Homeland Security Director Defends Real ID

An anonymous reader writes "Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff is defending the upcoming rollout of the national ID card as vital for the nation's security. Chertoff reminded reporters of the importance of the initiative after this week's uncovering of an ID-forging ring. The Real ID Act of May 2005 dictates the uses and requirements for the documentation, which by 2008 may be required for everything from travel to banking. Just the same, the HSD has yet to dictate how exactly the cards will work. " From the article: "The Homeland Security chief, who is nearing his two-year mark with the agency, was likely trying to quell rampant skepticism about the IDs voiced by some privacy advocates, immigrants and other groups. Some have said they fear that the IDs are a stepping stone to a veritable police state, complete with ready surveillance of individuals. Some have argued that the idea of creating more tamperproof IDs is only a marginally better way to screen out those intent on committing terrorist acts because ID cards don't even begin to tackle a core crime prevention challenge: determining a person's unspoken intentions. "

Comments

Straight outta sci-fi

[mandelbr0t]

Can't remember the name of the book, but I know how this ends. Some guy who doesn't like me steals my ID card and/or replaces it with an invalid one, and I end up in jail because I can't prove who I really am. Federated identity is important; we can't have a single authoritative source for IDs or this sort of abuse will definitely happen.

mandelbr0t

Where do they think they get this power from?

[MalleusEBHC]

Amendment X

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

Where does the federal government claim to derive the power to mandate federal IDs? Are they using the interstate commerce clause yet again? There's one part of the Constitution that has been seriously misused time and time again and is in dire need of fixing.

Re:Oh no, think about our children!

[Qzukk]

Which is why it is believed that this initiative might help. If you're here legally, you'll have an ID.

Unless this Real ID thing is a giant glowing ball that hovers over our heads, this won't help jack shit. Look up how many drivers there are estimated to be on our roads without licenses (or even with revoked licenses). Just like those people, terrorists without a Real ID card are going to go about their daily lives without a single problem.

But we're going to be out how many billions of dollars paying committees and well-connected companies to study the issue, propose designs, assign some kind of identification and issue these cards?