National Identification Systems: Essays in Opposition

The long awaited book!

"This is more than a book about national ID. It is about all forms of government enumeration, from the census of antiquity, to government naming practices, fingerprinting, social security numbers, and drivers licenses, to cutting-edge biometric technologies such as DNA, iris scans, or subcutaneous microchips capable of allowing those in charge to know where we are twenty-four hours a day via global positioning satellites. This book looks at the big picture of national ID: what it is, how it has developed, and how it might potentially change our society. It is also about those who have chosen to resist or oppose national ID schemes - from Gandhi's satyagraha campaign in South Africa in 1906 to those Americans who refuse to be counted or carry a government number. These "Essays in Opposition" are intended to honor those whose consciences and principles do not allow them to "roll over and acquiesce."...

"Never before has there been a book devoted to the idea [of proving] that the logical outcome of government involvement in these areas (from government birth certificates to governmental databases and surveillance) is a 1984-style population control. That is why national ID systems have been called a 'trademark of totalitarianism."

—From "The Preface"

Table of Contents:

Carl Watner, Preface


Section I: History of government ID and citizen-tracking

1. Jeremy Bentham & Luis Reyna Almandos, Men Ahead of Their Times
2. James C. Scott, John Tehranian, and Jeremy Mathias, Government Surnames and Legal Identities
3. Jim Fussell, Genocide and Group Classification on National ID Cards
4. Carl Watner,The Compulsory Birth & Death Certificate in the United States
5. Pamela Sankar, A National Fingerprint System for the United States
6. Carl Watner, Drivers Licenses and Vehicle Registration in Historical Perspective
7. Nicolas Werth, The Russian Card: The Propiska
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8. Bob Moore, Population Registers in the Netherlands During World War II
9. C. H. Rolph, The English Identity Card
10. Carl Watner, A History of the Census

    Section II: Contemporary Issues

11. Charlotte Twight, Systematic Surveillance of Ordinary Americans
12. Claire Wolfe, National ID: Our Line in the Sand
13. Simon Davies, The Australia Card: Campaign of Opposition
14. Robert Ellis Smith, The Social Security Number in America: 1935 - 2000
15. Gregory Dicum, My National I.D. Card Is A Threat To Your Civil Liberties
16. Hans Sherrer, How Computers Are A Menace to Liberty
17. Carl Watner, Why I Oppose Government Enumeration

Section III: The Future and Resistance

18. Calvin Kytle, Gandhi's Story in South Africa
19. Rose Wilder Lane, Give Me Liberty
20. Scott McDonald, Resist Enumeration
21. Patricia Neill, National I.D. for All Public Servants
22. Claire Wolfe, An American Refusenik
23. Blood Donor K, Red Tape
24. Anonymous, Why I Refuse to Be Numbered
25. Carl Watner, Slavery and National ID
26. Sunni Maravillosa, ID Without Big Brother
27. Claire Wolfe & Aaron Zelman, Epilogue: National ID and the Police State
28. Carl Watner, For Further Reading

Now Available

National Identification Systems: Essays in Opposition
Edited by Carl Watner with Wendy McElroy; 308 pages, paperback.
$35.00 postpaid. Order from:

The Voluntaryist
P.O. Box 275-D
Gramling, South Carolina 29348