Sunday, February 04, 2007

States challenge nat'l driver's license

Yahoo! News A revolt against a national driver's license, begun in Maine last month, is quickly spreading to other states. The Maine Legislature on Jan. 26 overwhelmingly passed a resolution objecting to the Real ID Act of 2005. The federal law sets a national standard for driver's licenses and requires states to link their record-keeping systems to national databases.

Within a week of Maine's action, lawmakers in Georgia, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Vermont and Washington state also balked at Real ID. They are expected soon to pass laws or adopt resolutions declining to participate in the federal identification network.

Do they have a right to "decline to participate". If they do, do they still get federal funds?
Paul Silver blogged I am in favor of a universal ID system to help separate predators from the general population. I would like for my society to know who is entering the country, who is buying explosives, who is moving around large amounts of money, to keep tract of chronic predators who physically, emotionally or financially prey on others. In fact I support going further by gathering multiple forms of biometric data so that we do not have to rely on easily forged physical documents.
I completely agree, particularly about the inclusion of multiple forms of biometric data to reduce, if not prohibit, forged documents.
I would like for any information gathered to be available for review just as we now have a right to see our credit histories so we can challenge and correct information. I would like for there to be special Identity Courts that can expedite issues related to identity.
I had not thought of that, but it seems reasonable too. One ought to be able to get a printout of all data stored on the card.
This seems to be a simple necessity in the context of the inevitably increasing globalization of the world. I just do not grasp how we can improve security without tracking suspicious behavior as determined by our elected representatives and the courts.

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