Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, public officials have been under increasing pressure to employ identity in the name of security. Advancements in identification and surveillance technologies – biometrics, identity cards, databases, RFID, and so on – threaten privacy and civil liberties, enable identity fraud, and subject people to unwanted observation.

Soon after joining the Cato Institute, Jim Harper participated in a Congressional panel to examine proposals for a national ID card. This experience was the springboard for his book, Identity Crisis: How Identification is Overused and Misunderstood, a superb primer on identification, identification theory, and identity policy. In his presentation he reviews four identifiers and examines how they would be applicable to a Federal identification system.

He also reviews the current identification law (passed without a separate debate or vote) and how some states are reacting to it. He tallies the possible costs to implement it and talks about whether the law is likely to even be useful in identifying terrorists or other targeted groups.