Larry Ellison, Nazi Collaborator: Oracle for Natl ID

Subcommander Bob bob at black.org
Sun Sep 23 12:34:40 PDT 2001


http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/svfront/ellsn092301.htm

Idea driven by security concerns

              BY PAUL ROGERS AND ELISE ACKERMAN
              Mercury News

              Broaching a controversial subject that has gained
visibility since the Sept. 11
              terrorist attacks, Oracle Chairman and CEO Larry Ellison
is calling for the
              United States to create a national identification card
system -- and offering to
              donate the software to make it possible.

              Under Ellison's proposal, millions of Americans would be
fingerprinted and
              the information would be placed on a database used by
airport security
              officials to verify identities of travelers at airplane
gates.

              ``We need a national ID card with our photograph and
thumbprint digitized
              and embedded in the ID card,'' Ellison said in an
interview Friday night on the
              evening news of KPIX-TV in San Francisco.

              ``We need a database behind that, so when you're walking
into an airport and
              you say that you are Larry Ellison, you take that card and
put it in a reader
              and you put your thumb down and that system confirms that
this is Larry
              Ellison,'' he said.

              `Absolutely free'

              Ellison's company, Oracle, based in Redwood Shores, is the
world's leading
              maker of database software. Ellison, worth $15 billion, is
among the world's
              richest people.

              ``We're quite willing to provide the software for this
absolutely free,'' he said.

              Calls for national ID cards traditionally have been met
with fierce resistance
              from civil liberties groups, who say the cards would
intrude on the privacy of
              Americans and allow the government to track people's
movements.

              But Ellison said in the electronic age, little privacy is
left anyway.

              ``Well, this privacy you're concerned about is largely an
illusion,'' he said.
              ``All you have to give up is your illusions, not any of
your privacy. Right now,
              you can go onto the Internet and get a credit report about
your neighbor and
              find out where your neighbor works, how much they earn and
if they had a
              late mortgage payment and tons of other information.''

              Attempts by the Mercury News to reach Ellison for further
comment
              Saturday were unsuccessful. Many questions about the
proposal remain
              unanswered, such as whether foreign nationals would be
required to have a
              card to enter the country. The hijackers in the Sept. 11
attacks are not
              believed to have been U.S. citizens.

              In the TV interview with anchorman Hank Plante, Ellison
said shoppers have
              to disclose more information at malls to buy a watch than
they do to get on an
              airplane.

              ``Let me ask you. There are two different airlines.
Airline A says before you
              board that airplane you prove you are who you say you are.
Airline B, no
              problem. Anyone who wants the price of a ticket, they can
go on that airline.
              Which airplane do you get on?''

              Oracle has a longstanding relationship with the federal
government. Indeed,
              the CIA was Ellison's first customer, and the company's
name stems from a
              CIA-funded project launched in the mid-1970s that sought
better ways of
              storing and retrieving digital data.

              Civil libertarians said caution is needed.

              ``It strikes me as a form of overreaction to the events
that we have
              experienced,'' said Robert Post, a constitutional law
professor at the
              University of California-Berkeley. ``If we allow a
terrorist attack to destroy
              forms of freedom that we have enjoyed, we will have given
the victory to
              them. This kind of recommendation does just that.''

              Post said while such a system may catch some criminals, it
could be hacked
              or faked or evaded by capable terrorists. Nor is it clear
that such a system
              would have foiled the Sept. 11 attacks, he said.

              Strong support

              But polls last week show many Americans support a national
ID card.

              In a survey released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center
for the People
              & the Press, seven of 10 Americans favored a requirement
that citizens carry
              a national identity card at all times to show to a police
officer upon request.
              The proposal had particularly strong support from women.
There was less
              support for government monitoring of telephone calls,
e-mails and credit card
              purchases.

              The FBI already has an electronic fingerprint system for
criminals.

              In July 1999, the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint
Identification
              System became operational. That system keeps an electronic
database of 41
              million fingerprints, with prints from all 10 fingers of
people who have been
              convicted of crimes.

              Faster response

              The system has reduced the FBI's criminal fingerprint
processing time from 45
              days to less than two hours.

              Paul Bresson, an FBI spokesman in Washington, said
Saturday that he is
              unaware of the details of Ellison's proposal and declined
comment.

              Howard Gantman, a spokesman for Sen. Dianne Feinstein,
D-Calif., said that
              she would be interested in discussing the idea with
Ellison.

              ``She does feel that we do need to make some important
advances in terms
              of increasing our security,'' Gantman said. ``A lot of
people have brought up
              ideas about how to create more security and she's
interested in exploring
              them. She'd like to find out more.''

              One group certain to fight the proposal is the American
Civil Liberties Union.

              A statement about ID cards posted on the ACLU's national
Web site says:
              ``A national ID card would essentially serve as an
internal passport. It would
              create an easy new tool for government surveillance and
could be used to
              target critics of the government, as has happened
periodically throughout our
              nation's history.''





More information about the cypherpunks-legacy mailing list