American's to get a 'National ID'

What is the real deal with the Real ID?

President Bush is soon expected to sign an $82 billion military spending bill that also gives funds to tsunami victims and money to support troops overseas. Hard to turn down. Let's look beyond the money and the military aspect of it to a little addendum in the bill.

This bill will, in part, create electronically readable, federally approved ID cards for Americans. The House of Representatives loves the idea and passed it last Thursday.

When Bush signs the bill, within three years of the signing, people that live or work in the United States will need a federally approved ID card to travel on an airplane, open a bank account, collect Social Security payments, or to take advantage of nearly any government service. Essentially, your driver's license likely will have to be reissued to meet federal standards.

Of course this is all rationalized by the 'terrorist threat', an excuse for much of the laws that have passed since Bush took office. Said Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, the Real ID will "hamper the ability of terrorist and criminal aliens to move freely throughout our society by requiring that all states require proof of lawful presence in the U.S. for their drivers' licenses to be accepted as identification for federal purposes such as boarding a commercial airplane, entering a federal building, or a nuclear power plant."

Only ID cards approved by Homeland Security can be accepted "for any official purpose" by the feds. You'll still get one through your state motor vehicle agency. But the identification process will be more rigorous.

The card will contain name, birth date, sex, ID number, a digital photograph, address on "common machine-readable technology." Homeland Security will be permitted to add additional requirements such as a fingerprint or retinal scan. It is possible, and purely up to Homeland Security, that a barcode will be added. Where ever you go, what ever you do, this barcode can track you.

In a system rife with identity theft and continual loss of freedom and privacy this is the scariest bill yet.

A statement from the ACLU says, "The federalization of drivers’ licenses, and the culling of all information into massive databases, creates a system ripe for identity theft. New standards could place our most private information - including photographs, address and social security numbers - into the hands of identity thieves. Worse still, an independent commission is currently studying the issue of license security, and, if enacted, Real ID would undermine their efforts.

The Real ID Act would also unnecessarily harm immigrants. Some asylum seekers will be forced to produce written corroboration of their persecution from those who persecuted them. The act would also eliminate, in some cases, the right of habeas corpus as an avenue for court review for the first time since the Civil War. Such an overhaul of immigration laws shouldn't be slipped into a funding bill for the military."

What can you do? Contact the ACLU and go here.