Real ID will 'strengthen' Americans' privacy, Chertoff says
WASHINGTON--In another attempt to head off privacy advocates' attacks on the Bush administration's Real ID plans, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the national-identification scheme will actually "strengthen" personal privacy by providing added protection against identity theft.
In written testimony Chertoff submitted (PDF) on Wednesday to the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, he made another pitch for his department's requirements, which generally say that starting on May 11, 2008, Americans will need a federally approved, "machine readable" ID card to travel on an airplane, open a bank account, collect Social Security payments or take advantage of nearly any government service.
A Real ID-compliant document will be of higher "quality" than existing driver's licenses and other state-issued identification cards, thus helping prevent terrorists and identity thieves alike from committing forgery, Chertoff said in his testimony.
That improved quality will come about, in part, because motor vehicle administrators will be required to link into databases to verify the legitimacy of the underlying identification documents, such as birth certificates, that Americans submit when they apply for Real ID-compliant cards, the Homeland Security chief suggested. Another senior Homeland Security official, Stewart Baker, made similar claims earlier this year.
Opponents of the Real ID plan, meanwhile, have cited numerous privacy and security flaws in the plan. One of their concerns is that the government's failure to require encryption on the cards' two-dimensional bar code could lead to information being swiped and harvested by outsiders for potentially invasive purposes.
Interestingly, not one member of the House committee asked Chertoff about the issue during Wednesday's wide-ranging hearing, which lasted about three hours and covered everything from hurricane preparedness to one Republican's call for more domestically bred bomb- and cadaver-sniffing dogs. (It also touched, albeit briefly, on cybersecurity.)
Perhaps the silence is emblematic of the increasing controversy the plan has generated over the past year, with numerous states endorsing legal measures attacking or rejecting Real ID and Congress, just before breaking for its August recess, rejecting an extra $300 million in grants for states to implement the mandate.
of private citizens. It's just another step on the road to
implanting RFID chips in humans. We have every right to be
scared. I for one will refuse to be microchipped. These are
dangerous grounds and dangerous times no matter what sugar
coating the advocates for RFID chipping may say.
It's time for citizens to stand up and say "enough is enough"!
Don't succumb to the nonsense that the government is throwing
our way. This is NOT for our protection, it is only to keep track
of seemingly 'free' people.
The warning was issued by George Orwell. Will the public wake
up to this madness before it is too late? Only time will tell...
I think for most Americans, we want to know if 1) is the ID simple to obtain, 2) can it be used for most purposes when interacting with the government, 3) is there some resource backing it in case my Real ID is hacked.
I can only imagine, real id act with some form of radio frequency. Cop drives by, already know who are in the car. Antiwar protestors, just run the "read id" and you'll find out who they are. No need to stop and search. That's what the FBI is doing in the Nixon era and the Bush era now. Save the FBI/NSA the trouble of surveillance without court/congress oversight. If you can think it, they already implemented.
Benjamin Franklin
or education of history, or who grow up in the South with poor
education material, a shame. We are living in conditions simular to
pre Hitler Germany, read the history, it's repeating itself with a
president (king) who quotes Stalin, a ruthless Russian dictator.
Time will prove this correct, I won't have to.
forget that he will be out of office in less than 18 months.
If there is anyone or anything to fear, it's your legislative
branch... They can be there until they kick the can.
Want to go hate "dictators"? Go to Cuba, North Korea, Iran, many
African countries, China, and now Venezuela.
P.S. This goes double for Cuba.
We have a gov't that condones torture, can arrest and not charge
citizens, and spies on its own people without any oversight.
Our founders created a separation of powers because they didn't
trust gov't. Mr. Bush's administration has systematically been
trying to undo this separation.
Mr. Bush finds that the administration should not be held
accountable, should be allowed to leak secrets to discredit
opponents, should politicize the rule of law to investigate
opponents.
This is a dangerous trend, with or without Bush at the helm. The
fact that this administration has been shredding many of its
documents means we may never know everything they've done
-- even after they are long gone.
And we now have a Homeland Security Department that wants
everyone to have documentation to prove you are who you are. It
won't be long (a few years maybe) until you will be assumed to
be an illegal alien subject to arrest without papers.
These folks know you can't throw a frog in boiling water.
Instead, the water temperature slowly rises, bit by bit -- until it
is too late for us.
American's that do not follow reality, pass on false emails without
knowing history, even recent history. They "live in their backyards"
& don't care about anything unless it effects them directly. They
have not a clue that their president has quoted a brutal Russion
Dictator after 9/11.
"Even if this statement was somehow true (which it clearly is not)
how can anyone take these pronouncements seriously from this
disreputable administration?"
By learning to read the meanings of the words this illegal and
immoral administration uses. Learn to read between the lines,
learn to understand that EVERYTHING that comes out of the
filthy lying mouths of this administration is just that - LIES!
Examples:
Iraq was trying to acquire nuclear weapons = Iraq couldn't afford
to think about nukes, let alone try to acquire them.
Iraq was a terrorist haven = we turned Iraq into a terrorist haven
to keep selling the idiots in this country on this illegal war.
America is more secure now than it was before 9/11 = you're in
more danger now than at any point in our history.
The domestic spy program, uh I mean the terrorist surveillance
program, is perfectly legal = I challenge you to find a law we
haven't broken here.
Real ID strengthens privacy = you have no rights whatsoever, let
alone any right to privacy, so bend over you moronic sheep and
let our nazi regime run roughshod over you whenever we feel
like it. Or find a new home in Guantanamo Bay. Your choice.
See? It's easy. When you find yourself having difficulty
understanding their comments, just turn them around to mean
the opposite of what you're hearing. Now you're getting the
truth!
When, oh when will the great people of this nation finally awake
from this nightmare and impeach the entire administration?
slowly but surely creating a totalitarian or police state is not the
issue. Regardless of whether one is innocent or guilty; giving a
government the right to access your privacy completely both
gives them the power to manipulate and use it against you.
Whether the current government will do so or not is a matter for
another discussion. What's really happening here is that the
foundation is being laid for the abuse of such privileges. Today's
government might not abuse it, but what about tomorrow's? By
then it will be too late to change it.
The "Terrorist Enemy" unlike any other war scenario will never
go away. The current situation where Americans are willing to
give up their freedoms temporarily will not go away until
terrorists go away and that is unlikely.
The only way in which terrorism as we know it today will go
away is with the establishment of an international, one world,
government. Those who oppose such a government will become
the "Terrorists" and will be the new targets of that government.
And who are they? Christians (predominantly), and those who
value their freedoms (Most Westerners, but especially
Americans.)
Real ID is no problem as long as the only thing it does it provide
a "Real ID" but as soon as it is used to connect databasis upon
databasis of info it becomes dangerous.
Information can be used for good, and it can be used for bad.
And very few people have the ability to discern the difference
soon enough. As we see in the Nazi Germany of WWII. Most
Germans did not realise what was going on until it was too late.
The same counts for South Africa during the Apartheid years.
I can take it in to my local bank, the insurance company, apply for credit cards... because of coarse private companies would see it as a legitimate form of ID... right?
It's poorly flawed. Delete the /etc/propaganda folder and review information online.
Don't just watch TV to be your source on the system they want to implement.
Or....it could just be a stupid clerk, and an elderly man who was easily confused.
can bet that the results are almost always the opposite of the
given name.
Real ID is nothing more than mandatory papers. Everyone will be
required to have them and present them whenever you interact
with gov't officials (or police). I would not be surprised if the
next step is that all purchases will require a presentation of Real
ID to "protect from fraud". There is a reason they call it
"Homeland" security.
Papers please..
- Chertoff = "barefaced liar"
- by LSobo September 11, 2007 11:14 AM PDT
- Chertoff has mastered the fine art of telling a bold, outright LIE in front of millions. Years of burrowing through our wallets like a hungry maggot has taught him how to lie - shamelessly!
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
(38 Comments)He knows very well that REAL ID will not stop a single act of terrorism, but WILL cost BILLIONS of dollars.
Why "waste" this money? From an oppressive bureaucrat point of view, the money isn't wasted, because it will facilitate tax collection from Americans (but NOT illegal immigrants).
REAL ID will make it so much simpler (Chertoff thinks) to "track" law-abiding Americans. I guess the IRS collection agents were sick of showing up at wrong addresses!
REAL ID mandates VERIFICATION of your address, but this "foolproof" plan is foiled the first time someone moves (or uses a friendly family member to provide an address.)
Ever think of THAT, Chertoff?