As we hit the final days for filing public comments (the deadline is May 8th at 5PM EST. Click here for easy filing instructions), it seems like a good idea to talk about what's so wrong with Real ID one more time. Here are a couple bullet points:
Cost: The estimated pricetag for implementation is over $20 billion... and this will be shouldered almost exclusively by the states and individuals. I believe a DHS speaker at the Town Hall said there is around $40 million in Federal money available. You can do the math as well as I can.
Privacy: the proposed implementation punts on privacy, leaving it to the states or simply hoping, I suppose, that as everything gets put into place, somehow things will work out. Implementing a huge data storage system of incredibly personal data without first coming up with HOW that data will be kept safe is bad news indeed, and simply not a good way to go about business.
Identity theft: as proposed, Real ID would not only give identity thieves one stop shopping for information, but victims of identity theft would have tremendous difficulty in clearing up problems.
Security: if the DHS keeps claiming that the point of Real ID is to make sure that the person sitting next to you on the plane is who they say they are, then they have defined security in a rather different way than I would. Also, with the various exemptions that are in place, the Real ID program has security holes big enough to drive a truck through.
The ACLU Real Nightmare page has more, as does the Stop Real ID wiki. Suffice to say, there are a lot of problems with Real ID, and there are many reasons why there are such diverse groups in the coalition that formed this past week to stop Real ID.
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