Biometric I.D.s

tony roberts wrote:

But there is one tiny detail that baffles me.
The Brits supported the American position in Iraq, fought alongside them
and are still there. The Canadians didn't.
So why the hell do the Brits get fingerprinted and photographed but
Canadians don't?

No Canadian has tried to light his shoe lately.

George Patterson
The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.

I was issued my SEL in 2002, shortly after 9/11. I was astounded that
the ticket was just that, on an index card labeled "cut here". No
picture, fingerprint, nothing. Great, they use our Social Security
numbers, easy for ID theifs.

My NY driver's licence has picture, bar code, tamper-resistant glass
beading. Really, the FAA has to do something about tamper proofing the
ticket. A good call would be to go down to your local FSS, have them
take a picture and present proofs of identity, just like your local DMV
would do.

Fingerprinting is OK, but it should be included with the cost of your
ticket. Biometrics is taking it a little far, but it is expected these
days. I'd think that would be acceptable for non-US citizens here on an
education visa, a locator bracelet would be nice also for them.

Andrew Tubbiolo wrote:

So it looks like we are all going to get fingerprinted, iris
scanned, and who know what else.

From the AOPA web site -

"And buried within the huge bill is a provision requiring the FAA to start
issuing improved pilot certificates within a year. The pilot certificates must
be resistant to tampering and counterfeiting, include a photo of the pilot, and
may have the capability to store biometric information.

'We worked closely with key members of Congress to make sure that these new
requirements don't impose an undue burden on GA pilots,' said AOPA President
Phil Boyer. 'Adding a pilot's picture to the license has been debated for a long
time, we wanted to make sure pilots don't have to travel long distances to make
this happen.'

Thanks to AOPA's advocacy, the bill allows the FAA to use designees to process
the new certificates 'to the extent feasible in order to minimize the burdens on
pilots.'

'The allowance for designees means that an aviation medical examiner could take
a digital photo of the pilot as part of the exam and transmit the photo to the
FAA along with the medical data,' said Andy Cebula, AOPA senior vice president
of Government and Technical
Affairs. AMEs already send exam results to the FAA electronically. (See "Senate
passes bill
that includes photo pilot certificates.") 'Senators Jay Rockefeller of West
Virginia and Pat
Roberts of Kansas were willing to listen to AOPA about the realities of general
aviation and
modify the legislation to increase national security while minimizing the impact
on pilots,'
Cebula added.

The bill does not require pilots to immediately replace existing certificates
with new photo certificates. Pilots would likely get a photo certificate when
they add a new rating or certificate."


George Patterson
The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.

Positive identification to exercise a PRIVELEDGE
(not a right) is not too "big brother" for me.

Right. Then they start redefining what constitutes a privelage.
=That= is how the noose tightens.

Jose
--
Freedom. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

Andrew Tubbiolo wrote:

So it looks like we are all going to get fingerprinted, iris
scanned, and who know what else.


"G.R. Patterson III" wrote in message
...
The bill does not require pilots to immediately replace existing
certificates
with new photo certificates. Pilots would likely get a photo certificate
when
they add a new rating or certificate."


George Patterson
The desire for safety stands against every great and noble
enterprise.

Every state has the requirement for a photo on your drivers license. And
the FAA already has access to your driving information, why can't they use
your DL photo on your pilot certificate? My wife has a employee photo ID at
DFW airport. We recently moved and she updated her drivers license online
(Texas). When her DL came in the mail it had her DFW Airport ID photo on
it. They can link it all together if they want to.

Allen

"WildBlueYonder76" wrote in message
oups.com...
I was issued my SEL in 2002, shortly after 9/11. I was astounded that
the ticket was just that, on an index card labeled "cut here". No
picture, fingerprint, nothing. Great, they use our Social Security
numbers, easy for ID theifs.

I got mine issued (in July. 2002) sans SS# for that reason. For quite some
time IIRC you were able to get a random ID instead of your SS#.


My NY driver's licence has picture, bar code, tamper-resistant glass
beading. Really, the FAA has to do something about tamper proofing the
ticket.


When was the last time you were asked for your pilot's license as a form of
identification? European driver's licenses look like our pilot certificates
because they have national ID cards that are more like our passports. In
this country the main reason drivers' licenses have become so complex is
primarily to make it harder for kids to get fake IDs to buy liquor. As a
result on nearly any college campus I've been to you'll find somebody who
knows how to obtain extremely high-quality false IDs. Of course you could
say the same for immigration paperwork too.

When I was in college (94-98) the staties busted a kid in the engineering
school with $50,000 worth of equipment in his room (idiot). I knew one of
the cops involved and he said the IDs he was turning out were utterly
indistinguishable even side-by-side with the real thing. Back then the going
rates were $75 for a crummy fake that might work in a nasty liquor store to
$150-200 for something you could get away with showing to a cop. I haven't
asked lately but I suspect that all that's changed is that they've gotten
more expensive.

-cwk.

"Andrew Tubbiolo" wrote in message
...
Hey All:

So it looks like we are all going to get fingerprinted, iris
scanned, and who know what else. Is this news to anybody? How
much opposition is there to the new ID requrements? What do you
folks think and feel?


I've already been badged and fingerprinted to get ramp access to my plane at
Hanscom Field. I just wish Massport could transmit my info to the FAA so I
don't have to go through the rigmarole again.

-cwk.

"tony roberts" wrote in message
news:nospam-446053.00313715122004@shawnews...
....
So why the hell do the Brits get fingerprinted and photographed but
Canadians don't?

Is there nowhere in the US that teaches diplomacy 101?
Frankly I'm baffled.



Because money is the *only* diplomacy.

Massachusetts alone, exports 2.2 Billion with a B to Canada per year. The
total two-way trade is close to 450 Billion "the largest bilateral exchange
in the world", according to Canada's Trade Commission web site.

A Google search on ...USA "exports to Great Britain"... gets exactly *one*
hit. Add the separate word "statistics" and you get no hits at all.

Now I am sure that the USA must sell *something* to GB, but the internet is
sure silent about it.

Is it possible that it is not very much?

"Icebound" wrote in message
...

"tony roberts" wrote in message
news:nospam-446053.00313715122004@shawnews...
...
So why the hell do the Brits get fingerprinted and photographed but
Canadians don't?

Is there nowhere in the US that teaches diplomacy 101?
Frankly I'm baffled.



Because money is the *only* diplomacy.

Massachusetts alone, exports 2.2 Billion with a B to Canada per year. The
total two-way trade is close to 450 Billion "the largest bilateral
exchange in the world", according to Canada's Trade Commission web site.

A Google search on ...USA "exports to Great Britain"... gets exactly *one*
hit. Add the separate word "statistics" and you get no hits at all.

Now I am sure that the USA must sell *something* to GB, but the internet
is sure silent about it.

Is it possible that it is not very much?




A little dated but very easy to find...

http://www.usitc.gov/er/nl2000/ER0828X1.HTM

August 28, 2000
News Release 00-114
Inv. No. 332-409
The ITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, recently
completed the report for the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance. Following are
highlights of the report:


a.. In 1998, the United Kingdom (UK) imported over $100 billion in goods
and services from the three North American countries and exported about $65
billion to North America. The United States is the UK's single largest
trading partner and accounts for about 90 percent of the UK's trade with
North America.

Allen wrote:

Every state has the requirement for a photo on your drivers license.
And the FAA already has access to your driving information, why can't
they use your DL photo on your pilot certificate? My wife has a
employee photo ID at DFW airport. We recently moved and she updated
her drivers license online (Texas). When her DL came in the mail it
had her DFW Airport ID photo on it. They can link it all together if
they want to.

It's easy enough for a Texas airport authority to link up with the Texas
Department of Motor Vehicles (or whatever the agency is named) to exchange
information. However, trying to do that with 50 potentially completely
different systems is quite another matter. This doesn't even consider the
possibility of lack of digital storage and exchange capability by the state.

With that said, biometric identity is only going to become more prevalent.
I'm not necessarily opposed to having a means of proving "I am me".
However, the state having the ability to track my whereabouts or private
companies having the ability to identify me on a whim (without my approval)
is not a good idea, IMO. The former is an invasion of privacy and the
latter opens the door to targeted spam the likes of which the Internet
wished it had (Spielberg's "Minority Report" shows a sampling of what could
be).

--
John T
http://tknowlogy.com/TknoFlyer
http://www.pocketgear.com/products_s...veloperid=4415
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