Divide by Null - undefined

The American people may have to carry a national identification with a radio microchip within two years.

The REAL ID Act mandates a national ID to replace drivers licenses (or rather, bring them up to a new defined standard) to be issued to all citizens, residents, etc. Right now, the states issue their own identifications with not much interstate linking. This act forces states to link databases with the new ID.

There's quite a bit of controversy going on, lots of sensationalism surrounding this act. So let's look over that video and try to pick apart this sensationalism. Starting with the over-the-top movie excerpt...

There seems to be heavy emphasis on the potential of ubiquitousness. "Every this every that." This is quite an endeavor. To place a microchip on every single product manufactured on earth? That's a lot of products. That's thus a lot of chips.

And the anonymity of cash? Why doesn't someone just trade bills with others to conserve that anonymity, or at least lower trackability. If a microchip is on every bill, and the bills someone holds are "disabled", what's to stop this informal transaction? How about asking a friend for change for a five? I highly doubt that every person would have a "treasury note transfer system" for such trades. This would require more work than the microchip and more costly still.

Yes. Soviet flag. More sensationalism. Same goes for the Bible quote, but for the opposite connotation.

The pizza order is also laughable. Would a small company have this much access to government records? Even a large company? The extra charges are again more sensationalism. Delivery surcharge for an "orange zone"?

Then patriotic images. He knows for certain what people 200 years ago would think. The last step before implanting? It might be a slippery slope to it, but is it really that close?

Now, do I think that a national ID is a good idea? Hey, if it will get rid of the need for a driver's license, social security number, passport, birth certificate, and whatnot, sure. I don't really see how it's horribly bad. The positive seems to outweigh the negative. It's merely consolidation of everything I just mentioned.

And the radio microchip? It certainly makes these things harder to forge (assuming they'll be checked by the database). RFID (used in the chip) is already used by WalMart, in US Passports, and basically around the world. So it's not really that new of a concept.

Anyway, it's not as if you need your social security number to order pizza, or a driver's license to make a phone call. But it is necessary to have some sort of identifying information to go on an airline, for example. REAL ID is not a big step up to an Orwellian society.