Biometric Cards and the "Mark of the Beast"

It is very interesting that two separate articles appeared this morning regarding new "Biometric ID Cards" which have been in use in the EU:

First, we see how a national ID card in America is gaining momentum, as it would seemingly serve as the perfect solution regarding the whole problem if "illegal immigration" and a whole host of other problems such as identity theft.

"Worker ID Card at Center of Immigration Plan"

Quotes:

"Lawmakers working to craft a new comprehensive immigration bill have settled on a way to prevent employers from hiring illegal immigrants: a national biometric identification card all American workers would eventually be required to obtain."

"Under the potentially controversial plan still taking shape in the Senate, all legal U.S. workers, including citizens and immigrants, would be issued an ID card with embedded information, such as fingerprints, to tie the card to the worker."

"A person familiar with the legislative planning said the biometric data would likely be either fingerprints or a scan of the veins in the top of the hand. It would be required of all workers, including teenagers, but would be phased in, with current workers needing to obtain the card only when they next changed jobs, the person said."

"Mr. Schumer said employers would be able to buy a scanner to check the IDs for as much as $800. Small employers, he said, could take their applicants to a government office to like the Department of Motor Vehicles and have their hands scanned there."

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Note that last comment: "...and have their hands scanned there" (at the DMV).

But there is a glitch in this "foolproof" biometric ID card. As the article above states, Europe has already moved into the realm of biometric ID cards, and there are already some problems:


"EU passports not that safe, says expert"

Quotes:


"The biometric, or "e-passport," was supposed to offer a previously unrivalled level of security and protection against forgery. It was "fool-proof," some said, even "impossible" to counterfeit."

"In the years that followed the attacks on New York and Washington, the European Union, as with many international powers, was eager to embrace the technology. In 2004, the European Commission proposed technical specifications for a harmonised e-passport system, first requiring digital facial image as as a mandatory biometric identifier for passports and later requiring fingerprint data."

"But in the wake of the Dubai targetted killing of a Hamas commander, in which a team of some 27 assassins used fake EU and Australian passports in the course of their cloak and dagger escapade, the security of the passport has been placed under the microscope."


"Beyond the Dubai murder, Europol has warned that despite the biometric changes to passports, counterfeiting still remains a major problem for criminals or others "who are determined to do so," with the provision of documents for irregular immigrants being the main driver of the activity."

"In 2008, the latest year for which data is available, some 16.7 million passports were on an Interpol database of stolen or disappeared passports."

"Famously, in August 2008, after 3,000 blank UK passports were stolen and British authorities said that without the chip, the documents would have been useless, the Times newspaper hired a computer researcher to successfully clone the chips on two British passports. Passport reader software used by the UN authority that establishes biometric passport standards believed the chips to be genuine."

The remainder of this article details the multiple ways that biometric ID cards can be manipulated or faked.


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So lets connect the dots. Biometric ID cards were supposed to represent the "fix" for stolen ID cards and a fix for both criminal activity and terrorism, and as it turns out the system is far from foolproof. Massive fraud and stolen identities, not to mention the recent killings in Dubai has lead to authorities scratching their heads over how to accomplish the ideal system.

What else can be done? If biometric cards, which supposedly contain data specific to the individual (fingerprints, retinal scans, etc) can easily be faked or manipulated - then what can be done?

It seems rather obvious: The "data" contained for each individual, currently embedded in the ID card could be inserted into each person - and the technology exists now. This would solve the existing problems that are occurring with the ID cards. There are millions of animals who are already "chipped", something that happens on a daily basis, and the same technology is already being used on humans, albeit on a limited basis.

Perhaps the Bible provides information on the next (obvious) step in the evolution of ID cards:

"He also forced everyone, small and great. rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name." (Revelation 13:16-17).

Again, we watch as the world marches lockstep towards the Tribulation. The road is being paved.