Thursday, May 24, 2012

New Hampshire State-to-Federal data privacy bill faces veto threat from Governor

HB 1549 intended to stop national ID systems from prevailing in New Hampshire 


BTC -  The hourglass is running short on sand, as HB 1549 sits on New Hampshire Governor Lynch's desk under threat of a veto. The Live Free or Die State is typicallyknown for it's resistance to federal mandates. However, late security concerns raised by the Governor  are putting a shadow on a comprehensive ban of New Hampshire's participation in federal database aggregates.

The matter is another case of an ongoing contest between security interests and the public's 4th amendment right to prevent unnecessary prying from an advancing US Database State. The bill authored by Rep. Seth Cohn  was intended to stop private records from being shared with national federal databases, specifically USCIS' E-Verify database online.

"We passed the bill. [The] Governor's veto override is to use language as passed or kill [the] bill. [There are] long odds to override, but I will try,"says Rep. Cohn.

The bill's passage, past the point of conference, now hangs in the balance of State-to-Federal interests. Some of the conflict points are over a DMV requirement to provide photo ID of missing minors to federal systems, credible threat sharing with Secret Service and driver registration records being entered into the National Crime Information Center or the NCIC, an FBI driven database.

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