Comments on: Real ID creator: Law's been misunderstood

Republican politician who's a chief architect of federalized ID card law slams critics, aims to highlight how necessary the law really is.

[BeamerMT]

Interesting

I think it will probably happen one way or another. If people are concerned, they should probably ensure that whatever privacy and security concerns they have are addressed in the ID and get stuff taken care of before and not after something goes wrong. Even then, some technologies are already in ID cards and drivers licenses. My Lincense has a barcode on the back which i have had scanned at least once by a store when I returned some product.

[freemarket--2008]

No way

It ain't happening to me. I don't need to fly and if necessary, I can walk or bike to work. But then my state has already officially rejected it.

When the airlines lose half their customers, do they expect us who don't support it to bail them out? Fat chance!

[freemarket--2008]

No way

It ain't happening to me. I don't need to fly and if necessary, I can walk or bike to work. But then my state has already officially rejected it.

When the airlines lose half their customers, do they expect us who don't support it to bail them out? Fat chance!

[jdw242]

what??

"He emphasized the importance of pushing ahead with the new standards, which supporters say are necessary to keep terrorists and other dangerous people out of spaces where they could do harm."

What? The 911 terrorists apparently had valid credentials, and any 'sleepers' would be able to obtain this new documentation without issue.

Think people! Anything you create will be copied, down to the smallest detail, and it will be used against us. So, if you are working on IDs for US Citizens, it would do us good if you worked on something else; like airport security that is smart, instead of obvious.

[Leria]

Airport security is flawed

Airport security is fundamentally flawed in some ways. They make the security checkpoints GLARINGLY obvious and if someone gets past them somehow..... we are screwed because no one will notice in most cases!

We do need a national ID, however that could be done with laminated, encrypted Social Security card that you show at places to get through security.

The best national ID program would be one where your national ID is given to you at BIRTH and as you grow up you go somewhere and they bump up the privileges on your card. Say you turn 16 and can be a student driver..... you just go somewhere, they scan and re-encode the chip in your card.... BOOM! Licensed to drive as a student driver!

Of course, there are going to be worries about people cracking the cards..... but that's a problem with driver's licenses in Maryland right now, they have gone to holographic **** and it STILL isn't keeping people from making illegal copies of driver's licenses.

[jdw242]

fat chance

yes, they do expect us to bail them out, in the form of Government support. Who pays that bill again?

[mr3vil]

Indeed

if the information on the card is unencrypted, then what's to stop a terrorist from copying your information onto a "dummy" card that will get him access to a federal building or onto an airplane. You KNOW those systems will be mostly automated.

Terrorists are also REALLY patient, they'll go through all the neccessary paperwork to get where they need to go.

People say "freedom isn't free" are stating a simple truth, but for the wrong reasons. It's not just our service men and women that are the price we pay for freedom, it's also the risk from enemies that we as civilians assume.

From where I sit, I'd rather have a short life as a free man than a long healthy life under a police state. But maybe that's just me.

[jrlevine]

Missing the point

I can't help but note that the Representative didn't address the more substantive issues, like the requirement that the state DMVs verify all birth certificates with the issuer, an impossibly tedious task when you consider the thousands of county and local registries that issue them. And, of course, the security will be bogus anyway since its actual level will be determined by the most easily bribed low-level bureaucrat in a DMV office somewhere.

As Bruce Schneier has been saying for years, this sort of brittle system that attempts to build a wall around the good guys to keep the bad guys out is fundementally misconceived. The sooner we get rid of gimmicks like Real ID and think about real security, the better.

[Leria]

Real security

Real security is a misnomer in this society of today. You cannot have security and still be as open as you need to be to compete with other countries in the world today.

Really, what we need is a national passport, that is verified by people in offices WITHOUT people having to come into those offices.

We also have to loosen our immigration restrictions and ONLY go after people who we know have a connection with terrorist organizations. That would necessitate talking with other countries and having them monitor their own people and ESPECIALLY have Saudi Arabia monitor and shut down the radical mosques that are teaching hatred of America.

[spruceman]

Real ID

Thank God the former USSR didnt have the guys of police-state mentality in Moscow back then that we now now have in Washington. The evil empire would have been alive and well and probably swallowed up half the earth by now.

[guinzuz]

Encrypting: pointless

Why bother encrypting the 2D barcode? A basic fact that is often forgotten- the info on the 2D barcode is EXACTLY the same info that's printed on the front of the card! If someone wants the info on the barcode, they can just read it right off the front of the ID! It's true that a 2D barcode it makes it easier to capture the information quickly with a barcode reader, but it's nothing that can't be done with optical character recognition software and a $75 scanner. If the information on the ID (both printed on the front and in the 2D barcode) needs to be private, it shouldn't be listed on the card anywhere; it can be looked up in the state's system using the DL#. A more effective way of protecting personal information than encryption would be to restrict use of DL info (from the barcode or printed on the front) through legislation which includes stiff penalties for unlawful collection and use.

[rfidabc]

In China, a high-tech plan to track people

In China, a high-tech plan to track people

Starting this month in a port neighborhood and then spreading across Shenzhen, a city of 12.4 million people, residency cards fitted with powerful computer chips programmed by the same company will be issued to most citizens.

See more: http://www.rfidglobal.org/news/2007_8/200708131747094867.html

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