Update -- and this week's priorities

Friday afternoon I was on a conference call with people from several organizations opposing Real ID: as well as myself from PrivacyActivism, there were people from Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, EFF, Eagle Forum, and several different branches of the ACLU. There was a quick update on legislative opposition, both in the states and Congress, and we also talked about the commenting process for the DHS draft regulations. People liked our approach to a social network-based activism campaign, and think that our web site is very a valuable resource. Once we're ready to get the word out broadly (probably by the end of the week), we'll go back and ask them to forward links to the site on to their members.

Most groups are still working on their comments. We're ahead of the curve, so now's a good time to start a broader outreach -- that way there will already be a lot of be lots of buzz which will continue as new folks join in. If we build this buzz, we can get a lot of attention on the issue the last week in April and first week in May. We're planning on issuing our first media release by next Tuesday the 17th; our San Francisco get-together is on track for Thursday the 19th, and that will also be a chance to start getting some press.

This week, the priority is to continue to get people involved: in the discussion groups, on the blog, volunteering. Please reach out to your friends. The What's wrong with Real ID page is a good summary of the issues, and the blog is a good place to send people to find out more. We're also trying to nail down several more get-togethers -- and of course now's a good time to start filing comments.

I'll be somewhat low-key this week as I'm working on the comments PrivacyActivism is filing jointly with several other organizations (an expanded version of the three-page draft already up on our site). Expect to see me doing more blogging and media work starting next week!

Deborah