Big Improvement ... Or Big Brother?
(AP / CBS)
The Department of Homeland Security wants to make it a lot tougher for terrorists -- and you -- to get a driver's license, arguing that a driver's license is much more than just a license to drive. It's also used to prove your identity when you're checking in at an airport, renting a car, opening a bank account, or passing a government checkpoint.
New proposed guidelines, issued today, would require every state to include a digital photo, signature, and a bar code on every license. And before getting that license, an applicant would have to show a birth certificate or passport so his/her name could be verified and checked against a government database to ensure the applicant was in the country legally.
The push to tighten security rules for driver's licenses came from the 9/11 Commission, which noted that 13 of the 9/11 hijackers had legal licenses. And in 2005 Congress passed a REAL ID act requiring the federal government to draft uniform licensing rules for the states to follow.
But, privacy advocates say the more personal information that's on your drivers license, the greater your risk of being victimized by identity theft. And they say Real ID could open the door to Orwellian government tracking and profiling of American citizens...
