Real ID Program Postponed
By NICOLE GAOUETTE
Los Angeles Times
Under siege from states and angry lawmakers, the White House moved back a deadline Thursday to implement national driver’s license standards known as Real ID.
The announcement that states have an extra 20 months, until the end of 2009, to meet the requirements of the Real ID Act did little to ease criticism of the law from privacy advocates, motor vehicle departments and lawmakers. Almost two dozen states, including New Hampshire, are weighing legislation to oppose Real ID.
The resistance to a policy the administration calls an essential weapon in the war on terror reflects a shift from the almost total support the administration initially enjoyed for its national security agenda after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
“In the months after Sept. 11, we adopted a ‘do anything, do everything’ mode,” said Jim Harper, a public policy expert at the libertarian Cato Institute who advises the Department of Homeland Security and opposes the act. “Here with five-plus years behind us, now it’s time to look at what does work and what doesn’t and lift the veil of secrecy.”
Delayed implementation would not resolve the privacy and security concerns that Real ID raises, said Tim Sparapani, legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union.
“Essentially, we’ve just kicked the can down the road another two years,” he said.
The 2005 law requires new tamper-proof security features on licenses issued only to people who can prove citizenship or legal status; their personal data would be kept in a database that would be accessible by motor vehicle departments nationwide. All Americans would be required to renew their licenses by 2013. Those without one would be barred from federal buildings or airplanes unless they could show a passport or another form of federally approved identification with a photo.
The National Conference of State Legislatures and the National Governors Association were not happy with the program, noting that the federal government has not moved to offset the cost to states. They have estimated the cost at $11 billion, while the Department of Homeland Security puts it at $14.6 billion.
Last year, the federal government offered New Hampshire $3 million to test Real ID. An effort to oppose the program failed in the Legislature, but Rep. Neal Kurk, a Weare Republican and privacy advocate, is sponsoring another measure to defeat it this year.
Many states are concerned about longer lines, higher fees and fewer Department of Motor Vehicles centers, because they will have to meet stringent new security standards. Civil-rights advocates wonder about people who do not have birth certificates or other ID needed to get a Real ID license.
And privacy advocates worry about the linked databases, warning of the creation of a de facto national ID card and the increased possibility of identity theft without any added protection against fraud.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, was among a group of senators who said they would use the two-year delay to re-examine Real ID.
“It’s not insignificant that there are privacy concerns,” he said. “Big Brother government is a big problem.”
Filed under: Activism, Big Brother, Bill of Rights, Civil Liberties and Social Justice, Corporations, From Freedom to Fascism, New World Order, Politics, RFID, Secret, Solutions, Terrorism
OK, so i’m European. When we learn to write (sign) our name we are given an identity card, which includes our name, our parents name, the counties where we were born (and when) and where we live, our height, our civil status, and a number. And to access such data relative to third parties it’s mandatory to have a court order based on real police work and backed up by strong suspicions that the person in question is involved in criminal activity.
Without this ID card, we have no access to health services, education, credit and debit cards, bank accounts, driver license, tax number, social security number, and so on. But all these services do not access your data – you give them to ohter people when necessary.
Most strikingly, police officers are, by law, not allowed to hold your ID card on their hands: you are obliged to show it (though most people just hand it over for a while) when required ONLY on specific situations : when you’re are caught doing something you shouldn’t or, most commonly, in traffic control operations.
From what I read on your post and others, and particularly on the “privacy advocates” parts, there’s no harm in issuing ID cards. The question is what the government does with the info contained in there. From my trips to the US, I’ve always questioned on airports on a number of issues – why I’m going to the states, for how long, where do I live, and so on. And it’s even worse when I travel with my wife – where do we met? on the plane? why are we together? Though our top-of-the-art passports contain all that, US officers fail to use the data contained there. But… when I check in an hotel, or I rent a car, or I use an internet-coffee in the states, any card will do – i once presented a card that in my home country is used to get 10% discount when printing photos, and it was fine. In Europe, I have to show my ID card or my passport. I always get the idea that US are too loose on some aspects, and Europe on others.
Just a question: how do you identify someone who is, say, 14 years old, and hasn’t got a driver’s license nor a social security number, nothing?
A final note: in Europe it is mandatory to chip your domestic cats and dogs. if a lost pet is found, you take it to any vet or animal health officer, the chip is read and the owner is identified. some governments are also introducing car chips – for toll payment, for speeding control, for car identification if they get stollen, and such. and these measures are widely accepted. they ease a few daily tasks, and everyting, kept under close scrutiny of national (government-held) data control comissions, is kept separate – your id on one place, your car id on another place, your health data on another one, and so on. and even with the newer “citizen single-card”, a single card that contains the information of several cards, an officer from service “A” cannot acess data relative to service “B” and so on.
The man’s right, we’ve just kicked the can two years’ down the road. Which will give the proponents time to fine-tune the whole idea, apply different kinds of spin, and make it more palatable — while hoping the opponents get interested in something else instead. I can’t feel anything but pessimistic about this postponement.
If you follow the patterns … that one finds in comparative myth, symbolism and numerology … can I suggest the date scheduled will be 09/09/09.
Why 9?
http://kachina2012.wordpress.com/tag/911-universal-structure/
namaste
The Real ID cards being issued for the sake of better security against illegals or terrorism is very disingenuous. If the U.S. government is so concerned about terrorism, why aren’t they plugging up our borders with a really big fence?!? For decades, the needed security at our borders have been ignored.
All of those billions of dollars for the new I.D. card could be used on a very nice security fence and system between the U.S. and Mexico! I would also venture to say, that it would cost a lot less for the fence and system, and the security personnel, than it would for the Real I.D. cards, system, and personnel in all 50 states.
Those I.D. cards aren’t for fighting terrorism. Our government wants to take away any privacy we have remaining. Why do I smell Nazi Germany all over this plan?
we don’t need this card and we don’t want it, and hopefully most people will not accept it, i’m sure many will be decieved into accepting this tyranny by fear, i for one refuse this.