Have you heard of the Real ID act?

by Jason Preston on February 5, 2007

I first heard about this thing about a week ago when I was reading the LA times with my friend Ben. Actually, he was reading the LA times while I was playing Counter-Strike, but it was effectively the same thing. However, it does go to show how reading the paper is still important, right?

There have been some follow up articles, like this one in the New York Times, about how states are starting to get a little riled up about it. I think this is a good thing, since the law sounds a little like Big Brother to me.

Apparently, the Real ID act requires states to start issuing federal drivers licenses by 2008, which are then linked in to a national database of US citizens (meep?). Also, in order to get one, you have to produce something ridiculous like your birth certificate, social security card, and your dead uncle’s collar bone to prove that you’re a US citizen.

The card would also have a link in it to the national ID database. Can anyone say Identity Theft?

Come on people. Use your heads.

  • http://ieatgames.net Joy

    That does sound like it constitutes at “meep” in response. Uhm… so, the point of having a federal driver’s license = what? I mean, I guess it would make sense if you had to get a new driver’s license to drive in any new state, but since we DON’T… uhm… hello?

  • http://realidwatch.blogspot.com/ John R.

    The problem with REAL ID is primarily two-fold:

    1. Biometrics: I have a difficult time seeing how biometrics and Constitutional thinking can go together. Are our rights God-given and Constitution-recognized?

    Or are our rights to be reduced to a string of digits (very personal body-information) held hostage to the mercy and good will of an extremely powerful central government? (Apply the question to SSN numbers as well…)

    2. 4th Amendment issues: Are Americans “innocent until proven guilty” or are they “Guilty until properly identified?”

  • Jason

    I keep seeing it as one more step in this giant crab-crawl the US federal government has been doing all over our privacy. Well intentioned or not, there’s something scary about all these moves towards centralized power.