CAGW vs. RFID:

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has delivered more than 5,200 petitions to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff, urging DHS not to require a computer chip in drivers’ licenses to comply with the Real ID Act. If you're interested in CAGW, you can contact: Jessica Shoemaker, 202-467-5318, or after hours: Tom Finnigan, 202-253-3852 both of Citizens Against Government Waste.

A story at US NewsWire reports CAGW's positions, including these:

"Congress’s intent was to build on existing technology, not to add to the states’ burden of compliance by requiring a chip," CAGW President Tom Schatz said. "Installing radio frequency identification (RFID) chips or similar technology into every driver’s license will be an expensive, invasive, and less secure way to update identification documents." ...

CAGW’s October 2005 report, Real ID: Big Brother Could Cost Big Money, revealed many flaws in the RFID technology and its implementation. The cost of a drivers’ license could rise by 260-800 percent, from $10-25 to at least $90, while the cost to build a new system to verify, track, and store RFID information would be $17.4 billion.

The extensive storage space on RFID chips also poses a threat to personal privacy. The government could mandate that information other than that contained on current licenses must be stored on the chips, including health records, travel sequencing, relatives’ information, and more. In addition, information on RFID chips can be remotely accessed by unauthorized persons.

Real ID has been amended (slightly):

One criticism of the Real ID legislation was that it exposed battered spouses to discovery. They might be hiding out, but the law required them to make their current address rather public, as it must be on the driver's license and in the state data base. This story is GOOD NEWS:

In re-authorizing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), congress included an amendment to deal with this issue. I read about it in Mother Jones:

Provisions in Rep. James Sensenbrenner’s (R-WI) REAL ID Act mandated that all state driver's licenses and ID cards contain a physical address. Previously, domestic violence victims could register a P.O. Box in order to hide their whereabouts from their abusers. Advocates say REAL ID's physical address requirement would put victims at greater risk, and succeeded in inserting language in VAWA to remedy the problem.

Alabama, are you listening? (Alabama just proudly installed new systems that they believe will make them compatible with the Real ID act. I wonder if their new software allows women to give a P.O.Box address. It's possible they're on top of this.)

Real ID: Immigration and reality:

At dailybulletin.com, staff writer Sara A. Carter writes about illegal immigration and interviews congressman Gary Miller. I'm giving you a long quote from this article, which separates the ideal of "government by Real ID" from the reality of accepting illegal aliens:

Miller helped author the Real I.D. Act, which will create electronically readable, federally approved I.D. cards for Americans in the next three years.

T.J. Bonner, of the Border Patrol union, said politicians are too focused on plans such as the I.D. cards while ignoring the reality facing agents.

"It's the same old list of frustrating policies," he said. "We've had field agents told to sit in the same spot on patrol and told not go after illegal aliens even if they're only a few yards from them. These directives are always by word of mouth from their field office, and not written policy."

Last month, the Border Patrol agent from Arizona spotted 20 illegal immigrants attempting to enter the country from Mexico. They were all crammed into a single truck.

As usual, the agent said, he was patrolling the open border alone.

"I move east," he said. "The illegals move west. And we keep this going for hours, until I can no longer see them."

That day, the truck moved behind a hill and out of the agent's line of sight. Less than half an hour later, it was spotted heading down an Arizona highway by state police, who called it into the Border Patrol field office.

But it already was too late. By the time the truck had reached the highway, the agent no longer had authority to follow and capture the migrants. State police did not have a legal reason to stop the car. The illegal immigrants went free.

"We can see them, but we can't do a thing. How insane is that?" the agent asked.

Bonner said it's part of a larger trend.

"The administration dances to the tune of big business," he said. "Our agents are left to fend for themselves, and our borders are wide open.

"In all reality, it is as if the government does not want to enforce its own laws."

An extraordinary ... accomplishment for House Republicans?

Speaker Dennis Hastert, in a recent speech, claimed Real ID as part of "an extraordinary year of accomplishment for House Republicans." He put Real ID into the same class with:

• a comprehensive energy bill that will assure Americans energy security
• a historic highway bill that will improve our nation's critical infrastructure
• a class action fairness bill that will eliminate frivolous lawsuits

and so on.

I disagree. Real ID was stuffed into an emergency bill to fund the Iraq war. Now I'm pretty sure that almost anything, other than legalizing gay marriage or lowering the age of consent to about two years, could have passed as an attachment to that bill. Some accomplishment!

Somebody please tell me, how many of those other "accomplishments" are unfunded mandates?

Meanwhile, in the State of denial:

Let's give Alabama credit. They are really trying to get to "Real ID" world ahead of schedule. In the New Courier, we read {Dec 3, 2005} that "On Monday, the Alabama Department of Public Safety, Drivers License Division will be installing a new digital laser license system in the License Commissioner’s Office in Limestone and Morgan counties.

A new machine will also be placed in the State DP Office in Athens at the Clinton Street Courthouse Annex.

The installation of the new digital laser license systems will be completed within one day at each location."

And further we read that "The systems will bring the state in compliance with the mandate by Congress from the Real ID Act of 2005. This legislation applies to all 50 states and directs each jurisdiction to provide a secure drivers license issuing system and process as approved by the Department of Homeland Security by the end of 2008.

The new systems will replace hardware in Alabama county licensing offices that are obsolete and was placed in service in 1994."

The only problem is, no one knows what compliance with Real ID entails. The department of Home Security is yet to add requirements as mandated by law, and the states have not agreed how to make their databases both interlockable and secure.

But Alabama should certainly get there as soon as any state.

And the worst security idea of 2005 was ...

In Government Computer News (GCN.com), William Jackson nominates the 360 senators and congressmen who voted for the Real ID Act of 2005 (and our president!) for the "first Bonehead Award for Notable Failures in IT Security." He says that

The Real ID Act, now a part of Public Law 109-13, may not be the worst piece of legislation passed during the year, but it certainly is a model for how not to do information security.

He zeroes in on the security and privacy-invasion aspects of real ID:

Under the law, the new cards must contain, in machine-readable format (read: digital), the holder’s name, date of birth, address, ID number, signature and photo. The act not only fails to require any encryption or other security for data stored on the cards, but also mandates the creation of shared state databases of sensitive information with no security or access restrictions.

This is particularly disturbing given the type and amount of data the act requires states to gather on citizens. States must “capture digital images of identity source documents so that the images can be maintained in electronic storage in transferable format” for 10 years. Each state must provide all other states electronic access to this data.

The ability of any Tom, Dick or Harry with a card reader to capture a copy of your vital statistics from your driver’s license is worrisome. The creation of unsecured databases containing digital images of your birth certificate and other documents is even more so.

Under the terms of this act, every bartender, bank teller or cop who swipes your electronic card is free to do as he or she pleases with the information that is captured. States are free to sell their databases to anyone for any reason, and even to access other states’ databases and sell that data.

Given that Congress now is considering legislation that would require companies to tighten security on personal data, it is particularly boneheaded to ignore this issue in government databases.

As usual, I recommend reading the whole article.

RFID for realID? Decision soon?

David Williams, in Human Events online, reports that

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will soon make a decision that could threaten the pocketbook and privacy of every American. The agency is considering requiring all drivers’ licenses to be embedded with computer chips, which will be more costly and less secure than upgrading the existing technology for licenses.

He writes that:

DHS has two options for licenses: Magnetic stripes or two-dimensional (2-D) bar codes; and contact-less integrated circuits such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. Whichever alternative is used -– “2-D” or “3-D” technology -– the new system will place a heavy burden on state and local governments, especially departments of motor vehicles, as well as on taxpayers and drivers.

He concludes:

RFID technology is useful and appropriate for applications such as cargo and automatic tolls. But requiring an embedded chip in every driver’s license is a terrible idea. With the government’s long history of technological ineptitude, the task is daunting and invites all manner of snooping, theft, and abuse. DHS should keep costs and technology difficulties to a minimum by choosing to use cost-effective and proven methods that are being used in most states today.

I recommend you read the whole column.

$17.4 billion for REal ID; $93 so I can drive.

$17.4 billion is an estimate for Real ID from CAGW (Citizens Against Governemnt Waste). OF COURSE such an organizaton would look at Real ID. Here's what they say:

In October 2005, CAGW released Real ID: Big Brother Could Cost Big Money, which concluded that implementing RFID technology on a national scale could cost $17.4 billion and could push the cost of a drivers' license from $10 to $25 to $93.

Please note that a family with three kids would be paying 5 * $93 or $465 every few years for the right to fly. Hope somebody raises the minimum wage to cover this!

State: Real ID potentially costly, problematic:

Nancy Hicks' article in the Nebraska Lincoln Journal Star gets off to a great start:

In the future, the state will have to make room for exact legal names on driver’s licenses — even names like Patricia Allision Steigleder-Vancleeflemaster or Francisco Delosangeles Buenrostro-Galvezvaldovinos.
(LJS File)

That means the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles will have to redesign the driver’s license to hold up to 125 letters for a name rather than the current 35. And it means residents will have to track down legal documents that prove their identity and legal name, starting with a certified birth certificate, to meet new federal requirements under the Real ID Act.

“If you didn’t have a headache before this, you’d have one now,” said state Sen. Tom Baker, after Beverly Neth, director of the state’s motor vehicles agency, detailed the federal requirements for future state driver’s licenses to the Legislature’s Transportation and Telecommunications Committee last month.

In fact, the Real ID is going to be a real headache for state bureaucracy and many Nebraskans, according to Neth’s description of the federal mandate. ...

Eventually they get to a point I rather believe myself:

Baker, chairman of the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee, thinks Congress may back away from the strict requirements before the May 2008 deadline because of the problems and added expense.

“I gotta believe that there will be such a public outcry that they are going to have to go back and redo it,” he said.

“Once the public gets ahold of this, they will see how ridiculous it is. We need to put some common sense back into this,” he said.

Say, Public!? Where are you? Get IN to this already ...

Final 9/11 Commission Report Does Not Call for Patriot Act Search Powers Expansion

The ACLU recently "took note" of the final report of the 9/11 Public Discourse Project. Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office, said that

the successor organization to the 9/11 Commission did not call for a further expansion of the Patriot Act. Congress is currently working to pass legislation to reauthorize provisions of that law that are scheduled to "sunset," or expire, at the end of this year.

"Congress must take note that the findings do not call for a further erosion of the Bill of Rights by expanding the Patriot Act," said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. "Indeed, the 9/11 Commissioners’ main concerns with the Patriot Act focused on distribution of funding for homeland security. As Congress works to reauthorize and hopefully fix the Patriot Act, we urge lawmakers to take steps to ensure that America is both safe and free."

The article concludes:

The report card also touched on the issue of the standardization of secure identification cards. Early this year, Congress approved the REAL ID Act, which imposes federal standards on state identification documents. The ACLU and other privacy advocates noted that this created a de facto national ID card that would threaten the privacy of innocent Americans facilitate government surveillance of their activities.

"Too many of the steps taken since 9/11 only give a false sense of security and create a true threat to civil liberties," Fredrickson added. "Without substantive corrections as well as meaningful oversight and --better transparency and disclosure-- America will be ceding our Bill of Rights to fear."

Months needed to parse real ID:

you can reaad in The Washington Times that it may take quite a while to figure out how to comply with realID. Quoting:

The administrator of the state's Motor Vehicle Administration said yesterday that the agency will need months to figure out how to comply with the federal Real ID Act, recently passed to strengthen anti-terrorist efforts through new requirements for getting driver's licenses.
"There are several issues we feel we need clarification on before we can comply," agency Administrator David Hugel told a House subcommittee. "We have begun consideration of what we must do, but we cannot implement anything without a clearer picture of what is required."

Maryland, meet Alabama ...