DHS spokesman: "we received 12,000 comments"

WASHINGTON, May 8 — The Homeland Security Department said Tuesday that it would plow ahead with national standards for driver’s licenses, despite a highly unusual level of activity by state legislatures opposed to the idea, and substantial second thoughts in Congress.

The department said it had received about 12,000 public responses to its draft rules, in a 60-day comment period that ended Tuesday. Russ Knocke, a spokesman, said the comments were mixed.

Matthew Wald writes in the New York Times. I'm kind of curious what time Knocke gave that estimate; most of the article is a discussion of the Leahy hearing yesterday, which started at 10 a.m. EST ... and I'm sure comments are continuing to trickle in after the deadline. Still, it's a first stake in the ground.

As for "mixed" ... I've been spot-checking comments all week long and they seem to be running at least 80% anti-Real ID both at the individual and the organizational level -- and the chatter in the blogosphere near the deadline was overwhelmingly anti, 95% or more. So we'll see just how "mixed" it really is.

No word in the article about timeframe for posting or responding to comments.

jon

PrivacyActivism's comments to DHS on Real ID

In conjunction with Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering (CASPIAN) and the The Fairfax County Privacy Council (FCPC), PrivacyActivism has submitted official comments to the Department of Homeland Security calling for the draft rule to be withdrawn. From the overview:

The draft rules proposed by DHS to implement the Real ID Act are fatally flawed. Focusing on how to best implement an Act as deeply flawed as this one is not in the best interests of individuals or the states; therefore we recommend that the proposed rule be withdrawn. Ultimately, Privacyactivism believes that the Real ID Act should be repealed, but understands that this is outside of the scope of this rulemaking process. Privacyactivism’s comments will therefore focus on the lack of privacy protections in the proposed rule, and why the lack of these protections require the withdrawal of the proposed rule.

Specifically, our comments will cover these areas: 1) The general lack of privacy and security protections; 2) the difficulty of compliance; 3) exceptions in the draft rule that lead to inadequate security; 4) the cost involved.

See our full comments for the details.

Deborah

E-mail comments!

Per the Privacy Coalition's Stop Real ID campaign (and noted in Jim Harper's Technology Liberation post), there is now an Email address to mail comments to.

Emails must have “DHS-2006-0030” in the subject line. Click
here to e-mail (or to type the address yourself: oscomments at dhs . gov) or check the Coalition page for a link with a comment letter (which you may customize!) attached.

File before 5PM EST on Tuesday the 8th!

May 8 deadline approaching; five things you can do today

The May 8 deadline for filing comments with DHS is fast approaching -- see here for why this is so important. With that in mind, here are five things you can do today to help:

1. File comments, if you haven't already.
2. Tell your friends and family, and ask them to file comments. Don't underestimate the power of personal connections; if we each convince five people to file comments, that will make a huge difference.
3. Get the word out! Email and post wherever you think it's relevant, and make sure to tell people how to file comments and remind them of the deadline.
4. Ask your state legislators to file comments.
   
5. Tell the media to cover the Real ID rebellion

jon

Ask your state legislators to file comments!

Thousands of legislators have voted againt Real ID in various states; if we can get half of them -- and their staffs -- to file comments, it will make a huge difference.

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, fax, or phone.

jon

PS: If you know that your legislators have voted against Real ID in your state, start by thanking them. It's so unusual for them to get thanked, they'll probably fall out of their chair -- and once they pick themselves up, they'll be much more inclined to respond to the rest of your mail.

Why comments matter

In a lengthy discussion thread on Tribe, several people were pretty skeptical about whether or not the commenting process would make any difference. Deborah made several important points that are worth highlighting: the impact on politicians, how DHS will react if they don't get a lot of comments, and the real possibility that a comment outcry will make a difference.

The impact on politicians is most straightforward:

States are lining up against the Act, although some are on the fence about it. A strong showing from the public will not only let DHS know how we feel about it, but it will also be a boost in the undecided states -- and increase the momentum for a repeal in Congress. The commenting process isn't easy, and so legislators estimate that each comment represents the views of 1,000 people ... your voice matters a lot.

The other two require a bit of context for how the "rulemaking" process works. Briefly, once Congress passed Real ID in 2005 (with no debate, as a rider to a "must pass" spending bill ... but that's another story), DHS has the responsibility proposing a "rule" to implement the law. All proposed rules go through a public commenting period; the proposed rule can be adopted as is, or can be rejected. If rejected, it needs to be redrafted and sent out again for public comment. The current commenting process ends May 8.

Deborah writes:

The more negative comments DHS receives, the less likely it will be that the rule will be adopted.... If that happens, we have another 30 or 60 days to try to convince Congress to repeal the law.

If no one says anything during the comment period, DHS will say that the public is fine with Real ID, and fine with all of the privacy invasive decisions contained in their draft rule.

And these kinds of commenting processes do work to kill bad laws. The example Deborah gave:

The biggest one I've seen involved Secure Flight -- a passenger profiling system that the US wanted.

DHS and DoT published a draft rule in the Federal Register .... We commented it to death, we hit all of the press we could, and basically forced them to convene a committee (DHS put it together). A scathing report was issued, and guess what? Secure Flight was killed. It's still dead.

So yes, this is a difficult and somewhat obscure process ... but it's well worth doing.

jon

Six more groups join anti-Real ID public comment coalition

Another six groups have joined the anti-Real ID public comment campaign -- bringing the total so far to 49. The list continues to grow in diversity, with groups like Asian American Justice Center and Citizens' Council on Health Care as well as "the usual suspects" like Center for Democracy and Technology getting on board. The Privacy Coalition's page will continue to track new groups as they join; we'll tryy to get members from the various groups to guest-blog here, so stay tuned!

jon

43 organizations announce campaign to solicit comments!

Today forty-three organizations representing transpartisan, nonpartisan, privacy, consumer, civil liberty, civil rights, transgender people, and immigrants have joined to launch a national campaign to solicit public comments on Real ID.

Our media release is up on the Privacy Activism site, and the Privacy Coalition site is tracking the announcements of all the groups involved -- as well as providing links to our instructions for filing comments, along with EFF's and the ACLU's. Here are a couple of excerpts:

"The breadth and diversity of the opposition is real testimony to how harmful Real ID is to so many different communities," said Deborah Pierce, Executive Director of PrivacyActivism.org and one of the founders of the Stop Real ID Now! activism campaign. "By getting people and groups who are usually excluded from the debate involved at the grassroots level, we can stop Real ID."

"The Real ID Act of 2005 turns our state driver's licenses into a national ID card, costs over $20 billion dollars, infringes privacy, and imposes major burdens on taxpayers, anybody renewing a driver's license, seniors, immigrants, transgender people, and state governments -- while doing nothing to protect against terrorism," said privacy activist Jon Pincus, another founder of the Stop Real ID Now! activism campaign. "This commenting process is a great chance for the American people to tell DHS and Congress the Real ID Act is a bad law that needs to be repealed."

The timing of this announcement, right before the webcast, is perfect ... it should give a lot of momentum to the last week's drive for comments.

So please, forward broadly!

Deborah

PS: see the comments for the list of groups who are initially joining -- and we're expeecting more!

I've commented. And you?

Following these easy instructions, I left my comments on the Real ID Act today. It wasn't hard. It took a few minutes to type my thoughts, but the regulations.gov site is quite easy to use and the process couldn't have been much easier.

PLUS… I mean, really now… it's the right thing to do. The way I figure it, we can all be part of this process, or we can let an opportunity to speak up slip away. And why should we? Yes, it's easier NOT to comment… … NOT to make the effort… NOT to feel like you've emerged from the safety of a turtle shell. But where's the good in that? Everyone, on both sides of this issue, should leave comments or attend tomorrow's Town Hall or send in good, solid questions via email. Not only is it our chance to speak, it's our responsibility.

And speaking for myself now that I've commented… I have to tell you it feels good.

I'd love to hear if you've commented, or if you've had a different reaction than I have. Commenting closes on May 8th, so you still have time. And honestly… what are you waiting for?