[fsf60k] Please read this info about Homeland Security's Real ID ACT
- From: "Janet Liotta" <janetliotta@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Janet Liotta" <janetliotta@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2008 01:53:46 -0500
How extreme is this?
CONTACT:
Jennifer Carnig, 212.607.3363 / jcarnig@nyclu. <mailto:jcarnig@xxxxxxxxx>
org
NYCLU: New York Must Reject Real ID
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 11, 2008 - The New York Civil Liberties Union calls on Gov. Eliot
Spitzer to protect American values and reject the federal Real ID Act - a
law that would create the first national identification system in American
history and endanger New Yorkers' privacy rights.
The Department of Homeland Security today issued its final regulations for
the implementation of the Real ID Act, which Congress passed in May 2005
with little debate.
Donna Lieberman, executive director of the NYCLU, said the regulations
simply attempt to put a pretty face on an ugly, dangerous law.
"Regulations cannot fix a fundamentally rotten law - it's like rearranging
deck chairs on the Titanic," she said. "The new regulations do not defuse
the substantial threats the law poses to New Yorkers' privacy, freedoms and
pocketbooks. Governor Spitzer must stand up for American values, protect our
privacy and reject the Real ID Act once and for all."
On Oct. 27, 2007, Spitzer became the first governor in the nation to agree
to implement the Real ID Act. He did so to gain support for his failed
effort to provide undocumented immigrants access to driver's licenses. The
governor soon abandoned his license proposal, but his agreement with DHS
remains in effect.
The Real ID Act attempts to set federal standards for the issuance and
appearance of state driver's licenses and identification cards, but it goes
much further. Driver's licenses and ID cards would have to meet these
standards to be accepted for "official purposes" by federal agencies, which
would include boarding a commercial aircraft, entering federal facilities,
such as federal courthouses, and any other purposes the U.S. Secretary of
Homeland Security determines are necessary.
The law places no limits on potential required uses for Real IDs. In time,
Real IDs could be required to vote, collect a Social Security check, open a
bank account, go to a Yankees game, access Medicaid or buy a gun. The
private sector could begin mandating a Real ID to perform countless
commercial and financial activities, such as renting a DVD or buying car
insurance. Real ID cards would become a necessity, making them de facto
national IDs.
"If New York submits to the Real ID Act, it would mean that ordinary, good
people will be excluded from flying, accessing the justice system, voting -
the list goes on," said Udi Ofer, NYCLU advocacy director. "Married women
who changed their name but their birth certificate doesn't reflect these
changes could be disenfranchised, as could low-income and older Americans
who don't have access to their original birth certificates."
If implemented, the Real ID Act could establish an enormous electronic
infrastructure that government and law enforcement officials - or whoever
else hacks in - could use to track Americans' activities and movements. This
vast network of interlinking databases would contain enormous amounts of
Americans' personal information - such as Social Security numbers, photos
and copies of birth certificates - and would be accessible to federal and
DMV employees across the 50 states and U.S. territories.
"This national mega-database would be a goldmine for identity thieves,"
Lieberman said. "There's no reason that a DMV worker in Guam should be able
to see a grandmother in Schenectady's Social Security number. Our private
information would only be as safe as the DMV or state office with the
weakest security system."
The law also mandates that all driver's licenses and ID cards have a
"machine-readable zone" that would facilitate tracking by the government and
private sector. Real IDs would leave a digital fingerprint whenever swiped,
scanned or read. Inevitably, Americans will likely have to produce a Real
ID card to perform any number of government and commercial transactions.
Information captured from each transaction could be used by the government
and corporations to develop detailed profiles of people's daily activities.
Governor Spitzer acknowledged the law's substantial privacy threats in
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