Maryland Told It Must Comply with Federal Real ID Driver's License Act
East News • February 1, 2007
Maryland must comply with the federal Real ID Act, Transportation Secretary nominee John D. Porcari told the Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.
The Real ID Act mandates that states verify documents ...
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Subject: RE: RE: The Feds are nuts!
Posted On: February 1, 2007, 4:12 pm CST
Posted By: Live Free or Die
Comment:
What good will this invasion of privacy do? As one of the 300 million foreign visitors that come to the US each year, a terrorist who enters legally as did the 9-11 terrorists will easily board a plane by showing the passport from their country of origin and, in most states, can legally drive for 30 days using their foreign license.
Also, two things the article does not mention:
Every license will be digitally encoded with all the information the government has on you. I am talking about not only your license number but other information such as your address and phone number. There is a dispute as to how dangerous this feature will be. The Feds say the license will have to be within a few inches of a card reader while others say it will be easy to get the equipment needed to scan from farther away. If the opponents are correct, that guy behind you in the line at the store may have just captured everything he needs to apply for credit in your name. In any event, if a story needs id (and I bet lots will want to see ID even with a credit card just to cut down on fraud) you will need to watch the clerk to make sure it isn't scanned for identity theft. Actually, there is nothing in the federal law to prevent a store from reading the information encrypted on the license as a normal course of business and retaining this information in it's computers.
All the information will be available on a national database and available not only to MV Departments but also police and others. That sounds great but think about some clerk at a DMV office a thousand miles away having access to everything needed for id theft. Or what about a clerk in a police department with access to the PD's computer? You think ever PD in small towns with a few cops is going to hire a computer security consultant to prevent unauthorized access?
This is a feel good measure that does nothing to protect us and leaves us open to invasions of privacy. The House in NH last year voted to reject the Real ID Act but the State Senate killed the bill. Hopefully things will be better this year.
For info see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_ID_Act
Subject: RE: RE: The Feds are nuts!
Also, two things the article does not mention:
Every license will be digitally encoded with all the information the government has on you. I am talking about not only your license number but other information such as your address and phone number. There is a dispute as to how dangerous this feature will be. The Feds say the license will have to be within a few inches of a card reader while others say it will be easy to get the equipment needed to scan from farther away. If the opponents are correct, that guy behind you in the line at the store may have just captured everything he needs to apply for credit in your name. In any event, if a story needs id (and I bet lots will want to see ID even with a credit card just to cut down on fraud) you will need to watch the clerk to make sure it isn't scanned for identity theft. Actually, there is nothing in the federal law to prevent a store from reading the information encrypted on the license as a normal course of business and retaining this information in it's computers.
All the information will be available on a national database and available not only to MV Departments but also police and others. That sounds great but think about some clerk at a DMV office a thousand miles away having access to everything needed for id theft. Or what about a clerk in a police department with access to the PD's computer? You think ever PD in small towns with a few cops is going to hire a computer security consultant to prevent unauthorized access?
This is a feel good measure that does nothing to protect us and leaves us open to invasions of privacy. The House in NH last year voted to reject the Real ID Act but the State Senate killed the bill. Hopefully things will be better this year.
For info see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_ID_Act