The REAL ID Act mandates that ALL States have uniformed driver licenses by 2008 - a national identification card similar to internal passports used by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. As a citizen, you will be required to have a REAL ID to drive a car, get on a plane and enter a federal building.

To get your drivers license (the REAL ID) you will be required to produce (1) a photo identifying document (2) a birth certificate (3) a Social Security card, and (4) a document showing your name and address - all of which will have to be "verified" by the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). (Rules have not yet been set and could also include a fingerprint, a retina scan and a microchip. These rules will be set by the Secretary of Homeland Security in the months to come.)

Each State will be required to set up an electronic database that contains copies of all the information that you submit to the Division of Motor Vehicles. States will also be required to "Provide electronic access to all other States to information contained in the motor vehicle database of the State."

PROTECTING YOUR PRIVACY

Simply stated information on a Government database is not secure. On May 23, 2006 the New York Times reported that "Personal electronic information on up to 26.5 million military veterans, including their Social Security numbers and birth dates, was stolen from the residence of a Department of Veterans Affairs employee who had taken the data home without authorization,..."

Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a consumer advocacy group, stated "veterans will have to monitor their records from now into the indefinite future" (May 23, 2006, USA Today).

A USA Today editorial, May 24, 2006, stated "It's hard to take seriously government warnings about how to prevent ID theft when the government itself is so lax about protecting sensitive data ."

The most remarkable fact of this incident is that "The Veterans Affairs Department learned about the theft of electronic data on 26.5 million veterans shortly after it occurred, on May 3, but waited two weeks before telling law enforcement agencies," officials said (May 24, 2006, New York Times).

"Federal and state authorities alike have labeled it (identity theft) the country's fastest-growing white-collar crime since the late 1990's" (Readers Digest - ID THIEVES' NEW TRICKS, June 2006). And with 196 million people holding drivers licenses in the United States, identity thieves are just waiting for the biggest payday ever. "We live in an age where everything from tax records to Social Security numbers to credit card data resides in databases that can be hacked, phished or pharmed by anyone with sinister motives and enough know-how" (Readers Digest, June 2006).

WHERE IS THIS GOING?

(The following excerpt is from the New Hampshire Union Leader, April 25, 2006 Op-ed Page article "New Hampshire can stop the coming federal police state" by Karl Beisel, Member of the Board of Directors of the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance.)

"History has shown that national identification systems are one of the critical pieces of infrastructure needed to foster complete tyranny upon a nation. They are used as the basis for tracking movements, purchases and monitoring activities."

"Most Americans have heard of the 'no fly' list designed to keep terrorists off of commercial flights. However, most Americans are completely unaware of another list, the 'no buy' list, similarly established to prevent terrorists from doing business with any U.S. citizen. The law effectively mandates that every individual involved in any business transaction be checked against the list, called the "Specially Designated Nationals" or SDN, which is published by the Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)."

"It applies to every purchase, from banking services and automobiles to candy bars at your local convenience store."

Most people have never heard of the "no buy list," and most businesses do not comply because it is, at this time, almost impossible to do so.

WHERE DOES THIS "NO BUY LIST" COME FROM?

President Bush issued Executive Order 13224 on September 24, 2001. This Executive Order prohibits ALL U.S. individuals and businesses from engaging in ANY kind of transaction with persons, groups or entities designated as terrorists or as their supporters or associates.

Breaking this law can result in a maximum of 10 to 12 years in jail per count and a civil fine from $11,000 to $275,000 per count. (Source: The law firm Holland & Knight LLP, Attorneys Gregory Baldwin and Christopher Myers)

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

The example given by the Law firm of Holland & Knight LLP, states that "Every drug store in the U.S. should check the name of every customer at the cash register in order to ensure that it is not selling aspirin to a terrorist."

While banks, car dealers, the real estate industry and organizations are currently complying with the Law, it is impossible for the average person and business to uphold and therefore it is not being enforced at this time.

But the law is already on the books. In other words the Law states that if you sell any item to someone who is a terrorist you could be imprisoned for up to 12 years and pay a fine up to $275,000.

At present, the only missing link is the technology needed to be able to totally implement the "No Buy List." With the REAL ID, that technology will be there.


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