Did You Hear? Texas Plans to Fingerprint EVERYONE within the Next 12 YearsDaisy Luther Theyve launched a plan to fingerprint every single person of driving age in the state, after which they will add the persons prints to the criminal database. Is it just me or is that a rather Dystopian plan? Jon Cassidy of Watchdog.org writes: As an old-school columnist, Lieber tends to keep his opinions subdued, and he doesnt generally call people dishonest. But I have no problem with doing that, so Id like to point out that the DPS spokesman he quotes at length is less than straightforward about his departments legal authority. Last month, Lieberbroke the newsthat DPS had started collecting full sets of fingerprints on everyone who went in to renew their license. Friday, he followed up witha storyon DPS dubious legal authority to do so, and then postedlengthy quotationson the issue to his blog. Lieber quotes an entireemailfrom DPS spokesman Tom Vinger, who quotes Transportation Code Sec. 521.059 at length, including the key phrase, The departmentshallestablish an image verification system based on the following identifiers collected by the department: .an applicants thumbprints or fingerprints. (source) So the gist of this is: if you dont allow the authorities to take your prints and file them away in the event that you commit some heinous crime in the future, you wont be issued a drivers license in the state of Texas. This means youd theoretically be unable to drive or get insurance, because youd be unlicensed. If you cant get insurance, it will be difficult to own a car. This, of course, could affect your livelihood, your ability to get your kids to school, and myriad other day-to-day issues. Im a big fan of opting out, but this makes it a lot more difficult for the average Joe or Josephine to do so. Doesnt this sound like a pre-crime system, gathering evidence for the potential day in the future when they wish to use a persons cataloged prints to identify them? At the very least, it is an invasion of personal privacy that is being enforced by hindering ones ability to travel freely. According to the laws on the books, its legal to take ONE print, but not a set of ten. I bet a lot of Texans will have one particular fingerprint theyll be happy to give the middle one. Daisy Luther is a freelance writer and editor. Her website, The Organic Prepper, offers information on healthy prepping, including premium nutritional choices, general wellness and non-tech solutions. You can follow Daisy on Facebook and Twitter, and you can email her at daisy@theorganicprepper.ca. This article first appeared at TruthstreamMedia.com. 