that the downtrodden underclasses are not likely to be terrorists, so we don’t need to worry about them.

Let’s try thinking out of the box for a moment.  Why would you want this legislation when the people you are trying to catch are running outside of the system in the first place?  After all, history teaches us that criminals are generally outside the system because being inside the system is a highly negative advantage!

Think for a moment about the costs that are going to be involved in granting the Secretary of Homeland Security this (wild?) desire to collect, at the expense of the States, and therefore at the direct expense of the Citizen, without there being any demonstrable benefit from this to that citizen (unless you count the collection of information about law-abiding people, because no self-respecting terrorist of any kind would be caught by such a an obvious trap) provable personal identifiers to standards that have not been promulgated and security controls that have not yet been identified.

Yes, this bill will be the mother of all pork barrels to industries who strut their stuff about all manner of personal identification methods (despite the simple fact that there are no recognized international standards in this field, so anyone can claim anything they like – snake oil?) and the bill completely fails to say anything of any substance about standards, compliance, certification, accreditation and so on.

So we screw the US car driver for shedloads of money – is that a problem?

Well, if the punter is willing to pay, then I guess not.  After all, that’s what a capitalist economy is all about.  Capitalism is about what industry can screw out of consumers and governments can screw out of both (not maybe what Carl Marx actually wrote, but close enough).

So this may actually come down to cost.  If the cost of implementing legislation that has not had public debate, is of questionable public benefit, has a cost that may not be appropriate to the actual benefit achieved (Since 9/11 precisely what has happened?  Well at the current rate of experience, nothing.) then why are we bothering?  Surely governments are being held to account for spending taxpayer money wisely and effectively. 

But, of course, if this is really a bill to hand the Secretary a future blank check for getting funding, even if that office has so far failed to do anything tangible for the protection of the public, then it is completely understandable.

But then, you have to accept that by insisting on the registration of the law abiding (at an unknown, but certainly high cost to them personally) you can catch terrorists, who are, by definition, not law-abiding, and therefore outside of the system, then this is something you should go for.  But please suspend the use of logic, finance, governance or anything similar.

On the other hand, if you feel like funding another Star Wars program personally, then step in line and vote.