Thread: Support H.R.220 - Common Sense About Identity Theft & RE

I'm against making the entire American population submit to the most powerful citizen surveillance technology ever created as a solution to the non enforcement of our existing immigration laws.

If we simply enforced our existing laws, there would be little need for Real ID.

Furthermore, I am in no mood to hand the Federal government the power to track me and my associations and create a permanent electronic file on my movements when they are failing to enforce so many of our laws.

Why would anyone hand more power to a government that is failing us? They are not failing us because they lack the money or power, they are failing us because they are being controlled by elite corporations and not the American citizenry.

We were able to prevent and reverse illegal immigration in the 30's and 50's just fine without big brother biometric Real ID tracking technology.

W

BTTT

Those of you who want to stop the Real ID, we have some movement on the issue and I could use your help. Please PM me ASAP. I need people contacting Legislators to put and end to this.

Lynch drafting letter to delay Real ID enforcement in N.H.
By Norma Love, Associated Press Writer | February 21, 2008

CONCORD, N.H. --Gov. John Lynch is drafting a letter to ask federal authorities to delay enforcing the Real ID law on New Hampshire residents so they don't encounter problems boarding airplanes and entering federal buildings starting in May.

The delay would be until Jan. 1, 2010.

If a delay isn't granted, New Hampshire driver's licenses not meeting a federal standard won't be accepted as identification at airports or to enter federal buildings starting May 11, according to Sen. Judd Gregg's office. Residents will be required to submit to a secondary screening at airports unless they have a passport or other federally approved form of identification, such as a military ID.

New Hampshire is one of only five states that have not submitted a request for a delay. Delaware, Maine, Montana and South Carolina are the other states. Gregg's office said all requests will be granted and the extension won't commit the state to complying with the Real ID program.

The Department of Homeland Security estimates the average cost to comply with Real ID licensing standards will be $8 for a four-year license.

"We intend on asking the federal government to not begin imposing the requirements of Real ID on New Hampshire given that the state has taken a strong stand by passing a law prohibiting our participation," Lynch spokesman Colin Manning said Thursday.

"Gov. Lynch believes strongly the federal government needs to go back and look at the law and address privacy and cost before he would even consider allowing New Hampshire to participate," Manning said.

Also Thursday, the state Senate voted unanimously to ask for an extension from the compliance deadline for the program. The Senate voted to ask Lynch to apply for the extension. The Senate said the request would not constitute participation in Real ID, which would violate state law.

Lawmakers passed a law last year barring the state from complying with the federal law, which sets standards for state-issued driver's licenses.

The law requires all states to bring their driver's licenses under a national standard and to link their record-keeping systems. States must verify identification used to obtain a driver's license, such as birth certificates, Social Security numbers and passports.

The House next considers the bill, which may be moot if Lynch submits his letter by a March 31 deadline.

Gregg's office noted that states that wish to comply with Real ID have until March 7 to apply for $83 million in grants. In 2005, Gregg had secured a $3 million grant for New Hampshire to test the law. The grant award was rescinded when New Hampshire decided against complying, his office said.

www.boston.com

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Bush grants funding to states for Real ID initiative
By Ed Oswald, BetaNews
February 22, 2008, 12:43 PM
President Bush has apparently acquiesced to Congress' and governors' demands to assist in funding the Real ID initiative, with the appropriation of an additional $110 million in grants to assist in the upgrade of driver's licenses.

The Real ID project is aimed at developing a better system for identification when used as a method to gain entrance to federal facilities. This is seen as a counter-terrorism measure since it will ostensibly make it harder to fool the system with forged IDs.


Under the statute, states must begin the transition process by December 31, 2009, and have it completed within four years. The budget request also includes $50 million to continue development of information sharing systems to make the Real ID effort more effective.

However before this, the Bush Administration has failed to provide much in the way of funding to assist in the transition, leaving states to foot much of the bill. Governors claim in the first five years, the states could collectively spend as much as $11 billion to re-enroll all 245 million licensed drivers, plus approximately $1 billion in start up costs.

So far, calls for financial assistance have gone unheeded. $50 million in grants were set aside for Real ID in December though an appropriations bill, but that still pales in comparison to what will actually be needed. The grants requested as part of the annual federal budget mark the first time that President Bush himself has acknowledged that existing federal funding for the program may have been inadequate.

It is not yet clear how this latest request will affect the overall effort, as Congress pushes back against the whole program. As reported in our previous coverage, Sen. Daniel Akaka (D - Hawaii) has already introduced a bill to repeal it altogether, which has gained support from both sides of the aisle.

Said Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.) last March: "The flaws of Real ID are fundamental, and are slowly being realized by observers across the country," and that a single driver's license pattern could have the reverse affect, actually making it easier for counterfeiters to make copies of licenses.

www.betanews.com

From a security and a technological standpoint, the REAL ID doesn't make sense. IT security specialist and world renowned crytpoanalyst Bruce Schneier weighs in on the Real ID and thinks it is a bad idea.

Aside from those generalities, there are specifics about REAL ID that make for bad security.

The REAL ID Act requires driver's licenses to include a "common machine-readable technology." This will, of course, make identity theft easier. Assume that this information will be collected by bars and other businesses, and that it will be resold to companies like ChoicePoint and Acxiom. It actually doesn't matter how well the states and federal government protect the data on driver's licenses, as there will be parallel commercial databases with the same information.

Even worse, the same specification for RFID chips embedded in passports includes details about embedding RFID chips in driver's licenses. I expect the federal government will require states to do this, with all of the associated security problems (e.g., surreptitious access).

REAL ID requires that driver's licenses contain actual addresses, and no post office boxes. There are no exceptions made for judges or police -- even undercover police officers. This seems like a major unnecessary security risk.

REAL ID also prohibits states from issuing driver's licenses to illegal aliens. This makes no sense, and will only result in these illegal aliens driving without licenses -- which isn't going to help anyone's security. (This is an interesting insecurity, and is a direct result of trying to take a document that is a specific permission to drive an automobile, and turning it into a general identification device.)

REAL ID is expensive. It's an unfunded mandate: the federal government is forcing the states to spend their own money to comply with the act. I've seen estimates that the cost to the states of complying with REAL ID will be $120 million. That's $120 million that can't be spent on actual security.

And the wackiest thing is that none of this is required. In October 2004, the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 was signed into law. That law included stronger security measures for driver's licenses, the security measures recommended by the 9/11 Commission Report. That's already done. It's already law.

REAL ID goes way beyond that. It's a huge power-grab by the federal government over the states' systems for issuing driver's licenses.

...

Near as I can tell, this whole thing is being pushed by Wisconsin Rep. Sensenbrenner primarily as an anti-immigration measure. The huge insecurities this will cause to everyone else in the United States seem to be collateral damage.

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2 ... al_id.html

Worker snooping on customer data common

By RYAN J. FOLEY, Associated Press Writer Sat Feb 23, 7:40 AM ET

MADISON, Wis. - A landlord snooped on tenants to find out information about their finances. A woman repeatedly accessed her ex-boyfriend's account after a difficult breakup. Another obtained her child's father's address so she could serve him court papers.
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All worked for Wisconsin's largest utility, where employees routinely accessed confidential information about acquaintances, local celebrities and others from its massive customer database.

Documents obtained by The Associated Press in an employment case involving Milwaukee-based WE Energies shine a light on a common practice in the utilities, telecommunications and accounting industries, privacy experts say.

Vast computer databases give curious employees the ability to look up sensitive information on people with the click of a mouse. The WE Energies database includes credit and banking information, payment histories, Social Security numbers, addresses, phone numbers, and energy usage. In some cases, it even includes income and medical information.

Experts say some companies do little to stop such abuses even though they could lead to identity theft, stalking and other privacy invasions. And companies that uncover violations can keep them quiet because in many cases it is not illegal to snoop, only to use the data for crimes.

"The vast majority of companies are doing very little to stop this widespread practice of snooping," said Larry Ponemon, a privacy expert who founded The Ponemon Institute, a Traverse City, Mich.-based think tank.

Jim Owen, spokesman for the Edison Electric Institute, a lobbying association that represents utilities, disputed suggestions the problem was common in the industry.

"I am not aware of any other situation that has arisen in the utility sector," he said.

Companies generally avoid talking about snooping or any measures they've taken to prevent it.

Scott Reigstad, a spokesman for Madison, Wis.-based Alliant Energy, which has one million electric and 420,000 natural gas customers in Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota, said his company has safeguards in place to stop misuse but does not discuss them publicly.

"We haven't had any issues that we're aware of," he said.

Jay Foley, executive director of the Identity Theft Resources Center, said state regulators and lawmakers must step in if companies are not guarding their customer information responsibly.

"Something needs to be done at the state level to make sure this is illegal," he said.

He said more companies have to start using software that can track each customer account that employees access.

WE Energies says it has taken numerous steps to stop the problem but even so detecting misuse can be difficult. That's because it is hard to discern the legitimate access of customer information from employees looking for curiosity.

"People were looking at an incredible number of accounts," Joan Shafer, WE Energies' vice president of customer service, said during a sworn deposition last year. "Politicians, community leaders, board members, officers, family, friends. All over the place."

Her testimony came in a legal case involving an employee who was fired in 2006 for repeatedly accessing information about her ex-boyfriend and another friend. An arbitrator in November upheld the woman's firing. The AP reviewed testimony and documents made public as part of the case.

The misuse came to light in 2004 when an employee helped leak information to the media during a heated race for Milwaukee mayor that a candidate, acting Mayor Marvin Pratt, was often behind in paying his heating bills. Pratt lost to the current mayor, Tom Barrett.

Pratt said he's convinced the disclosure cost him votes and unfairly damaged his reputation. Pratt said he recently met with top company executives and was satisfied it has stopped the problem as much as possible. He said he has dropped earlier plans to explore a lawsuit.

"They caught this and they are making corrections to it, which they should. But it never should have happened in the first place. Not just to me, but to anyone. They gave their employees too much latitude to access files."

After the incident involving Pratt, the company fired the employee who leaked the information and vowed to crack down after finding others engaged in similar practices. But problems continued.

In all, the utility fired or disciplined at least 17 employees for breaking the policy between 2005 and 2007, according to testimony and company records. Another employee gained access to Pratt's account for no business purpose and was suspended in 2005 but kept her job.

Others looked up information on their bosses at WE Energies and local conservative radio host Mark Belling, who said he had never been told of the breach.

Ponemon said employees with access to vast amounts of customer information often see nothing wrong with looking up an individual out of curiosity, or in some cases, more sinister motives.

Governmental agencies have also struggled with the problem.

The IRS took 219 disciplinary actions, including firings and suspensions, against employees who browsed through confidential taxpayer information last year, according to the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Information. That was more than double the number the previous year.

Last month, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety said it disciplined two employees who accessed information on 400 residents from its driver's license database. The agency did not say what the discipline was because it continues to investigate. It said the employees were looking for their own entertainment, not any criminal motives.

WE Energies serves 1.1 million electric customers in Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula and 1 million natural gas customers in Wisconsin.

Shafer said in an interview that the utility took steps to eliminate the practice and only one employee has been disciplined for violations in the last year.

After the 2004 incident, the company started checking who accessed high-profile customer accounts and requiring annual training on its policies.

Still, Shafer acknowledged in her deposition last year that it would be "difficult, if not impossible" to discover many instances of misuse.

Utility regulators in Michigan and Wisconsin said they had not been notified of the company's problems. They say they do not have any rules covering such misuse.

The head of the Wisconsin Citizens' Utility Board, which lobbies on behalf of utility customers, said he was "shocked and dismayed" to learn about the practice.

"The testimony is incredibly candid. I'm very surprised that utility employees were misusing this information," said executive director Charlie Higley. "We hope WE Energies has taken steps to ensure that information is treated privately."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080223/ap_ ... ng_workers

Thursday February 28, 2008
Bill attacking REAL ID wins Senate passage despite long odds
by The Associated Press

After seeming dead in the morning, a bill objecting to a federal driver's license law passed the Senate Wednesday night after passionate debate.

The measure, ultimately passed with three dissenting votes, would block state participation in the REAL ID Act, which aims to create a national standard for driver's licenses and other identification cards in the name of homeland security.

The bill's prospects looked grim Wednesday morning, when the powerful Senate Rules Committee took it off the Senate calendar, a parliamentary move meaning it wouldn't get a vote before the full body unless it returned to the calendar.

Bills taken off the active calendar are often removed so they can die without coming to a vote. The bill blocking participation in the REAL ID Act has drawn opposition from the state Division of Motor Vehicles and Gov. Joe Manchin.

Support for the measure was rallied on the Senate floor by Sen. Clark Barnes, who has passionately argued against the REAL ID Act since the beginning of the session, distributing literature critical of the federal law.

"As West Virginians, we have some tolerance of the federal government, but very little,'' the Randolph County Republican said.

Noting that the Senate bill was supported by the American Civil Liberties Union as well as the National Rifle Association, Barnes said the REAL ID Act amounts to a violation of privacy because it would tie state DMV computer records in with a national database.

"Let's load up the muskets and draw a line along with 17 other states and holler 'montani semper liberi,''' Barnes said, referring to West Virginia's official motto, which means "mountaineers are always free.''




http://www.dailymail.com/News/200802280141

Another state OPTS for FREEDOM!

Chertoff: ID must comply to fly
By DEVLIN BARRETT

March 21, 2008

WASHINGTON

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff rebuked lawmakers Friday for seeking to stall new rules on driver's licenses that could cause big headaches for air travelers starting in May.

Federal authorities are currently at a standoff with a handful of states over a law called Real ID, which would require new security measures for state-issued driver's licenses.

South Carolina, Maine, and Montana are the only states that have not sought extensions to comply, or already started toward compliance with Real ID, which was passed after the 2001 terror attacks on New York and Washington.

A fourth state, New Hampshire, has asked to be exempted, but homeland security officials do not view that letter as a legally acceptable request, so the Granite State has not received an extension.

Chertoff has warned that if holdout states do not send a letter by the end of March seeking an extension, come May, residents of such states will no longer be able to use their driver's licenses as valid ID to board airplanes or enter federal buildings.

Such travelers would instead have to present a passport or be subjected to secondary screening.

Five senators -- Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, Jon Tester and Max Baucus of Montana, and John Sununu of New Hampshire -- appealed to Chertoff last week to exempt all 50 states from the looming deadline.

Chertoff responded Friday that it was not he, but Congress who picked the date when the law went into effect in 2005.

"You may disagree with the foregoing law, but I cannot ignore it," Chertoff said in the letter.

The law, he said, is necessary for national security according to recommendations from the commission that studied the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

"Secure identification is a cornerstone of protecting our communities," he said.

The nation's top homeland security official also offered a blunt warning to those critics who claim the government is bluffing when it says it will impose harsher security reviews in states that do not seek an extension from the Real ID law.

"Showing up at the airport with only a driver's license from such a state will be no better than showing up without identification," he wrote. "No doubt this will impel many to choose the inconvenience of traveling with a passport."

Chertoff has offered a plan to gradually implement Real ID requirements over a period of ten years, so that eventually all driver's licenses would have several layers of security features to prevent forgery. They would also be issued only after a number of identity checks, including immigration status and verification of birth certificates.

Critics of the plan say it is too expensive, an invasion of privacy, and won't actually make the country safer.

The most outspoken, Montana Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer, has said the federal government can "go to hell." He argues that Real ID won't work and the Bush administration won't be around long enough to prove it.

www.businessweek.com