Letter to the Editor Dear Term Paper

In reality, fingerprint matching is an exact science that cannot be accomplished in seconds. It takes experts hours and sometimes days to match fingerprints, and with the backlog of cases and law enforcement needs currently, the idea of instant fingerprint matching is pie in the sky at best. Fingerprints may be "harder to fake," but they are also much harder to identify than a photo.

In addition, Mr. Dershowitz notes that the right to anonymity is not guaranteed by the Constitution, and that Americans should be willing to give up some of their rights for their safety. This is true, but Americans must be very careful about what rights they choose to give up. The rush to give up rights in the name of safety can steamroll and turn into an ever evolving litany of rights that are suddenly "unnecessary" in the name of safety. Americans may not have the right to anonymity guaranteed by the Constitution, but they still do have the right to privacy - something the administration has been slowly chipping away at with the use of wiretapping, financial records searches, illegal imprisonment, and a host of other "counter-terror" measures that have eroded the nation's privacy rights.Giving the government free reign can only result in the loss of much more than rights - it could eventually result in the loss of personal freedom, and that is a step the country should not take.

Finally, the recent flap over the slowdown in issuing an increased number of passports indicates the government is incapable of managing a system not nearly as convoluted as the issuing of national ID cards. Government bureaucracy could ensure that national ID cards take longer to issue than a passport, thereby further clogging the government with rules, reactions, and long waits for a required card. A national ID card is a bad idea, and Mr. Dershowitz should rethink his position on national ID cards in light….....