Congress recently passed an Iraq Spending bill which piggy backed the Real I.D. Act. This is bringing us one step claser to having a National I.D. Card, and it will establish a national database of personal information. Yet another near orwellian occurence brought to us by the level headed, clear thought of this administration {sarcasm}. How do you feel about it? What do you think the potential advantages could be? What do you think the potential disadvantages are?

How long will it be before we see seens from communist Russia, of police demanding to see our papers, here on the streets of America?

Before posting I actually took the time to read through this act, let me tell you, reading through a Bill is a total mess. You have to have several different laws open so that you can see what they are refering to in each section.

So I finally make it down to page 42 of 60, where the bill actually begins to talk about licenses and id cards.

The act requires that the state issued card have the following:

Full legal name, date of birth, gender, license number, primary residence physical address, digital photograph, person's signature, physical method to prevent forgeries, and a machine readable technology with minimum data elements.

The act also requires that states only issue cards to US Citizens, and immigrants who have Visas, asylums, or requests for Visas and asylum. This means that the states must use the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlemenst, an automated system that shows the validity of the status of immigrants in the country.

Further the bill requires the state to issue only temporary cards to aliens with expiration dates that match their Visas of pending claim dates. THe bill also requires states to link databases with the minimum date elements that include what is on the card itself along with a persons driving record to include tickets, points and suspension.

Now I am not one for a national ID card, however, I do believe that changes have been needed to make states more responsible in issuing of ID cards. This bill would make it against the law for states to issue IDs and driver licenses to illegal immigrants. It would also make states tie expiration dates on cards to the expiration dates on Visas, all of the hijackers on September 11 had valid IDs issued through states even though their Visas had expired.

I have yet to see anything leading to a national ID card. The linking of databases is not new. States already have access to other states driver license databases.

dmk

You really don't see this leading to a single national I.D. Card? I see this leading to something along the lines of every U.S. Citizen being issued something akin to the Military CAC Card. That is terrifying to me.

Furthermore, we are talking about unprecidented database sharing, and all info being sent to a central federal database. That is equally disturbing to me. Historically the data shared between states has been warrants and violations, and not much else.

Like anything, I am hesitant about what this might lead to, the way things are going today, who knows?? However, there are portions of the bill that I think are very important, especially concerning the immigration aspects of this bill.

dmk

It's not as scary as the eye-scanning system in Minority Report. I don't really know what the potential drawbacks are of a National ID card system (maybe someone can fill me in).

The police already have the right to identify you, and by law you are required to show and prove identification. Try playing "Chiken Little" somewhere else.

But they do not have the right to stop you without probable cause. They can not make you 'prove identification'. Some people have no I.D. My 70 year old mother has not had any form of I.D. in over 20 years. And she should have the right not to.

I am in the U.S. Military, and I have been to countries and seen these systems in action. There is no good to come of them. You may think it's 'chicken little', but lets see how you feel the first time that you are accused of being a terrorist, just because you don't have your papers.

I think that this bill is being blown out of proportion. Axiom was right about the CHicken Little comment. You're crying that the sky is falling and the bill hasn't even been enacted yet.

I believe what is important that the Congress took action to get the states to come up with some kind of standard for what they use as identification when someone applies for a license. I also believe that it is important that the federal government is requiring state issued identification to expire at the same time as Visas and other immigration waivers. Remember, all 19 of the September 11th hijackers had valid US state issued identifications, even though many of their Visas had expired.

Perhaps before we throw up alarms about the worst that could happen, we should see how the bill actually works in practice.

dmk

I believe it's better to be proactive rather than reactive. It is much easier to enact a law than it is to have it removed, therefore we need to ensure all laws are valid BEFORE we enact them.

Agreed, however, nowhere in the bill does it establish a National ID card. Does it make the possibility easier, undoubtedly. However, we are a mobile society. No longer are people born, go to school, return from college, get married, have kids, work a career, and retire in the same town. Times change, and the laws should change with them.

dmk