Margaret Hu writes:
From a privacy perspective, it’s good news that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) just put the ice on the House Republican leadership’s immigration reform efforts this week. Since 9/11, proposals for comprehensive immigration reform = proposals for comprehensivebiometric cybersurveillance (e.g., tracking and identity screening through digital photos, digitalized fingerprints, iris scans, DNA and other bodily characteristics). In recent years, cybersurveillance programs have been introduced as a bargaining chip for the creation of a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants. Sexual harassment quid pro quo in the employment discrimination context: sleep with me or you’re fired. Cybersurveillance quid pro quo in the immigration reform context: implement biometric-based “identity management” programs (e.g., biometric-based “E-Verify” Internet-based identity screening) and other cybersurveillance systems or we’re never legalizing undocumented immigrants.
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