national id cards

[solidground]

TweetAmerica's one step closer to losing our democracy

National ID Battle Continues

Wired News | May 12 2005

Legislation supporting a standardized national driver's license may have won unanimous approval in the Senate on Tuesday, but the bill's apparently smooth passage left some jagged edges in its wake.

The Real ID Act appeared in take-it-or-leave-it spending legislation, which effectively forced lawmakers to sign on to the whole measure even if they disagreed with a portion of it. Several Republican and Democrat senators who cast favorable votes for the bill simultaneously railed against the provision authorizing the new driver's license rules.

They're not the only ones refusing to accept the bill peacefully. The National Governors Association is threatening lawsuits to fight the legislation. And some states are threatening to ignore the legislation because they say it will cost up to $700 million for states to comply and will place a heavy burden on Department of Motor Vehicles workers.

A spokeswoman for the governors' association did not return calls for comment. But Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Republican, told the Associated Press this week that "if more than half of the governors agree we're not going down without a fight on this, Congress will have to consider changing" the rules.

In the meantime, mobilization against the legislation is also occurring on the citizen front. Civil liberties activist Bill Scannell, who launched a website this week to protest the legislation, said that visitors to his site sent more than 20,000 faxes to senators within 24 hours.

"One by one (senators) got up and said, 'This is a real stinker but you've got a gun to our heads so we've got to vote for it,'" Scannell said. "This is an incredibly sleazy way to push something that pushes the very nature and foundations of our democracy."

The act passed in the Senate with a 100-0 vote Tuesday and passed through the House twice -- first as a stand-alone bill in February and again last week as part of a larger spending bill. But several senators, such as Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee) and Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), said the legislation would have unintended consequences and likely wouldn't improve national security.

Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said more than 600 organizations -- including state legislation associations, civil liberties groups and pro-immigrant advocates -- opposed the bill. And he said organizers will gather next week to discuss plans to press Congress to revisit its decision.

"This is one of the biggest mistakes Congress has ever made," Rotenberg said. "This is not over by any means."

Supporters of the bill say it would prevent terrorists and undocumented immigrants from obtaining legitimate documents that would help them move freely through the country. Last year, the 9/11 Commission called for tightening control over government-issued IDs because 18 of the 19 hijackers in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks used U.S. IDs to pass through airport security.

But opponents of the bill say it would create a national ID card and a de facto national database -- a concept that Congress rejected when it was first proposed several years ago.

The act would force states to produce standardized, tamper-resistant driver's licenses that would include machine-readable, encoded data. States wouldn't be required to comply. But those that don't comply would create hardship for residents, who wouldn't be able to use their licenses as official identification to travel on airplanes, collect federal benefits or gain access to federal buildings.

All drivers, including current license holders, would have to provide multiple documents to verify their identity before they could obtain a license or renew one. Drivers would have to provide several types of documentation, such as a photo ID, birth certificate, proof that their Social Security number is legitimate and something that verifies the applicant's full home address.

Some critics call the legislation anti-immigration because it would prohibit undocumented immigrants from obtaining a driver's license.

The law would compel DMV workers to verify the documents against federal databases and store the documents and a digital photo of the card holder in a database. Critics say the mandates would result in higher costs and longer lines at the DMV.

"It's a controversial measure and a controversial manner in which to pass it," Rotenberg said. "We want them to know that in passing (the Real ID Act), Congress mandated the collection of sensitive personal information by state DMVs at the same time that the state DMVs have become the target of attacks."

Since March, there have been at least three reported incidents of personal data being stolen for the sake of identity theft from DMV offices in Nevada, Florida and Maryland.

Senators opposing the act reluctantly passed it because it was slipped into a larger spending appropriations bill that authorized emergency funding for the Iraq war and tsunami victim relief.

[T-Man007]

TweetI'm for it because it would greatly reduce theft Identitiy. It would force immagrants to actually become official Americans (and pay their phukin taxes). And, I don't have anything to hide. I have my birth cert, photo ID's and my SS card.

If anything, this would round up a lot of wanted people who are on the run. They wouldn't be able to fly anymore and they would have to provide the new ID for stuff like jobs, buying houses, etc. It would practically eliminate fake ID's so that would greatly reduce under age drinking. Personally, it doesn't infringe on my lifestyle in any way so I don't care.

You ever seen the Minority Report? Eye scans everywhere you go, that would be too much but this, this doesn't bother me.

[jackson vile]

TweetI think the problem that a lot of people have with it including myself is that it is just another way to track you and get into your life, not free at all.


And this in no shape or form would help us track illegals, they don't even need drivers license so what use would they have for this.

To me this is just yet another way to take away freedom wraped up in the shroud of keeping you safe.

Thing is we keep giving up more and more rights yet we are not safer, and possibly much more unsafe in reference to our Gov. that has ever increasing powers over us.

Seriously don't blink cause it will all be gone in a flash, think of what life was like during your great grandfauthers life, in your 100 years just imagine what you will see.

[Klash]

Tweet

Thing is we keep giving up more and more rights yet we are not safer, and possibly much more unsafe in reference to our Gov. that has ever increasing powers over us.

I second that!!

Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have.... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases.
~ Thomas Jefferson

Over the last century, a person was almost twice as likely to be killed by their own government than by a force from outside their country.
R. J. Rummel - "Death by Government"

[trip]

TweetI agree, we should also have different currencies for each state, so no one knows who has what money.

Gosh if you got ss# and pay taxes and have a credit card they got it ALL already, you ain't hiding from no one.

[solidground]

Tweetjacksonville i feel the same way...its just another step in the process of taking away our democracy, as was the patriot act..just wait till the second patriot act is released when there is another "terrorist attack"..ive read it and it takes even more of our rights away..the definition of terrorist will have to be redefined.

the next step will be microchips put into everyone, which they will try to pass off as necessary to prevent kidnappings and terrorist propaganda bs..our freedoms are slowly being taken away but our govt is doing a great job using fear as a tool to make it acceptable. we are becoming a police state

[Th3w0rld1sm1ne]

Tweethistory has shown that if you want to control people, first you scare them. After they are scared, they will gladly exchange freedoms for "safety". Anyone not willing to give up the freedoms is labeled as unpatriotic, someone who doesn't care about the security of the nation, or all of the people who might be hurt... The most important thing is the security of the state against all enemies.

This isn't a broad conspiracy, it isn't a secret facist shaddow government pulling the strings. It's not a sexy story of secret societies and a new orwelian order. It's about money. A TREMENDOUS profit will be made in the next century by the people who are positioning themselves to take advantage of the direction the elite radical right is taking us. America is owned by corporations now, not the people.

It would be laughable if it wasn't so scary to see how readily Americans are throwing their liberties away for the idea, not reality, of safety. Do you really think this country is any safer from attack than it was 5 years ago? Of course you do... becuase it's what is reported by the media... who get's their information from, you guessed it, the same government that is stripping the liberties. As someone who works in the security industry, i can tell you, we are NOT safer. If anything we are at risk now more than ever. The elite are making a power play to ensure their notch at the top of the totem pole, and we are all just sitting here watching it unfold on cnn.

[Merc]

TweetI have mixed feeling on this topic so please post some more info.

[Equalizer]

Tweet

history has shown that if you want to control people, first you scare them. After they are scared, they will gladly exchange freedoms for "safety". Anyone not willing to give up the freedoms is labeled as unpatriotic, someone who doesn't care about the security of the nation, or all of the people who might be hurt... The most important thing is the security of the state against all enemies.

This isn't a broad conspiracy, it isn't a secret facist shaddow government pulling the strings. It's not a sexy story of secret societies and a new orwelian order. It's about money. A TREMENDOUS profit will be made in the next century by the people who are positioning themselves to take advantage of the direction the elite radical right is taking us. America is owned by corporations now, not the people.

It would be laughable if it wasn't so scary to see how readily Americans are throwing their liberties away for the idea, not reality, of safety. Do you really think this country is any safer from attack than it was 5 years ago? Of course you do... becuase it's what is reported by the media... who get's their information from, you guessed it, the same government that is stripping the liberties. As someone who works in the security industry, i can tell you, we are NOT safer. If anything we are at risk now more than ever. The elite are making a power play to ensure their notch at the top of the totem pole, and we are all just sitting here watching it unfold on cnn.

EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Equalizer]

Tweetalso they want it to be a cashless society...fuck that

[Equalizer]

Tweetcheck this link out....it has tons of articles on ID cards.
https://www.prisonplanet.com/archives/realid/index.html

[Skarhead]

Tweetwhos responsible for this one?

[LOGAN]

Tweeti cant agree with these id cards bros..just more hoops the gov't wants us to jump through..it seems to me that the irs could put a freeze on your entire life with the push of a button and no warning..so the line about its easier to keep tabs on everyone is b.s..

[Equalizer]

Tweet

whos responsible for this one?

what do u mean?

[Equalizer]

Tweetpersonally I dont care about carrying around ID but having all information on one damn thing is too much. They are making everybodys information too public. I do have a problem with what a national ID card may lead to.