March 1, 2007 11:05 AM PST
Homeland Security offers details on Real ID
Last modified: March 1, 2007 1:49 PM PST
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The announcement by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security offers a five-year extension to the deadline for states to issue the ID cards, and proposes creating the equivalent of a national database that would include details on all 240 million licensed drivers.
According to the draft regulations (PDF), which were required by Congress in the 2005 Real ID Act and are unlikely to assuage privacy and cost concerns raised by state legislatures:
• The Real ID cards must include all drivers' home addresses and other personal information printed on the front and in a two-dimensional barcode on the back. The barcode will not be encrypted because of "operational complexity," which means that businesses like bars and banks that require ID would be capable of scanning and recording customers' home addresses.
• A radio frequency identification (RFID) tag is under consideration. Homeland Security is asking for input on how the licenses could incorporate "RFID-enabled vicinity chip technology, in addition to" the two-dimensional barcode requirement.
• States must submit a plan of how they'll comply with the Real ID Act by October 7, 2007. If they don't, their residents will not be able to use IDs to board planes or enter federal buildings starting on May 11, 2008.
• Homeland Security is considering standardizing a "unique design or color for Real ID licenses," which would effectively create a uniform national ID card.
Thursday's draft regulations arrive amid a groundswell of opposition to the Real ID Act from privacy groups, libertarians and state officials. On Wednesday, the National Governors Association endorsed a bill by Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, that would reduce Homeland Security's power to order states to comply with the law.
The draft rules, which are not final and will be subject to a public comment period, also include a more detailed estimate of how much it will cost to comply. The National Conference of State Legislatures and other state groups estimated last year that states will have to spend more than $11 billion. But Homeland Security says the total cost--including the cost to individuals--will be $23.1 billion over a 10-year period.
Another section of the 162-page regulations says that states have until December 31, 2009, to certify that they're on the path toward fully complying with the Real ID Act.
Push for repeal continues
Opponents of the Real ID Act, who have been advising states to publicly oppose the system, said that the draft rules are insufficiently privacy-protective and reiterated their call for a repeal of the entire law.
"We still need dramatic legislative action from Congress," said Tim Sparapani, legislative counsel for the ACLU, which runs the RealNightmare.org site. "We've got to wipe out the underlying act."
Sparapani and his allies of more than 50 groups, including the National Organization for Women and United Automobile Workers, sent a letter (PDF) on Monday endorsing a bill to repeal the Real ID Act. The letter says it was a "poorly-conceived law that can never be made to work in any fair or reasonable manner."
The ACLU believes Collins' bill is only a half-hearted step that doesn't go as far as it should. Other proposals include one from Rep. Thomas Allen, a Maine Democrat, that would rewrite the Real ID Act, insert privacy safeguards, and hand $2.4 billion to states over an eight-year period. On Wednesday, Sen. John Sununu, a New Hampshire Republican, and Daniel Akaka, a Hawaii Democrat, reintroduced a broader bill to repeal portions of the existing law.
Some state governments, such as Maine, already have come out against the Real ID Act--a move that effectively dares the federal government to continue even when some states refuse to participate. At least eight states (including Arizona, Georgia, and Vermont) have had anti-Real ID bills approved by one or both chambers of the legislature.
For their part, proponents of the Real ID Act say it's designed to implement proposals suggested by the 9/11 Commission, which noted that some of the hijackers on September 11, 2001, had fraudulently obtained state driver's licenses. But not all did: at least one hijacker simply showed his foreign passport and walked onto the airplane that day.
The Bush administration and many congressional Republicans have defended the Real ID Act as a way to stop future terrorist attacks and deter illegal immigrants.
"Raising the security standards on driver's licenses establishes another layer of protection to prevent terrorists from obtaining and using fake documents to plan or carry out an attack," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in a statement. "These standards correct glaring vulnerabilities exploited by some of the 9/11 hijackers who used fraudulently obtained drivers licenses to board the airplanes in their attack against America."
A 23-page report released this week by Janice Kephart, a former lawyer with the 9/11 Commission, defended the Real ID Act by calling it a "significant step in enhancing our national and economic security and our public safety." Kephart is now president of 9/11 Security Solutions.
States bowing out of Real ID requirements is "not the way to secure America," the report says. "Embedding identity security into state-issued (ID card) systems will take significant planning to fulfill the requirements of Real ID and significant financial resources for the 'brick and mortar' start-up costs. Congress must step up to the plate and make securing of identity documents the national priority that our citizens deserve."
The Real ID Act passed Congress as part of an $82 billion military spending bill that also included funds for tsunami relief. No up-or-down vote on solely the Real ID Act took place in the entire Congress, though the House of Representatives did approve the rules by a 261-161 vote.
See more CNET content tagged:
Real ID Act,
homeland security,
ID card,
Maine,
RFID
Either people are getting licenses very young, driving until they are very old, or there are a lot of bogus licences out there!
The system may be broken before it ever gets started.
The way it was stuck on a critical defense spending bill and crammed down the collective throat of the states shows how dishonorable a group this is.
Your papers, please?
HOW NICE!
So, when I am on the road, doing a show tour, or on vacation, the nice people who like to break in to houses will KNOW that I am away FROM home, WHERE home IS and, thanks to the US GIVErment, will be able to clean me and millions of other Americans out of everything they own!
And, if they put the RFID chips in there, sure as hell's a mantrap, some smart young hacker will crack THAT code and people will be able to scan these puppies from a distance and do the SAME THING, but you won't even know that you have BEEN scanned!
And, for those who say these things can't BE hacked - BULL! ANYTHING can be hacked.
Remember, the codes ON these critters have to be simple enough to be read FAST or the lines at airports and federal buildings will be even worse - and the public will NOT put up with THAT!
Americans will tolerate almost anything so long as it doesn't screw up traffic. If the code on the RFID chips on the "Real IDs" is too complex, they most certainly WILL screw up traffic!
And the public will NOT put up with that - STARTING with the Congresscritters who PASSED this nonsense and who will be among the FIRST to get caught in the mess that they will CAUSE!
And the point of Real ID is....?
Oh right, complete tracking of everyone.
Seriously, we're so asleep that this will kick in with barely a
wimper.
It goes without saying that the motivation for this goes way
beyond terrorism.
Won't it be nice when you can essentially be deactivated
remotely?
And if they keep screaming "terrorism" they'll be able to do so
without any real probable cause.
How nice.
to make our country safer?
If my happiness depends on me being able to board an airplane to travel to Trinidad and Tobago for a vacation, isn't denying me access to an airplane an infringement of my civil rights?
The Bush regime has gone way to far with this "security" requirement. They can't keep illegal aliens from coming across the border any time they like, but they sure as hell can keep us from leaving!!!!!!
For anyone that does not like the ideal of the Real ID ACT/National ID, Please take a stand against it and go to nonationalid.com and take the NoNationalID pledge: http://www.nonationalid.com/TakeAction.aspx
Since Maine decided not to participate, the entire Act is unconstitutional because it will deny residents of Maine access to the Federal court system...and that's a no-no. By denying an entire State access to courts, the Act is now doomed.
- Driver's Licenses are already unconstitutional
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by enscorp
March 1, 2007 4:14 PM PST
- The driver's license is already unconstitutional. If I build a car on my lawn and want to drive it, I HAVE to pay the state and be 'certified' to drive it? What kind of encrouchament on my freedom is this? It's total BS and everyone knows it.
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See all 91 Comments >>Stop complaining, get off your arse, and Vote. And PLEASE, DON'T vote for a PARTY. Vote for a Patriot no matter what "party" they may claim to be a part of. If possible vote Constitutional party. Finally - Vote small government, SECURE borders, Fair Tax (end IRS, DOE, and other bureacracies).
It's up to us to become ONE people again and get over this Social Engineering by the mass media to distract us from Truth and Reality. STOP watching TV, use the Internet and Read, Read, Read.....compare stories and DISCERN the TRUTH between teh lines.
FOLLOW THE MONEY people...it's all about control, and money. Whay destroy the middle class ? Because it's the ONLY barrier left preventing a Totalitarian Police State her ein the US and the hastening of the One World Gestapo Governement.
Americans- WAKE UP...VOTE in EVERY election especially local ones. We DO NOT HAVE the luxury of time anymore...it's now or never to save the REPUBLIC...Remember...WE ARE NOT A DEMOCRACY. WE ARE A REPUBLIC. We will lose it if we don't act. And that WILL BE the end.