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Nearly a decade after Congress passed the Real ID Act to thwart terrorists from getting driver's licenses, the law will finally go into effect in April. But 13 states still are not ready.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security repeatedly put off enforcement of the law, as states complained about its costs and civil rights groups objected to it as an invasion of privacy. But in December, while DHS was temporarily headed by counterterrorism expert Rand Beers, the agency unveiled a gradual rollout for enforcing the law.
The blank check is used again. This will just consolidate more data and tracking. Not more security. DMVs already make a great deal selling people's information. https://epic.org/privacy/id_cards/
quote: Supreme Court to Consider Law that Protects Privacy of Drivers' Records: The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in Maracich v. Spears, a case involving the Drivers' Privacy Protection Act. The Court agreed to hear the case after a lower could ruled that impermissible uses of personal data held by DMVs were "inextricably intertwined" with permissible uses. The Supreme Court previously said that the law "establishes a regulatory scheme that restricts the States' ability to disclose a driver's personal information without the driver's consent." EPIC filed an amicus curiae brief in support of the Petitioners, urging that the Court overturn the lower court's judgment. EPIC's brief details the staggering amount of personal information contained in driver records, particularly as a consequence of the REAL ID regulations. EPIC argues that "changes in technology have increased the risk of the underlying harm that Congress sought to address. Therefore, the Court should narrowly construe the statutory exceptions." The EPIC amicus brief is joined by twenty-seven technical experts and legal scholars. For more information, see EPIC: Maracich v. Spears, EPIC: The Driver's Privacy Protection Act, and EPIC: National ID and REAL ID. (Jan. 8, 2013)
Im sure real terrorists give a flying flip about DLs.
Certainly they would because they aren't exactly easy to duplicate having a real one is like gold. Anyone with an IQ of 70 can tell the difference between a fake and the real thing. Here is PA's ID, note the two black and white holograms, those colors switch at different angles. The blue holgram can only be viewed at a certain angle and not pictured is the list of counties that is viewed from another angle.
Probably because each state desires to maintain independent policies with regards to the standards for issuing them, security procedures, testing requirements, revocation/suspension criteria, et cetera, all of which would be impeded by federalizing drivers' licenses in much the same way innovation and independence have been retarded in other areas that have been federalized. Forgery and hacking would also be easier if all the eggs were put in the same basket as opposed to fifty. States would also lose the autonomy that would likely be needed to discard licensing altogether*, or to implement a new legal system for driving that doesn't bear any resemblance to the current process**.
*Such a move would be almost inconceivable now, but hypothetically if drivers licenses were used as a control/tracking device or for blackmail by federal authorities, discarding the whole program may be the only way for a state to protect their citizens, perhaps against a backdrop of an ethnic or religious minority targeted for genocide or suppression. Alternatively, the states' citizens may be committed to the unrestricted right to travel, and/or studies come out that drivers licensing is ineffective at weeding out bad drivers and isn't worth the cost.
**This is a hypothetical that would take place in the future. I don't see what other system could replace conventional licensing and still serve the same purpose, but no one else does, either. The laboratories of innovation should be allowed to innovate if such an event were to occur.
The point is that there are many good reasons for states to retain full independence over drivers licensing, and these reasons are behind the successful resistance to Real ID implementation. Since drivers licenses from one state are recognized as valid in all other states you travel in, I don't see any advantage of centralized licensing that wouldn't outweigh the myriad advantages of decentralized licensing that would be taken away.
Certainly they would because they aren't exactly easy to duplicate having a real one is like gold. Anyone with an IQ of 70 can tell the difference between a fake and the real thing. Here is PA's ID, note the two black and white holograms, those colors switch at different angles. The blue holgram can only be viewed at a certain angle and not pictured is the list of counties that is viewed from another angle.
Why did the accused Boston Bomber need a DL to build and plant that bomb?
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