REAL ID Still a REAL Mess

The federal government is obsessed with collecting information and spending money; a very bad combination.  The worst example of this is the attempt to establish a national identification system known as Real ID.  Passed in May 2005, the Real ID Act for the first time set federal standards for authenticating and securing state-issued driver’s licenses.  Real ID is a costly mandate that cash-strapped states can’t afford with weak privacy controls.  Now, Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) voices his privacy concerns in a February 1, 2012 letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.  According to Rep. Amash’s letter (read full letter here), “I urge you to reverse the Department of Homeland Security’s requirement that enhanced driver’s licenses include vicinity radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. I specifically ask the Department to cease demanding that Michigan include RFID chips in its enhanced driver’s licenses.”

The REAL ID Act, passed in May 2005, for the first time outlined federal requirements for the issuance of drivers’ licenses.  States are not required to comply with the Act; however, any identification document produced by a state that does not meet the standards will not be recognized as a federal form of identification, which, among other uses, is needed to board commercial planes and receive Social Security benefits.

REAL ID is a double whammy of increased costs and privacy concerns.  Cost estimates to implement REAL ID at the national level have ranged anywhere from $17 billion to $23 billion.  According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, “On January 11, 2008, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the final regulations to implement the requirements of the Real ID. The release of the final regulations is a mere 120 days prior to the implementation deadline established in the Real ID Act. DHS estimates the costs for states to implement the Real ID will not exceed $3.9 billion.”  Considering the woeful track record of any government cost estimate and the continued delay in the implementation of REAL ID (the state deadline has been pushed back to January 2013) it is hard to believe that this estimate is based in reality.

Rep. Amash’s letter to Sec. Napolitano strikes at the heart of the privacy concerns.  According to the letter, “I am deeply concerned about the privacy implications of mandatory RFIDs in driver’s licenses. The chips would give public and private entities an unprecedented ability to track Americans. RFIDs can be read using widely available technology, including technology contained in mobile phones, which increases the risk of identity theft. Furthermore, if RFIDs were to become ubiquitous, there is little doubt that private entities would deploy new technology to capture the chips’ data.”

Even though many states have rejected REAL ID, DHS has pushed forward with implementation.  And, as you may imagine, it is not going smoothly.  According to the Parkersburg News and Sentinel (when referring to the requirement that married women present a marriage license in order to obtain a new REAL ID compliant ID), “Beverly Spiker of Parkersburg said she has been at the local DMV office to try to get her driver’s license renewed. She has been told she needed a copy of her marriage license, but the only copy she had was destroyed in a fire years ago. It would cost her more than $120 to send away to North Carolina to get another copy…. Spiker said the local DMV office can’t take anything faxed.  ‘I saw many older women down there crying because they don’t have access to their marriage licenses,’ Spiker said.”

REAL ID is an epic over reach of the federal government that is expensive and susceptible to massive breaches of privacy.  States and taxpayers should continue to oppose the new regulations.