UPDATE: Over sixty organizations are now part of the Anti-National REAL ID public campaign. Click here to see who has joined.
Over Forty Groups Announce National REAL ID Public Campaign
WASHINGTON, DC - Today, 45 organizations representing transpartisan, nonpartisan, privacy, consumer, civil liberty, civil rights, and immigrant organizations have joined to launch a national campaign to solicit public comments to stop the nation's first national ID system: REAL ID.
The groups joining in the anti-REAL ID campaign are concerned about the increased threat of counterfeiting and identity theft, lack of security to protect against unauthorized access to the document's machine readable content, increased cost to taxpayers, diverting of state funds intended for homeland security, increased costs for obtaining a license or state issued ID card, and because the REAL ID would create a false belief that it is secure and unforgeable.
This effort builds on the momentum that is signaling broad opposition to the REAL ID in the states. Montana has become the fifth state, following Maine, Idaho, Arkansas, and Washington, to prohibit cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security in implementing the REAL ID national identification system.
Under the Act, states and federal government would share access to a vast national database that could include images of birth certificates, marriage licenses, divorce papers, court ordered separations, medical records, and detailed information on the name, date of birth, race, religion, ethnicity, gender, address, telephone, e-mail address, Social Security Number for more than 240 million with no requirements or controls on how this database might be used. Many may not have the documents required to obtain a REAL ID, or they may face added requirements base on arbitrary and capricious decisions made by DMV employees.
The draft regulations to implement the REAL ID Act are open for comment until 5 p.m. EST on May 8, 2007. To take action and submit comments against the fundamentally flawed national identification scheme, under Docket No. 2006-0030-0001.
Online: Through the public submission portal at: http://www.regulations.gov
Or use one of the more user-friendly sites found at the following web addresses:
Electronic Frontier Foundation portal
Privacy Activism portal
Fax Comments to the Department of Homeland Security through these sites:
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Privacy Coalition
Or send a letter to the agency. Fax: 1-866-466-5370.
Postal mail:
Department of Homeland Security
Attn: NAC 1-12037
Washington, DC 20528
All comments must be received by until 5:00 PM EST on May 8, 2007.
Visit the Stop REAL ID Campaign site: http://www.privacycoalition.org/stoprealid
List of all of the Groups Supporting this Campaign: