Did you know America now has a national ID? Well, not yet, but last week a law was passed by Congress and approved by President Bush that requires the federal government to set identification standards for federally governed functions, such as boarding an airplane or opening a bank account.
The Real ID Act has a number of scary aspects: state and federal databases will be linked, ID cards will have to be machine-readable (storing digital information), and likely be used heavily by the private-sector. Real ID is supposed to fight terrorism, but terrorists can still assume identities, and the document-checking systems required will need years to populate with data in order to effectively catch forged documents.
There are other bummer aspects to the legislation, which was attached to a military-funding bill that made it politically infeasible to oppose. Real ID makes it impossible for illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses, which even the conservative Wall Street Journal noted would not reduce the number of illegal immigrants, just ensure they drive without licenses and insurance. (Duh!) It also raises the barrier for asylum applicants, such as those fleeing religious and political persecution.
Read the speech made by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) about why he opposed Real ID, even though he voted for the necessary bill it was attached to (as did every other senator).
Real ID is not good for those of us who fear a Big Brother government. How did this happen?
2 comments:
Here in China, people are shocked when I tell them that Americans have no national ID. The Chinese can't imagine their lives without them. They use them not only to board airplanes, but to open bank accounts, get jobs, check into hotels, etc. etc. etc.
Sometimes I reply, "it's not our government's business to keep track of everyone."
--Dan
i agree the concepts of privacy and such are really different in asia. i think japan had some controversy about a national id system a couple years ago, however. don't know what came of that.
but here in america, a national id is almost unimmaginable ... yet here it is.
ts
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