First of all, thank you to everyone who has helped with this part of the campaign against Real ID, including sending comments. I'd particularly like to thank the Real ID activism groups on Free Association, Tribe, and Myspace; Greg for handling the bulk of the blogging here; and of course the 60 other organizations in the Privacy Coalition. We couldn't have gotten this far without you.
This first part of the campaign was a whirlwind -- we only had 60 days to build the campaign, get media coverage, and round up as many people as we could to send in comments. It was a big job. To make our lives more difficult, the DHS had troubles with their fax capabilities and their web site. It was only during the last 24 hours that they made available an email address that people could use to send in their comments. It will likely be at least a week before we know exactly how many people sent in comments.
Now that this phase is done, what do we do?
Now is the time to follow up with congress people, if you haven't done so already. Colorado is now on the list of states that don't want to follow Real ID. I was on a conference call today (May 8) with the EPIC privacy coalition group, and one of the people on the call had just testified before a small group of Senators about the privacy and security flaws with Real ID. He's a security expert and got a very warm reception.
At some point, the DHS will do one of three things: 1) announce that they have adopted a rule to implement Real ID - with or without our comments being taken into account, 2) defer adopting a rule until they get more direction from Congress, or 3) re-open the comment period. In the meanwhile, Congress should be hearing from all of us that we want the Act repealed.
As for DHS? Option #3 is unlikely. It's unclear which is more likely, option #1 or option #2.
We'll keep posting here as I get new information. Please keep following the news, and help as you can.
Thanks again everyone.
Deborah
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8 comments:
And remember, EFF and Downsize DC have sites that make it easy to email your legislators. USA.gov has state-by-state directories of legislators if you'd prefer to mail, phone, or fax.
It would be great if one of the organizations or main sites could create a mail list for disseminating alerts or updates on this issue that would go to all orgs and bloggers who are trying to get the word out. Is there such a specific list already?
Agreed, dissent. I think keeping the organizations informed will be much easier than the bloggers, however. The hope is that everyone who's engaged now will check back in every now and then, as it's clear that even though the public comment period is over, the issues aren't disappearing! I believe that the Privacy Coalition has the organization list, but if I find out otherwise, I'll let you know....
The Privacy Coalition has the list of organizations posted on their site, yes, but I don't know that anyone has taken the lead/responsibility for setting up a targeted and moderated mail list on this issue with alerts and updates.
If you talk with others, maybe you could suggest this, too.
well said, dissent. This list doesn't exist yet, and it certainly would have helped a lot. We'll followup with the Privacy Coalition and others on this.
As well as the email list, I think it's worth looking at how we use RSS feeds more effectively. For example, you tend to get stuff up very quickly on PogoWasRight; how do we get people to be tracking that?
Lots to learn from this first iteration ...
jon
Agreed, Jon. I reorganized my news section this morning so that there is now a separate news section for Real ID as well as its own news feeds. Site notice and links can be found here.
I would be happy to mirror and post updates if we can get participants to email notices and news to the site. And that way, bloggers might find a "one-stop" news feed that they can use, etc.
See what you think. Maybe we should continue this by email. Feel free to drop me a note and to cc: other interested parties.
OK, I heard back from EPIC, and they'll set up the list-serv. See the announcement on my site, and if you want to be on the list-serv or know others who might want to be on it, have them email me and I'll forward the info on to EPIC.
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