My Corner of the Interweb

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Mood: Paranoid.
Music: Clampdown, Clash.
Game: World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Guild Wars.
Book: The Real War, Jonathan Schell.
Muffin: Raspberry-Mango.
Punchline: "Real ID."

The US Congress today passed the Real ID Act.

It wouldn't overly surprise me if you hadn't heard about it. The NY Times hasn't even covered it. You need to look in the Technology section, under a CNet byline to find any coverage on it. It was tacked on to an appropriations bill for spending in Iraq.

In short, "If the act's mandates take effect in May 2008, as expected, Americans will be required to obtain federally approved ID cards with "machine readable technology" that abides by Department of Homeland Security specifications. Anyone without such an ID card will be effectively prohibited from traveling by air or Amtrak, opening a bank account, or entering federal buildings."

They are going to restrict access to travel, finance, or federal/state buildings (such as the DMV, Social Security, Welfare, Unemployment...) unless you have an electronically readable card/ID that abides by Dept of Homeland Security standards.

Doesn't this sound remarkably like the Ausweises that the Nazi party issued to German citizens?

And wouldn't something like this, without some sort of biometric criteria attached make losing your wallet (or being pickpocketed) akin to basically giving your identity to someone else?

And if you add biometrics to this ID, aren't we now at a complete and utter lack of privacy?

Robert Heinlein wrote in the Notebooks of Lazarus Long (in Time Enough for Love) "When a place gets crowded enough to require IDs, social collapse is not far away. It is time to go elsewhere. The best thing about space travel is that it made it possible to go elsewhere."

Unfortunately for us, we don't have space travel. We're stuck right here.

I truly fear for the US. Supporters are all about how it'll prevent terrorists from getting drivers licenses. Right. Because the laws we have preventing them from getting weapons, explosives, fissionable materials seem to be working peachy, so this should sort the rest of it out. No problem.

I just have one more question: Are police going to be stopping people on the street and asking to see their ID cards? What if they don't have one?

Posted by Glenn at May 11, 2005 12:38 PM