Whether America gets there by fact or fancy, the surest way to secure voting
against ID fraud is to use biometric data in a national registry. Technovelgy
explains that “an iris scan also provides unique biometric data that is very
difficult to duplicate and remains the same for a lifetime…. There are ways of
encoding the iris scan biometric data in a way that it can be carried around
securely in a 'barcode' format." See the picture (the technology converts your scan to a bar code but doesn't affect your eye).
Biometrics are already widely used (these include
fingerprints, voice recognition, eye scans and other bio-markers). Examples
include banking, university dorms, apartment buildings, workplaces, immigration
fast lanes, personal computer security, convicts (probation) and prisoners
(jails).
Jamaica uses finger scanning for voter registration.
For some readers, voter fraud might justify this type of
national registration. But I disagree, and draw on Ken Sturlin’s law review study,
“DNA Without Warrant: Decoding Privacy, Probable Cause and Personhood.” Sturlin
concludes his detailed study by saying:
“When the state tinkers with human biology, it tinkers with
privacy…. There is a matrix of biological and digital data that can all too
easily be linked with a person, without a warrant or authentication….
Man's biological destiny encompasses the future of privacy
and personhood. People are information containers with rights, data in being,
and so society's expectations of privacy must grow alongside technological
innovation and scientific discovery.”
I hope cooler heads prevail in thinking through the
implications of dealing with “massive voter fraud.” We might be trading away personal freedoms and opening the gates to national monitoring of our personal
movements once we “ID” ourselves. This much I assume: A technology to perfect
against voter fraud, in the hands of government, will not stop at the voting
booth.
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