Jersey should join
the revolt against Real ID
BY DEBORAH JACOBS,
Executive Director ACLU-NJ
From the Star-Ledger
on the Web, March 17, 2007
NEWARK, NJ, Mar. 16 -- In
early March, the Department of Homeland Security released draft regulations for
implementing the Real ID Act, federal legislation that, after being rejected as
a stand-alone bill, was forced through Congress in 2005 as part of a must-pass
Iraq war appropriations measure.
Among the many costly, misguided national security ideas the federal government
has tried to impose on the states in recent years, Real ID ranks as one of the
most dangerous and disruptive. It won't be long before New Jerseyans will
see Real ID as a real nightmare of more red tape, longer lines, more identity
theft and higher fees.
The Real ID Act creates a national ID card system that federalizes and
standardizes state driver's licenses. It requires every person in the
country to have a Real ID-compliant identification document to fly on commercial
airlines or enter government buildings. Homeland Security has said that
someday Real ID will be required for other purposes, like getting a passport.
If New Jersey adopts Real ID, it will pay a high price in both public money and
personal privacy. Even the Department of Homeland Security concedes that
the burden to taxpayers will be high. Its own figures show that Real ID
will cost individuals and the states a combined estimated $23 billion.
We don't know the extent of New Jersey's share of these costs yet, but we know
from experience that everything costs more in the Garden State. What makes
this more exasperating still is that Real ID practically mirrors the six-point
system that New Jersey's Motor Vehicle Commission already adopted at enormous
cost and effort.
New Jersey must also consider the consequences of allowing what amounts to a
federal takeover of our MVC. The Real ID regulations dictate details of
MVC operations. Everything from the color of the card background to the
computer systems that store licensing information must conform to common
standards, requiring states to completely overhaul their systems.
Homeland Security also fails to address the privacy problems that Real ID
creates. Here again, the department concedes the point -- in this case,
the danger that license data could be scanned and sold by third parties, which
will contribute to massive identity theft.
Its response? Identity theft is someone else's problem: According to
the proposed regulations, "DHS believes that it would be outside its authority
to address this issue within this rulemaking." Instead, it encourages the
states to come up with a solution. The irony is that in seeking to ensure
that everyone has official government identity papers, the government would, by
omission or by negligence, make identity theft easier.
Worse, to verify home address information, the department is encouraging states
to collect financial information, including bank statements, which will be saved
and stored in MVC computers. News reports abound with instances of private
and government databases being hacked. In 2003, the press reported several
instances of New Jersey MCV employees involved with fraud by selling fake
licenses.
Real ID makes the risk of similar abuses exponentially bigger. A state
database with every driver's financial information would be an open invitation
to identity theft and a flagrant intrusion on privacy.
Finally, we must ask what we're getting in exchange for the many costs of Real
ID. Will Real ID keep Americans safe? According to security experts,
the answer is no. Be cause many Americans will not have birth certificates
or other official documents to prove their identities so that they can get a
Real ID card, Homeland Security has acknowledged it needs an exemption allowing
people to bypass many of the verification and document requirements. This
exemption creates a huge security void and demonstrates the fundamental security
flaws beneath Real ID or any national identification system.
There's a growing rebellion among the states against Real ID. In January,
Maine rejected the Real ID scheme, and similar legislation has been passed by
one chamber in the legislatures of Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico,
Utah, Vermont and Wyoming. Bills rejecting Real ID have also been
introduced in 14 other legislatures, with more expected in the coming weeks.
Now is the time for Gov. Jon Corzine and the New Jersey Legislature to join the
dozens of other states taking action to reject Real ID. The last thing New
Jersey needs is to waste money, jeopardize our privacy and replace our driver's
license system with a new one that will cost billions and fail to provide real
security.
Real ID? Try Real nightmare.
Deborah Jacobs can be reached at
aclunjopinion@aclu-nj.org.
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