Thread: What will the REAL ID Act actually do?

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The Ral ID Act mandates that makes all states in the U.S. standardize procedures for the granting of drivers' license and ID cards. The state must require before issuing a drivers' license or ID card the following documentation:

(A) A photo identity document, except that a non-photo identify document is acceptable if it includes both the person's full-legal name and date or birth.

(B) Documentation showing person's date of birth

(C) Proof of the person's Social Security account number or verification that the person is not eligible for a Social Security account number.

(D) Documentation showing the person's name and address of principle residence.

Item C almost made me snicker a little, social security numbers at this point are a dime a dozen. If the government is having a hard time with social security numbers, what eggheaed will figure this one out?

What if you do not get a National ID?
This comes straight from the text of the Real ID Act. "Beginning 3 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, (May 2005) a Federal agency may not accept, for any official purpose, a drivers' license or identification card issued by a State to any person unless the state is meeting the requirements of this section."

The government knew that the American people would not swallow a National ID. So, the original name of the bill was changed to the Real ID Act. Also to get through Congress fast , this Act was attached to a huge appropriations bill for the troops in Iraq. The vote on this bill through the Senate 100-0.

Sly dogs!

Well, I guess that I'll be without ID, because I neither have an SSN nor do I intend to obtain one. Rev. 13:16-17

so, what are we going to do about it? Rise up and revolt or sit back like good little doggies and accept this?

There is alway a huge battle brewing on this. Fierce. NH has already said they would not comply with the Act. The only hope is to repeal this law!

(D) Documentation showing the person's name and address of principle residence.

Oh, I just love this one, a utility bill, you could move all over the place but as long as you live in one place long enough to have one utility bill, no proof of how long you have been there. Or a credit card bill. I ask about this when I went to get a driver's license and they wanted my ss# like they didn't already have it. They said an illegal can show a utility bill since they don't have a ss#. My husband said, you should have said, hang on I will run home and get my electric bill. This is stupid, it is not proof of idenity and they are getting past the ss# still.

Originally Posted by nittygritty

so, what are we going to do about it? Rise up and revolt or sit back like good little doggies and accept this?

Well, I'm not going to acquiesce to it!

The Real ID act was clearly passed without anyone who voted on it reading the whole thing. The most junior procurement officer in the Pentagon could write a better specification. Contrary to the article the act doesn't mandate that states do anything. What is does say is that any state issued ID will only be accepted by the Federal government if it meets the standards. It was apparently intended to draft drivers' licenses into service as internal air travel passports but in reality sets standards for ALL use as Federal IDs. This includes use in the Federal prison system and for cashing Treasury checks for example. The act includes some ambiguous requirements such as requiring the ID to have a "digital picture" without ever saying what that is. In my mind a "digital picture" is a picture in digital form which ihappens to be unintelligible to a human being viewing it; human beings can only perceive analog pictures. The act also includes at least one downright silly requirement. All documents used to obtain the ID MUST be scanned. However, there is no requirement to do anything with these scans. The data could be saved or it could just be discarded and still meet the requiements of the act.

I think the best response to this act is to simply ignore it. If the Federal government wants internal air travel passports let it issue them itself. If no one is allowed to travel on airplanes when this act takes effect because they don't have proper ID let Congress take the blame.