I don't know about other states, but Illinois starting to make this change years ago. All digital photography for all ID's cooked onto plastic cards. Not only that, there is a black scan bar on the back of the ID that has all the information that is on the front of the I.D. encrypted (in a sense).
I never knew what that black bar was until a new gas station opened up down the road and I went there to grab some heineken at about 12:30 A.M. the lady asked me for my I.D. and I said.. "O.K. Here you go" and flipped open my wallet pushing the I.D. up against the glass.
She says "No, I need you to take it out so I can scan it" ?? I'm thinking WTF, but I already had a few beers in me and thought I misheard her. So I hand her my I.D. and she runs it under a machien very similar to what scans lotto tickets (the red glowing light). She gives me the I.D. back and says "Thank you Ryan" as I see my birthdate flash up on the cash register.
I'm walking out of there like "WTF" so I go back the next night sober as hell about 9:00 or so and grab a 6 pack, again the SAME lady asked for my ID. I asked her if she remembered me from the night before and got the typical, "Hun I see hundreds of people a day" response. So I say O.K. Here you go. She again did the same thing and I saw my birthdate flash up there again...
I asked her what the deal was and she said this was the newest device which prevented minors from using Fake I.D.'s by verifying information on the scan bar.
To this day, including Chicago and all other big cities in Illinois I have never seen another machine and to tell you the truth it kind of freaks me out.
Homeland security yes, to the point where it invades my privacy? No
Truth of the matter is ALL this 'new security' they are trying to push through costing MILLIONS hasn't done alot for us. And the sad thing is we were warned many months before 9/11 it was a possibility and there was a 'threat on U.S. soil' - So instead of invading our privacy why don't they just do their jobs rather than spy on our every move, which is what it is coming down to.
As weird as it is, as an American I feel I have less privacy than I would in 90% of the other countries out there.. And we are "The Land of the Free" ?
Hopefully all this foolishness is put to a stop, Bush got what he wanted. Didn't work for Dad, but worked for him.. Now he should just coast through the next few years IMHO.
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