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They don't need that data anyway. The only thing it's used for is to inform the DEA of people that might be abusing prescription drugs (yea, like Limbaugh). So, good riddance.

The real issue is that the state (and all the others, BTW) is collecting all this personal information on their citizens and storing it in a database that is vulnerable to attack by identity thieves. It's one of the problems with all of these "citizen tracking" systems (like, for instance, Real ID). It's an unnecessary government intrusion that collects personal information for tracking its citizens, and providing them the ability to use citizens' own information against them. The excuse is always for "security". Well, you see now how good the government is at security.

Just wait until they have all your health records in an electronic health record database. It'll be available to everyone, everywhere. Authorized personnel only, of course. Yea, right.

Accounts of problems.

Also, the USA doesn't have the privacy laws that all of Europe has; once we have a national ID, we become visible to just about every nosy commercial data broker and any reasonably efficient criminal.

Want to do something about this?

Go to the ACLU's website about REALID, go to the action center, and write your state legislators to reject implementing this act.

Frankly, I know there's nothing anyone can do to stop the REAL-ID ball from rolling...

Y'all are missing the real Catch-22 here. How could a passport substitute for Real ID? A passport is a federal document. Once Real ID is in effect, no doubt you will need one to obtain or renew a passport, no? So if you have no Real ID, you can't use your passport instead, because you will need the ID to get or renew the passport. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

This battle isn't over yet by far, because in addition to the few states that have explicitly refused to participate, many others are discussing it in their legislatures, and some of those are leaning towards saying "drop dead" to the Feds as well. Sooner or later, we will reach a critical mass of states that represent a significant enough percentage of the U.S. population (and, hence, of voters) that would be classified as second-class citizens, and that will put the kibosh on the whole mess. I just hope those legislatures have some backbone....

You can keep up with the current status of Real ID legislation in the various states at the Real Nightmare website.

Don't worry, they've got a plan. Or several actually:

REAL ID - http://realnightmare.org/
NAIS - See http://nonais.org/

There is a lot more to it than the 4 'benefits' you listed
and none of them are beneficial to small farmers, consumers, etc.

More details at RealNightmare.org. Found out about the site from a postcard from my good Michigan Libertarian friends, they're hosting a talk on the dangers of this bill and what can be done to stop it on April 25 in Birmingham, MI. If you're in the Metro Detroit area come by.

Although I rarely agree with anything the ACLU has to say, this site http://www.realnightmare.org/about/1/, lists 7 reasonable reasons. I also personally appreciated the disctrimination issues referred to here (being a legal permanent resident). There are some practical reasons to not try to jerry-rig 50+ state systems into 1 gigantic foobar DB. If the federal government is going to create a national ID that clearly identifies every person in the borders of the country and clearly states what "class" of person you are in this country the least they could do is do it at the Federal level and make it separate from Driver's licenses which are still controlled by the individual states.

Although I rarely agree with anything the ACLU has to say, this site http://www.realnightmare.org/about/1/, lists 7 reasonable reasons. I also personally appreciated the disctrimination issues referred to here (being a legal permanent resident). There are some practical reasons to not try to jerry-rig 50+ state systems into 1 gigantic foobar DB. If the federal government is going to create a national ID that clearly identifies every person in the borders of the country and clearly states what "class" of person you are in this country the least they could do is do it at the Federal level and make it separate from Driver's licenses which are still controlled by the individual states.

ArcherB, I salute your dogged pursuit of this discussion. I see you are not satisfied by the rebuttals that have been offered you, but I think my fellow /.-ers have covered the main points. If you don't find their arguments compelling, then I don't think you are going to be persuaded. But I'm glad you have posted all the replies that you did.

There were a number of good points people made, and I think they are pretty weighty. But security is sexy these days and Common Sense isn't. The arguments articulated here are more important than most people appreciate. First, national ID looks unconstitutional, and I think it is always a good idea to stop unconstitutional Federal behavior, even if well intentioned. If constitutional limits are regularly trampled even for good intentions, they will become irrelevant on the day that we really need to say, "No, they can't do that." The government needs limits. This idea is very old and well established. Second, and related to this, is the idea of a healthy skepticism of government trustworthiness. Globally, government affronts to liberty and justice are common -- and the USA has dirty hands too, e.g., what allegedly has been done to Jose Padilla. Third, it is naive to think that the document would be unforgeable. Fourth, even terrorists get legitimate documents; making people have a valid ID card won't stop terrorism, as 9/11 proved. Fifth, consolidating all this identity data would make citizens more vulnerable to identity theft, not less. If the government has no the right to establish a national ID scheme, and if such a scheme would greatly erode privacy, and consolidate powers in the Federal that the framers of the constitution never dreamed of; if the scheme is going to be fantastically expensive ($9 to $12 billion according to the ACLU), if it won't stop terrorism (and how could it?) -- then let's not do it.

You might not agree with those who invoke Orwellian visions, but they might be more right than you realize. In this and the previous century, there have been plenty of "civilized" nation-states that have made their citizens' lives hell. The Soviets are just one example. Don't think it couldn't happen here. Don't make it easy for it to happen here. Stand up for the constitution; write your state legislators to reject Real ID -- or move to Maine.

Seriously, someone explain to me what is wrong with a national ID standard... without saying "papers please".

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It's abuse to mod a comment Overrated, Flamebait or Troll just because you disagree with it. The goal is to share ideas.

The loss of freedoms is being brought to you by BOTH the Republicans and the Democrats. We need a regime change in a most desperate sort of way. Both parties are in the pockets of big business who wants to capture all of your dollars. REAL ID and NAIS are too other examples. If you don't know about them, learn about them and stop them. http://nonais.org/ http://www.realnightmare.org/

http://www.realnightmare.org/