National ID Card For Americans

[Winglets747]

Wow

I knew nothing about this.

Slipped insidiously into an $81 billion bill for "supporting troops" and "tsunami relief" was a tiny law - The Real ID Act of 2005 - which creates a de facto National ID card for Americans and requires it to be in place by 2008 (the Feds are now "allowing" an extension through 2009 for States that request it). Every driver's license will be required to include "physical security features" and "a common machine readable technology." The cultists who support this National ID card say that it's all voluntary.

And it is. You can refuse to comply, in which case you won't be able to open a bank account, enter a federal building, ride a plane or train, etc. Yes, quite voluntary. A nice card, containing all sorts of sensitive information about you, which can be scanned everywhere you go.

http://www.netscape.com/viewstory/2007/ ... frame=true

A lot of countries have national ID cards, but those function as a hybrid driver's license/passport and don't contain as much information as these cards will.

[Tom_Turner]

Oh, great.

Part two, after forcing all law abinding productive citizens to go along with this, will be to start systematicaly exempting the folks we'd most want to be ketp track of.

[cancidas]

um... isn't our passport a national ID card?

[nwafan20]

Wow, this needs to stop, the slipping in of random bills into a main bill. Things should be voted on individually.

[PhilDernerJr]

um... isn't our passport a national ID card?

But not everyone is required to have a passport.

[cancidas]

um... isn't our passport a national ID card?

But not everyone is required to have a passport.

i know that, and just sent in an application to get mine back the other day. glad you can do this by mail...

[Mateo]

REAL ID isn't a tiny law, and there was a lot of debate when it was enacted, which is why it was eventually folded into the Iraq supplemental for 2005. Support on both sides was lukewarm, but the whole thing was shepherded/railroaded through by Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), the then-Chairman of House Judiciary. It essentially tells the states that, in order to have their licenses accepted as an ID for federally-mandated purposes (entering a Federal building, boarding an airplane, etc..), the licenses must meet certain minimum standards including having a common machine-readable technology as well as mandating that all states link their license databases.

The states are now pushing back, since it's a huge unfunded mandate, and a Federal intrusion on to what had been up to now a state jurisdiction. So much for the Conservative "holy grail" of the 10th Amendment. So far Maine and Idaho have passed laws rejecting participation in REAL ID, and something like 15 or 20 more states have bills on the table to reject it.

The text of the REAL ID section of the law (PL 109-13) is available at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c ... iO:e238497: