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March 31, 2021 - Question: When is a passport, not a passport at all? Answer: When it isn't issued by a government agency and when it has absolutely nothing to do with federal law. And that is pretty much the situation with the idea of vaccine passports for COVID19.
In case you are not familiar with the very un-American concept of vaccine passports, the idea is that if you get the COVID19 vaccine, you'll be issued a passport. The passport may be in digital or printed form and it will be used to verify that you have received the vaccine. Venues such as theaters, restaurants and amusement parks would be able to use the passports to grant you permission, or deny you access, to their facilities. In other words, they would be able to say, "Papers please," and if you don't have the right documents on you, you will find that your personal liberty is limited.
That only sounds totalitarian because it is. It is what we fought against in WWII and during the cold war and sounds like a scene out of a 1950's spy movie. But it is actually a proposal that is coming out of Washington, DC and some big names in big tech… like Bill Gates.
To make matters even worse, the Biden administration doesn't envision a vaccine passport that would be issued by the federal government. They want one it is private. One that is run by private companies that would collect and store your data… just like the credit bureaus do for your credit report. It's a horrible idea and it would mean the end of medical privacy.
Consider this. 72% of credit reports contain errors. And anyone who has ever tried to get those errors corrected will tell you that it can be nearly impossible to do so. In fact, the credit reporting agencies have found that it is more profitable when credit reports are inaccurate and insecure. This allows them to sell services such as credit monitoring; a worthless service that only tells you that you have an issue after it has occurred. But it is now a multi-billion-dollar ancillary sale for them. And that is even after the federal government has put numerous credit reporting laws on the books. Laws like the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) which gives consumers specific rights remedies.
But there are no laws that are specific to something like a vaccine passport. Ironically, the FCRA would probably be the law used to regulate such an industry because it gives consumers rights with regard to "consumer reporting agencies." It is hard to see how private vaccine passports wouldn't fall under it. But the FCRA also has some carve-outs for health care, so the courts may not allow it to be used for legal issues. At the very least it is a murky area of the law.
So the question is, how would companies setup vaccine passports and what would they use all of the data collected for? The answer is that nobody knows. Both the government and big tech are making this stuff up as they go along, and for very different reasons. The government likes the idea of being able to control its citizens. And big tech is eyeing big dollars. It is hard to imagine that the companies that would be competing in this business don't already have some concrete ideas of how to make money in this arena.
Fortunately, some states are already taking action to prevent this plan from moving forward. Both Ohio and Arizona are already working on legislation that would outlaw vaccine passports within their borders. On the other hand, New York has said that they are going to mandate them. In the end, it's concept that will likely be settled at the US Supreme Court.
From our perspective, vaccine passports are a dangerous idea with little to no benefit to any individual. As Benjamin Franklin said, those who would give up liberty for a little security deserve neither. Anyone who willingly gets a vaccine passport is being very short sighted. And the idea of vaccine passports will only work if the populace cooperates. Pray that doesn't happen.
by Jim Malmberg
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