WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb. 4, 2007
States Buck Fed Plan For National ID
Citing Privacy Concerns, $11B Cost, A Dozen States Oppose Real ID Law; Congress May Repeal
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One goal of Real ID is to unify states' disparate licensing rules and make it harder to fraudulently obtain a card. But Real ID will also be required for other purposes — for example, airport screeners won't let you board a plane without one. (CBS)
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The Maine Legislature on Jan. 26 overwhelmingly passed a resolution objecting to the Real ID Act of 2005. The federal law sets a national standard for driver's licenses and requires states to link their record-keeping systems to national databases.
Within a week of Maine's action, lawmakers in Georgia, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Vermont and Washington state also balked at Real ID. They are expected soon to pass laws or adopt resolutions declining to participate in the federal identification network.
"It's the whole privacy thing," said Matt Sundeen, a transportation analyst for the National Conference of State Legislatures. "A lot of legislators are concerned about privacy issues and the cost. It's an estimated $11 billion implementation cost."
The law's supporters say it is needed to prevent terrorists and illegal immigrants from getting fake identification cards.
States will have to comply by May 2008. If they do not, driver's licenses that fall short of Real ID's standards cannot be used to board an airplane or enter a federal building or open some bank accounts.
The law was introduced as a rider to a military spending bill in 2005 by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.).
About a dozen states have active legislation against Real ID, including Arizona, Georgia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming.
Missouri state Rep. James Guest, a Republican, formed a coalition of lawmakers from 34 states to file bills that oppose or protest Real ID.
"This is almost a frontal assault on the freedoms of America when they require us to carry a national ID to monitor where we are," Guest said in an interview Saturday. "That's going too far."
Guest introduced a resolution last week opposing Real ID and said he expects it quickly to pass the Legislature. "This does nothing to stop terrorism," he said. "Don't burden the American people with this requirement to carry this ID."
Though most states oppose the law, some such as Indiana and Maryland are looking to comply with Real ID, Sundeen said.
The issue may be moot for states if Congress takes action.
Republican Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire, along with Democratic Sen. Daniel Akaka of Hawaii, filed a bill last year to repeal the law. Sununu expects similar legislation will be introduced soon.
"The federal government should not be in charge of defining and issuing drivers' licenses," Sununu said in a statement.
Privacy advocates say a national driver's license will promote identity theft.
Barry Steinhardt, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, said the Real ID ordered by Congress would require a digital photo and probably a fingerprint on each driver's license or state-issued ID card. That, he said, will make it more valuable to identity thieves because the ID card will be accepted as much more than a driving credential.
"It's going to be a honey pot out there that's going to be irresistible to identity thieves," Steinhardt said.
An identity thief, he said, could buy a Real ID from a rogue motor vehicle department employee with is own photo and fingerprint on it.
"The victim is never going to be able to undo this," Steinhardt said.
Other criticisms include:
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- Didn't Hitler provide Numbers for the Jews?
So, if they don't let me on a plane, open a bank account,then they will loose my business and so will everyone else stop flying, opening bank accounts and so on. this is just to watch you and what you do.
they want to put RFID chips into our money, so that they will know where you spend and what you purchase. It isn't about the illegls, it's about cheap labor and hoping that you don't notice what's happening.
Remember, buy as much ammo and guns that you can to protect yourself from our dictator Bush. - Reply to this comment
- Didn't Hitler provide Numbers for the Jews?
So, if they don't let me on a plane, open a bank account,then they will loose my business and so will everyone else stop flying, opening bank accounts and so on. this is just to watch you and what you do.
they want to put RFID chips into our money, so that they will know where you spend and what you purchase. It isn't about the illegls, it's about cheap labor and hoping that you don't notice what's happening.
Remember, buy as much ammo and guns that you can to protect yourself from our dictator Bush. - Reply to this comment
- Load up on guns and ammo. When these are "issued" we probably won't be able to get any more of either.
- Reply to this comment
- "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved for the States respectively, or to the people."
~ U.S. Constitution 10th Amendment
"The true theory of our Constitution is surely the wisest and best, that the States are independent as to everything within themselves, and united as to everything respecting foreign nations. Let the General Government be reduced to foreign concerns only... and our General Government may be reduced to a very simple organization, and a very inexpensive one; a few plain duties to be performed by a few servants."
~ Thomas Jefferson
"Federally imposed standards for drivers license and birth certificates make a mockery of federalism and the 10th amendment. While states technically are not forced to accept the federal standards, any refusal to comply would mean their residents could not get a job, receive Social Security, or travel by plane. So rather than imposing a direct mandate on the states, the federal government is blackmailing them into complying with federal dictates."
~ Ron Paul
"a few plain duties to be performed by a few servants." Not the Corporate Dictatorship Central Government we have today, that has the audacity to refer to the Constitution as "just a ******* piece of paper." - Reply to this comment
- You can move wherever you want, but unless you change your name and identity bankruptcy, divorce, imprisonment for a crime one committed without thinking will follow you with Credit checks, background checks etc. You can tell new people you meet anything you want but you can't erase your past it is always going to be there.
- Reply to this comment
- I couldn't have said it better myself, maccmcf.
How is a national ID unconstitutional or causes any kind of loss of freedom. Most children are finger printed in elementary school, at least when I was that age, your picture is already on your DL and you already have a SS #. The only thing that will change is that everyone's ID will look the same and your information will be easier to obtain, saving taxpayers money and making it easier to identify criminals from out of state. - Reply to this comment
- One of the time-honored solutions to having a spell of bad luck in one's life (bankruptcy, divorce, imprisonment for a crime one committed without thinking, etc.) is to move to another part of the country and start over with a fresh slate. A National ID with an accompanied National database will keep this from ever happening again. You will not be able to meet new people who can form their own opinion about the new you because the old you follows you with your National ID, no matter how much you might want to leave that person behind. I'm not talking about escaping from criminal prosecution; I'm talking about after serving one's time when everybody back home can't forgive you...
- Reply to this comment
- Trusting a government to protect your liberty is like trusting a child rapist to babysit your kids. Very bad things will happen.
- Reply to this comment
- They've already got us correlated and cross-correlated in multiple relational databases AND if the government ever merges the commercial databases on us WATCH OUT!
This ID card is not really a privacy concern, we surrendered our right to privacy dozens of years ago. - Reply to this comment
- vbnvbn writes:
"This is not as bad an idea as the previous comments claim. Currently each state has it's own drivers license. Someone serving alcohol that is presented with an out of state drivers license can easily be fooled into serving a minor."
Well I'd MUCH rather take my chances that a few eager teens get an illicit beer that to have even MORE of my freedoms being assassinated by King Bush and the PuppetMaster. They have no rights to our privacies and they have no scruples when it comes to anything. - Reply to this comment
