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| Science & Technology |
| 34 State Coalition Against "Real ID" |
| 2007-03-18 |
| The Missouri House this week passed a resolution objecting to the Federal Real ID Act of 2005. The legislation (HCR 20), sponsored by Rep. Jim Guest, R-King City, was approved by a vote of 146-4. The federal act was part of a homeland security bill signed by President Bush in 2005 and is scheduled to go into effect May 2008. If implemented as scheduled, it would require you to show a federally approved identification card when getting on board an airplane, opening a bank account, collecting Social Security checks and doing almost any kind of business with the federal government. "The scary part of this is the states are required to keep a data base of all this information plus all the data it takes to get your driverÂ’s license," said Rep. Guest. "This data will be shared by all states and our federal government which means any employee in any department of motor vehicles can have access to your information. You talk about security risks and identity theft. This just heightens the possibility of it." Because of his concerns about the act, Rep. Guest formed a coalition of lawmakers from 34 states to file bills that oppose or protest Real ID. Several states have passed legislation and many more have active bills against Real ID. HCR 20 now moves to the Senate for consideration. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #5 Methinks Point 37 is the clincher, as the WOT > WAR FOR NATIONAL-GLOBAL SOCIALISM, espec on America, voluntarily = forcibly, USA making too many "mistakes" to be singularly trusted = mainstream Amerika/USSA wants it to begin with, ...........................@etc. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-03-18 22:27 |
| #4 We now can use a state photo drivers licence for ID to fly comercial. When the rules change, we will need a Federal photo ID to board aircraft, and as the 34 states involved have rejected "Real ID" authentication, those state drivers licences will no longer be valid for even DOMESTRIC air travel. Get yer (internal) Passport now! |
| Posted by: internal passport 2007-03-18 19:39 |
| #3 No, it's not necessary in this day and age, any more than the gazillion other ID systems and databases filled with personal information. The entire concept of public identification has long since peaked, become redundant and counterproductive. Always there is the promise that just one more system will "do" something; but it never does. First of all, opposition to this at the State level points out several very good reason that this law stinks. 1) It is an expensive as hell, unfunded mandate. 2) Security at DMV offices around the country is terrible, and there are DMV security scandals annually. This would be putting a federal imprimatur on bad, local security. 3) The primary reason this is wanted is to "make bureaucrats jobs easier", the single worst idea ever for making new laws. 4) A significant number of IDs are lost by the public and stolen every year, they have to be replaced. Already people in border states need two photo IDs and a third ID before they can get a new or replacement ID. 5) Security in the ID system itself is a fantasy. Again, every year, there are dozens of arrests of people abusing police databases to search for ex-wives, harass and stalk, along with criminal fraud. 6) A national ID card security system would *have* to be on an open computer system, accessible from across the United States, and by proxy, from overseas. It would be a simple hacker accomplishment to break in and make or change all sorts of information. 7) Virtually an entire new federal bureaucracy will have to be created to manage such a database. 8) Hundreds of thousands of Americans would have to be excluded from that database, and have official, but *false* identity papers. Not just secret operatives, but innumerable individuals who could not have their identities associated with their place of business, *and* criminal informants under witness protection and relocation. Cost of such a system cannot even be calculated, but returns from that system are negligible. Even efforts to make a high-tech passport for US citizens, and requiring them to have one to enter the US has proven to be a disaster. Vast numbers of people are just refusing to travel. And yet the promises keep coming. Finally, State legislators are putting their foot down and pointing out that this beheamoth is just an incredible waste of time and money. Despite all sorts of philosophies that say ID cards are good. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-03-18 19:00 |
| #2 But Federal law overrides State law, right? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-03-18 18:42 |
| #1 The real problem is that such an ID would become mandatory for voter identification. That would kill the graveyard vote and make vote manipulating harder. I don't care if it's a Dummycritter or Repuglycon pushing against it, it's still good law, and necessary in this day and age. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2007-03-18 15:51 |