Reject Real ID



SB 492, introduced by Senator Emmett Hanger, is being heard tomorrow, February 7, at 2 p.m. in the Senate Committee on Transportation. We have sent out earlier alerts about SB 492; however, in previous weeks the bill was passed by for the day in the committee hearing. We expect it to be heard tomorrow because this is the last Senate Transportation committee meeting before cross-over (February 13, 2008).

While ACLU of Virginia is unclear about the first part of the bill, we emphatically support the second part of the bill that rejects Real ID as an unfunded mandate. The bill states:

"That the Department of Health's Office of Vital Records, along with the Department of Motor Vehicles and other appropriate state and local agencies, shall develop and implement a plan to provide Virginia Resident verification, as an alternative to the requirements of the federal Real ID Act of 2005, P.L. 109-13. Virginia shall not comply with the unfunded mandates of the Real ID Act."

A persistent criticism of the Real ID Act since its enactment in 2005 has been the charge that the law is a massive unfunded mandate that also intrudes on privacy rights by creating a national data base of government approved IDs. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initially estimated that nationwide implementation would cost over $23 billion, roughly in line with estimates from independent groups like the National Governors Association and National Conference of State Legislators.

Please voice your opposition to Real ID in Virginia to members of the committee. Click on the Senator's name for their contact information.

Senate Transportation: Miller, Y.B. (Chair), Houck, Marsh, Newman, Watkins, Puckett, Wagner, Blevins, Deeds, McDougle, Ticer, Cuccinelli, Petersen, Smith, Miller, J.C.

To learn more about Real ID, go to: http://www.realnightmare.org/

Please contact me with any questions/comments. Thank you for your hard work!

Hope R. Amezquita, Legislative Counsel

lobby@acluva.org

804-644-8080



American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia
530 E. Main Street, Suite 310
Richmond, Virginia 23219

ok... so i got bored after the first line, crap about the ACLU will do that. i know and understand what the whole Real ID thing is and i support it. real id isnt about stealing your privacy by putting you in a DB, the state already does that. what real id is about is securing the identification system. besides, do you really want to listen to a bunch of rejects from richmond?


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

Look, if you don't want a reliable, safe and secure form of ID that allows you access to airports and federal buildings, that is your deal. I for one wouls like that privelege. The cost of the requirement could be funded by adding approximately $3 per license in VA. That isn't a lot considering you pay a security fee every time you fly. Additionally, DHS will enable States to use up to 20% of a State’s Homeland Security Grant Program funds for REAL ID compliance efforts.

REAL ID is not a national ID card! REAL ID establishes common standards for States to issue licenses. The Federal Government is not issuing the licenses, is not collecting information about license holders, and is not requiring States to transmit license holder information to the Federal Government that the Government does not already have (such as a Social Security Number). Most States already routinely collect the information required by the Act.

The REAL ID Act does not establish a national database of driver information. States will continue to collect and store information about applicants as they do today. REAL ID regs do not propose to change this practice and would not give the Federal government any greater access to this information.

As they do now, authorized DMV officials in the licensing State will have access to DMV records. DMV employees in one State cannot “fish” the records in another State. The REAL ID rules require States to include a comprehensive security plan for safeguarding information collected, stored, or disseminated for purposes of complying with the REAL ID Act, including procedures to prevent unauthorized access, use, or dissemination of applicant information and images of source documents retained pursuant to the Act and standards and procedures for document retention and destruction.

And the new "Real IDs" won't be on the street for an hour before somebody figures out how to make good fakes!

Not a national ID? How about needing one to visit the DC visitor center or a Social Security office?
http://www.news.com/Federal-buildings-become-Real-ID-zones/2009-1028_3-6229133.html

Or how about needing one to get some Sudafed?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/05/real_id_for_cold_medicine/

m4ilm4n Wrote:-------------------------------------------------------> Not a national ID? How about needing one to visit> the DC visitor center or a Social Security> office?> http://www.news.com/Federal-buildings-become-Real->; ID-zones/2009-1028_3-6229133.html> > Or how about needing one to get some Sudafed?> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/05/real_id_fo>; r_cold_medicine/Those scenarios don't make it a national id.  maybe you need to learn what a national id is.

not nat'l id Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Those scenarios don't make it a
> national id. maybe you need to learn what a
> national id is.

Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks it is:
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=81fe8029-20d4-419d-b800-1d7900adfd14&k=77025

m4ilm4n Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks it is:
> http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?
> id=81fe8029-20d4-419d-b800-1d7900adfd14&k=77025

Apparently, you need to learn that we do not live in Canada. Are you seriously indicating that a Canadian ID that "closely resembles" a state issued driver's license in the US means US ids will be national ids? There is some serious logic flaws in your thought processes. First, as evidence that REAL ID is a national ID, you use propsed Canadian IDs as your example. Second, the requirements for the Canadian ID are vastly different from the requirements of REAL ID. Third, the BC ID is not even a national ID, those opposed merely state that it resembles REAL ID and that REAL ID is a way of introducing a "type of national identity card" for Americans - pretty flimsy wording and indicitave of a not-so-strong argument. Finally, there is NO requirement that states include RFID on US driver's licenses. Certainly, you can come up with a better argument than the one above.

duh Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> And the new "Real IDs" won't be on the street for
> an hour before somebody figures out how to make
> good fakes!

the new id cards would have a minimum of having the same level of security that current VA cards have. nationwide there are a lot of states that have pathetic security.


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

Eventually technology will mature to the point where they finally move to a smart card based technology which will certainly hamper counterfeiting if used in conjunction with a certificate technology. In the meantime, this is as good as it will get. Have you ever seen some of the drivers licenses that exist out there? Terrible tamper-proofing.