SCI/TECH: President Expected to Require National RFID ID Cards by 2008

After passing by a large margin in the House of Representatives, the Real ID Act is now expected to be signed into law by President Bush on Thursday. The Real ID Act will establish a system that requires all Americans to have federally approved and electronically readable ID cards. This system will force anyone wishing to travel and use government services to have an approved electronically readable card.



Under current plans, modified drivers licenses will fulfill the requirements. Though, if many states fail to me requirements it may be deemed necessary to have a national ID requirement.

So what is being stored on these cards?

According to the bill, the minimum required information will be,

- Name
- Birth Date
- Gender sex
- ID number, essentially the SSN#, but the fact that they call it an ID number is a bit chilling,
- a digital photograph
- current address

Under the act, Homeland security will be allowed to add new requirements whenever they deem new requirements necessary. Possible additional requirements may include fingerprints and retinal data.

What is bothersome about the Real ID act is that it is attached to a much larger military spending bill for 82 billion dollars that is desperately needed by our troops. Because the Real ID Act was attached to this bill, few congressmen were willing to vote against it.

Related News Links:


news.com.com More information on the developing story
thomas.loc.gov Full Text of the Bill

[edit on 5/7/2005 by lockheed][

[edit on 5/7/2005 by lockheed]

[edit on 5/7/2005 by lockheed]

I for one am outraged I found out in History class today. We just lost a huge amount of freedom...
and we couldn't do a thing about it.
I hate this country.

The article doesn't mention RFIDs. Its just talking about a more standardized ID card, not cards that let peopel be remotely tracked and whatnot.

Originally posted by Equineartist7
I for one am outraged I found out in History class today. We just lost a huge amount of freedom...
and we couldn't do a thing about it.
I hate this country.

What freedom did you just lose ? You can't name one thing can you ?

What I meant about that is that because they can pose other enforcements on the ID cards they can do whatever they want with them there are no rules yet they still have to fill in the blank for punishment. I mean I for one (note this may years from now) would be a little annoyed if they made it so to buy anything you have to use your ID. Then what if you don't have it on your person they're still figuring out what the punishment will be and I for one would not enjoy being punished(however they would do it) because I forgot my ID card. What if they decide to put colors for diffeerent jobs and things (which they could technically do because they can do anything) Wouldn't that break up the society and make it harder for you to gain respect.... Let's say your a bus driver and you have a green card but you look respectable and otherwise no one would know your a bus driver but the card would give them away...
and they could make us wear them on our person, where everyone can see them(again they can do anything because that was how the bill was designed)
Whatever they can do is limitless and it makes me fume just thinking about it..

Hope that made sense (I tend to word things weirdly)
equineartist

The real concern is that we are letting the genie out of the bottle. Once you have a pervasive, and potentially RFID capable method of tracking someone, there is no limit to how far it would go. To me it sounds akin to a blanket injunction permitting unlimited wiretaps.

Protection of privacy through anonymity is a freedom, if you ask me.


[edit on 11-5-2005 by Aelita]

it's still all speculation.... as of right now, you've lost nothing.

Originally posted by elevatedone
it's still all speculation.... as of right now, you've lost nothing.

When Pol Pot came to power in Cambodia, ordinary Cambodians didn't feel at first that they lost anything immediately.

It all changed once history ran its course.

The key here is "electronically readable".

You're right, elevatedone. Let's see how long it will take them to start adding more "required" information in the name of national security.

By the way folks, there are at least four other threads on this exact topic. Can we just add to an existing one without starting another?

this isn't a "thread" it's an ATSNN article... we're okay here.

I personally have nothing against national ID cards, I'll support them.

As of now I have nothing against the ID cards

I do not like the fact that republicans snuck this in a military spending bill which would have ment political suicide for anyone that didn't approve it (Kerry learned it the hard way)

I do not like the fact this was not event debated on the floor (thus no filibuster)

I do not like the fact the IDcards are not subject to judicial review, thus curcumventing any checks and balances.

I do not like the fact that on a whim Homeland security can add things like.. ID chips that can be scanned without your concent

Most states have laws where you do not need to show your ID to anyone unless your are charmed with a crime. tho a lot of places will refuse service unless you show it.

There is a point where people will not be willing ot give up any more freedoms jsut to fee safer from terrorisum. too bad the conservative poloticians don't care about that anymore, and think what they are doing is serving a higher power

I do not like this as well. The dept of homeland security can just say, oh , we need rfid or something else added to the cards after we are required to use them to drive or use government roads even as passengers. I also don't like the thought of a required identity number being openly displayed on the card. Will this be another means of identity theft where your number is visible for all to steal? If the national id number is not visible, I can just imagine identity thieves creating what may appear to be a legitimate reason to scan your card and capture your personal id number and information to be used for their own benefit.

Well after reading that Republicans are pushing for this, I expect to vote democratic no matter what the next election. The south may turn blue the next election as more people get frustated at this. I thought my driver's license would stay good for 4 or 5 years, now I read I'll probably have to go back much sooner with extra documents just to get this. I'd vote against the bill myself. If the dept of homeland security decides to add rfid to track everyone, I expect a huge uproar in this country.


I may be getting a feeling of why so many people around the world don't like our government. No debate by the people on this subject. I thought the people were supposed to run this country or hold those elected accountable.


[edit on 12-5-2005 by orionthehunter]

Nowhere does it mention RFID or a mandated national ID card in the bill.

This is not Sci/Tech news either, if anything it's political speculation, should be an Op/Ed, but not a Tech news item. My thoughts anyway.

Originally posted by lockheed
So what is being stored on these cards?

According to the bill, the minimum required information will be,

- Name
- Birth Date
- Gender sex
- ID number, essentially the SSN#, but the fact that they call it an ID number is a bit chilling,
- a digital photograph
- current address

Under the act, Homeland security will be allowed to add new requirements whenever they deem new requirements necessary. Possible additional requirements may include fingerprints and retinal data.

My driver's license already contains:
-My name
-My DOB
-My gender
-My ID number (DL number, not SSN)
-My photograph
-My current address

So unless the government plans to require RFID tags in my license, I see no need for this law. The smard card technology would be appropriate for this type of national ID. Perhaps the next step will be human chip implantation.

If your are concerned about RFID or want to learn more, see my research project.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Most state DLs are already electronically readable.. it's what that magnetic strip on the back is.

Big deal.

So these new ones might be smart cards or something similar. So they might tap into a national database instead of a state one. So fugitives from justice would no longer be able to run to a noncommunicative county or state to evade detection.

In reality, noone will notice much change. You will still be able to use cash to make purchases you rather would not have tracked.

Is it a lame move to tack it onto a legitimate bill? Yes. Remember the Rave Act? It was tacked onto Amber Alert. Noone knew about it until the ACLU flipped out. There were a few other undesirable acts tacked onto the back of Amber Alert... the bill was a total wash.

Same old same old from what I see... I'm not too terribly concerned about it though. I know I will probably notice a few personal speedbumps when this comes into play, especially if these National IDs are tied into FBI databanks, but I'm not too worried about it. Like I said, just pay with cash and you can't be tracked. The typical citizen wont notice a thing. No real freedom loss here, yet.

how is this different from a drivers license ?

and if you shop online with a credit card, you lose all rights to complain about privacy etc etc


think about it.....all that info you send into cyber space......willingly....to save a trip to the mall.....