National Id Cards example essay topic

289 words
"Why Fear National ID Cards" is an argument written by lawyer, columnist, and Harvard Law School professor Alan M. Dershowitz. Dershowitz discusses the benefits of having National ID card in the United States. Dershowitz believes that National ID cards will help U.S. citizens in more ways than one if they are willing to give up a miniature portion of their privacy. He uses an example with people who go through toll booths on a daily basis. Instead of hassling and rumbling through purses, pockets, etc., some people choose to get an inconspicuous gadget installed in their cars that would allow them pass right through and be billed later.

It would be the same thing with the ID cards. Anyone who possesses this card would be able to get through high security places like airports, government buildings, etc. swiftly. People who choose not to have a ID card will be inspected more closely. He calls this a tradeoff between privacy for convenience.

These cards will contain your name, address, photograph, and a chip that will match your fingerprint and allow your criminal background to be checked instantly. He believes that having this type of information on a card will help in the prevention of terrorism because it would be challenging for terrorist to hide in open view; it will also diminish the need for other law-enforcement mechanisms on racial and ethnic profiling. Dershowitz is not 100% sure about this tradeoff of privacy for convenience but he believes that it would be worth our while to give it a try because not only would we get more convenience, but we could also get more security and civil liberties as well..