Opposition is growing to a forthcoming digital ID card, reports C/Net, but it may be too late to make sweeping changes to the controversial identification requirements.
During a congressional hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Patrick Leahy, who heads the influential Senate Judiciary committee, savaged the Real ID Act as an unwarranted intrusion — saying Real ID will “effectively create a national ID card.”
Because Real ID is already on the books and final regulations are nearly complete, opponents of the federal law face an uphill battle.The Department of Homeland Security’s draft Real ID regulations, which were released on March 1, drew immediate criticism for, among other things, requiring that drivers’ home address and personal information be included in a two-dimensional barcode without encryption.
That means bars and banks and other businesses would face no technical obstacles when skimming and retaining those data. There is “nothing limiting the use of the Real ID card for this type of purpose,” said Sen. Russ Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat. Also, Homeland Security has not ruled out the use of mandatory radio frequency identification tags in the cards, which raises additional privacy concerns.
Eventually, Americans without the federalized ID will not be able to use their state-issued ID to do things like open a bank account, enter federal buildings, or fly on a commercial airline. Homeland Security puts the total cost at $23.1 billion over 10 years.
That has sparked a kind of grassroots rebellion, with six states so far (Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Colorado, Arkansas and Maine), enacting legislation opposing Real ID, according to the advocacy site RealNightmare.org. An additional 14 states have had one chamber of their legislature approve some sort of anti-Real ID measure and more have bills pending.
Homeland Security’s own Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee said this month it cannot endorse the Real ID Act or the notice of proposed rulemaking. The panel has its own 12 point recommendation plan.
The Department of Homeland Security is already using RFID in its NEXUS card. The voluntary NEXUS card is issued to both American and Canadian citizens who frequently cross the border and are considered low security risks.
The jointly developed license will probably comply with the federal REAL ID Act of 2005, whose technology requirements are still in development.
States should be more involved in choosing technologies for meeting the Real ID Act of 2005, according to the Smart Card Alliance’s Identity Council. The pilot program between Washington state and DHS will offer upgraded driver’s licenses that may serve as proof of U.S. citizenship in crossing the U.S. border, but the Smart Card Alliance believes DHS alone should not select the technology specifications for the enhanced driver’s license.
In other news, the the Transportation Security Administration has lost something of its own: a removable hard drive containing about 100,000 employee records.
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