My state legislature is currently debating Real ID. Specifically, they are wondering if they should bother to comply:
Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, said the bill would create an unfunded mandate that forces DMV to spend as much as $1.5 million of its own money to meet requirements of the federal law.
Finance Chairwoman Bernice Mathews, D-Reno, said that before she takes a vote on Senate Bill 52, she wants to check if the state can receive an exemption from complying with the law.
During a hearing, both liberal and conservative lobbyists condemned the proposal on the grounds it would violate citizens’ right to privacy.
Several complained Real ID licenses are the first step toward the insert of a radio frequency chip into licenses to allow government authorities to keep track of citizens’ whereabouts. The DMV denied that allegation.
The Real ID Act was passed by Congress in 2005 to prevent terrorists from acquiring legitimate identification cards. States now vary widely in the information they require people to provide before issuing them licenses. The act would standardize the information DMVs would collect.
“This is a silly law,” testified David Schuman, a lobbyist for the states’ rights activists group Nevada Committee for Full Statehood. “The government thinks they can create documents that al-Qaeda cannot duplicate. Osama bin Laden was a civil engineering graduate of London University. Al-Qaeda is not ignorant people.”
While counterfeiting is a legitimate argument against the effectiveness of Real ID, there are far more reasons to think it’s a bad idea. I won’t go into them all.
This system is based on the idea that Bad Guys all have fake identification, and indeed are almost always Not Americans.
How would Real ID have stopped the Unabomber?
How would Real ID have stopped Tim McVeigh?
How would Real ID have stopped William Krar? Sure, fake IDs were involved. The plot was uncovered because they were delivered to the wrong address. So he would have needed a better counterfeiter. Real ID might have made it harder to catch him.
How would Real ID have stopped either of these guys who tried to bomb banks?
How would Real ID have stopped the Fort Dix 6, most of whom were citizens?
How would Real ID have stopped any of the various people who have attempted to or succeeded in bombing women’s clinics?
Nobody can answer these questions, because Real ID would have barely slowed these plots down. Proving identity is not the same thing as proving someone is Not A Bad Guy.
It’s enough to make you wonder what the Real Purpose of Real ID is.
Follow Up: it turns out that the Department of Homeland Security is unsure how to implement Real ID.
In Closing: follow up, what is wrong with kids these days that they think a woman ever deserves to be beaten so badly she can’t go out in public? At least she’s got a restraining order, even if she doesn’t think she wants it; Carrie on Productivity and Reality; on SBA lending; “[The AIG bonuses are] about 55 cents per citizen, whereas TARP is about $2,333.33 per citizen.”; something is not rotten in the state of Denmark, and that would be the mortgage industry; the real AIG scandal.