NEW YORK – This week seems to be the time for overzealous New York State lawmakers to stun the country with bizarre legislative proposals.
Earlier this week Wired’s Threat Level blog reported that bill (S06779) going through both state chambers calls for the administrators of New York-based websites to “remove any comments posted on his or her website by an anonymous poster unless such anonymous poster agrees to attach his or her name to the post.”
Today, bill (S06784) was proposed to require wearable identification tags for all New York State residents and visitors.
If this proposed legislation becomes law, every New York State resident would be issued a 4-inch by 3-inch identification tag similar to a state driver’s license. This is approximately twice the size of a standard license. Before visiting New York state, people would be required to have a picture taken and request a visitor identification tag, in a process similar to getting a passport.
The identification badge would contain the wearer’s name, address and picture visible on the front, and emergency medical information on the back. It would also contain an embedded antenna readable RFID chip similar to an E-ZPass card currently used to pay tolls.
The embedded RFID chip would allow law enforcement to “scan” a particular area and collect information about people currently in a location or check logs to see which people were previously there.
According to the legislation, “the identification tag would be required to be worn in a visible location while a resident or visitor was in public.”
During the initial phase in period, violators not wearing the tags would be subject to a $100 fine. After this period, the penalty may increase to as much as a $500 fine and 30 days in jail.
If the legislation is approved, the new requirement could be implemented as early as February 2013.
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