monitored via an electronic chip....pathetic

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http://axcessnews.com/index.php/articles/show/id/13685

REAL ID Regulation enacted - there goes the neighborhood!

Commentary By son

(AXcess News) town, KY - U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff crowed over the final enactment of a National ID Regulation that will require every American to comply by 2017, though the National, or "Real ID" as its referred to, begins in 2009.

While the American Civil Liberties Union has fought Chertoff tooth and nail every step of the way, the paper tiger citizens rights watchdog group has been helpless to combat the Bush administration's plan to have every American monitored via an electronic chip, which will be included in all Drivers licenses by 2017. Now, Chertoff's 'Big Brother' state is to become a reality, which Chertoff says 80 percent of Americans want. To that end, Chertoff is mixing words. What Americans want is a safe, secure homeland not a land where citizens must fall in line with government control and federal regulation, or worse, an invasion of their privacy and rights under the Constitution, which in this case seems to have been misplaced or overlooked when Congress passed the REAL ID Act of 2005.

Some have argued that the RFID chips can be used to monitor Americans whereabouts. That depending on the type of radio frequency identification, it could be read either from a distance or close-up. Yet according to a CNET story, the Associated Press said that isn't the case, but in reading the press release on the DHS website Friday that is exactly what it is intended for and all States must comply - by 2017 - yet the AP says otherwise. I tend to think their ink ran a little off the page when they wrote that, but hey, THEY'RE the one true newswire, right?

A band of states had originally objected to the federal government's intervention, saying that if they did fall in line with a nationalized approach to verification of information used to obtain drivers licenses that the costs were prohibitive and therefore they balked at going along with it. To get around that, Chertoff says the costs have been cut by 73 percent and that instead of it costing $14.6 billion it would only cost $3.9 billion. But what underlies this Wal-Mart price-cutting pitch of the Goul of Security is the fact the cost hasn't been reduced at all - its merely been spread over a greater number of years, giving the states the 'option' of complying little by little. That doesn't sound like a cost-cutting measure to me! Chertoff's pitch is like buying furniture with no payment due for months, yet in the end, you still pay the price.

So far, state Attorney Generals have not responded to the DHS Regulatory move.

In a May, 2007 press release, the ACLU explained how the REAL ID Act of 2005 came into being. According to the ACLU, "the Real ID Act was attached to a 2005 military spending bill, debated behind closed doors and passed after-hours."

The civil rights watchdog group says that 11 states have passed laws rejecting Real ID and more than 35 states have taken steps to stop it, but what the DHS did was say, look, the objection is the cost, so we cut it for you by not requiring people over 50 to prove who they are and you, the State, have the option of when you want to start using an RFID implant - but you must by 2017 at the latest. But you still have to comply in steps - so your legal objections are mute - nah, nah, nah!

Those who do not have the compliant REAL ID, cannot enter federal buildings or fly on commercial airlines, the DHS notes.

Sparapani, Legislative Counsel for the ACLU Washington Legislative Office says, "Members of Congress knew two years ago that if Real ID were openly debated, the American people would have rejected it." Yet if we take Chertoff to heart, that's simply not true - most Americans want it.

"The American public's desire for greater identity protection is undeniable," said Chertoff. "A Public Opinion Strategies poll taken last year shows that more than 80 percent of the American public favors secure identification to prevent terrorism and identity theft," the Friday DHS news release stated.

A Public Opinion Strategies poll says most Americans are for REAL ID. Well, the POS is a Republican organization so just how fair its poll is comes under question. After all, following the New Hampshire primary it was found that the polls put Sen. Obama ahead of Sen. Clinton by an almost two-to-one margin, yet Tuesday night the nation found that Clinton won by a slim margin, so we find now that polls aren't always what they claim. Even the late-race poll conducted by Lem's Hair Emporium in NH proved to be wrong! So why the hell would Americans accept Chertoff's POS poll?

AXcess News asked ten people here in town if they thought a federal ID program was something they would prefer over their state's own drivers license program - for the sake of security - and only three said yes, two said maybe as they didn't understand what it meant and the rest were against it. So there, a last-minute, unbiased, man-on-the-street take in a common American town like town, Kentucky, where Democrats voted in a Democratic Governor. No, Mr. Chertoff, that POS poll isn't worth the ink you placed on it. Which, by it, you inferred that Congress acted assuming it really was what Americans wanted.

Once the DHS forces all states to comply, your personal information will end up in a database that technology experts argue is anything but safe. Beth Givens, Director of Privacy Rights Clearinghouse has said, "If you think identity theft is bad now, wait until the Real ID Act goes into effect."

Givens notes that Real ID will also create new opportunities for ID thieves to commit their crime. The law requires DMVs to store scanned copies of birth certificates, Social Security cards, and any other documents that individuals present when they apply for a license. It creates a national linked database allowing millions of employees at all levels of government around the nation to access personal data. And it mandates a nationally standardized “machine-readable zone†that will let bars, merchants and other private parties scan personal data off licenses with greater ease than ever before, putting all that information into even greater circulation.

Yet The DHS could care less about your personal security. And for Chertoff to chirp about how 'vital REAL ID is' is just pure Capitol Hill hype at its finest. Over the last year I can site numerous occasions where sensitive, personal information on tens of thousands of Americans was stolen when some computer was hacked, or a consultant lost a notebook computer - from the VA to the Social Security Department - personal data is being swiped and like Givens says, compiling an even greater database of ALL your information will only make things worse.

Here again, the DHS itself quotes numerous statistics of identity theft - but they portray their REAL ID system as some golden gloved answer and according to the experts it will be a nightmare waiting to happen. Givens also says that many a state driver's license office has been the scene of identity theft and forged documents. She notes that when the federal ID system is fully in place it will only make it more valuable to thieves to go after.

But there's little I can do in writing this commentary except to shake my head and prepare to be fitted for an orange jump suit when they come to move us into federal housing compounds - which is how I feel when the REAL ID chip goes into effect and follows me everywhereStart the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape in the new year.