Driver’s licenses: Enhance yourself
May 27th, 2008. Filed under: Latest News, Canada, National affairs.The Department of H—— Security has agreed to let New York issue enhanced drivers’ licenses to New Yorkers who wish to cross the Canadian border without fear of their government not letting them back in. Plus, it gets you into Mexico and Bermuda. (I don’t know what this means for occasional visitor Alan of Gen X 40, but I suppose anything that decreases wait times and border patrol tensions has to be good for him too.) It doesn’t cost as much as a passport, and seems less of a violation of the traditional relaxed fraternity between our two great nations (or, whatever you want to call our strange relationship), but “It will look about the same as a regular license” makes me wonder what kind of top-secret homing devices will make this baby cost you $30-$50 extra.
You don’t have to get one if you don’t want to — it’s okay, you won’t stand out. Really.
May 27th, 2008
the catch here is children. what do you do if you have kids? do they still need passports?
sean
May 27th, 2008
I think they still need passports.
May 28th, 2008
Not an authoritative source, but, read on a blog comment that the “enhancement” is RFID (radio-frequency-identification), the same thing that Walmarts uses for tracking product shipment. Not sure, but, if it is like the RFID chips that the feds want to mandate for livestock, it would also let them track your whereabouts within the country in an “emergency.” Could be a bit creepy, but what Dept. of H [Right-wing Excessive Control] measures aren’t?
May 30th, 2008
I will never get anything that has RFID on it. None of my farm animals either. Tthey can put me in jail. Dam gubmint!
June 1st, 2008
FYI, the RFID can be cracked very, very easily with a scanning device.
June 1st, 2008
OSoNY: I’m with ya! The worst punishment for these meddling politicians would be to have all of us in jail. They can’t collect their blasted taxes if we’re all in jail!