Real ID Act turns driver’s licenses into high tech national identity cards

Opponents fear further loss of freedom and greater exposure to identity theft — all at a budget-busting price. Yet Oregon’s leaders remain quiet.

By Dave Mazza

Freedom of movement within our borders is a given to most Americans. But an administration with little regard for civil liberties and a new technology called RFID could end that freedom very soon. The little-debated Real ID Act of 2005 seeks greater security against terrorism, however, the real result could be a national identification card and the ability of the government to track — and restrict — our movements in unprecedented ways. This quest for security may also expose citizens to greater risk of identity theft and burden state governments with an unfunded mandate that could cost them hundreds of millions of dollars.

A little too real for comfort

The Real ID Act of 2005 was the brainchild of U.S. Rep. James F. Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-WI). Each state, as part of the police powers given it under the constitution, is responsible for determining who receives a driver’s license, what information applicants must present and what information is kept on them. Standards vary widely from state to state, and there is little capacity for the rapid exchange of information between states. For Sensenbrenner, this decentralization was what allowed several 9.11 bombers to obtain driver’s licenses under assumed names; therefore, the Act seeks to standardize driver’s licenses, with all licenses containing the same basic information. There must be common standards for issuing licenses and the data in each state stored utilizing “common machine-readable technology.” States have until 2008 to comply with the act. Those who do not - and the people residing within those states — will suffer a number of consequences.

“If you don’t meet those requirements you can’t enter a federal building, an airport or anything federal,” states Nicole Ozer, technology and civil liberties policy director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. “This is a backdoor approach to national identification.”

This ban would extend not just to states that chose not to or were unable to comply with the Real ID Act, but also individuals who cannot or will not meet the issuance standards for a license in a state that is in compliance. At present, issuance standards vary widely from state to state. In some states, particularly in the South, baptismal certificates or even letters from pastors can serve as adequate identification. Other states require a piece of mail as proof of residence. The Real ID Act raises the bar considerably higher. In most cases, applicants would have to present a photo ID, documentation showing date of birth, and proof of social security number or verification of ineligibility for a social security account. Applicants would also be required to produce documentation establishing their name and principal place of address. Applicants must also provide evidence of U.S. citizenship or proof of permission to reside in the country as an alien. These higher standards will clearly present problems for many people.

“Think of all the folks who evacuated from New Orleans and Mississippi,” states David Fidanque, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon. “How are they going to prove who they are? Many older Americans may have trouble coming up with adequate identification to meet the issuance standards.”

As both Ozer and Fidanque point out, this system will create a two-tiered citizenry. Those who can provide documentation will have no problem qualifying for a license that retains freedom of movement. Those unable to provide adequate proof will be reduced to second-class status, with federally controlled means of travel — planes, ships and trains — or federal lands now off limits to them. It could be argued that the new law would create a third tier composed of people unable to qualify because they have never participated in some of the programs that produce the documentation Real ID requires and the already near-invisible population of undocumented immigrants who will fade even further. But there are even greater hazards under the Real ID Act regardless of your license status.

RFID: It’s in the chips

Radio Frequency Identification, or RFID, is not a new technology by any means (see sidebar). Anyone who purchases access to “fast track” lanes on toll roads or bridges is making use of RFID technology. As your vehicle approaches the toll gate, a “reader” on the toll booth reads an RFID chip that was installed in the vehicle at the time “fast track” authority was purchased and ascertains the vehicle has permission to pass through the toll booth without stopping.

The RFID chip is actually a passive micro-transmitter, requiring no power source of its own. RFID is capable of storing tremendous amounts of information that can be read by a device in much the same way a scanner reads a bar code. The important differences are that RFID chips can be read from as far as 30 feet away and do not have to be visible like bar codes. In fact, some companies seek placement of RFID chips in clothing, for instance, so a customer’s profile could be read — knowingly or unknowingly — by store staff, allegedly to better serve the customer. Many pet owners have RFID chips containing pet medical history and owner- identification data installed under the skin of their dog or cat, all readily available by a sweep of a scanner over the pet.

Little debate took place over the Real ID Act. It passed with a simple up or down vote as an attachment to the Iraq war funding bill. Many critics say there wasn’t enough time to consider all the ramifications of the proposal, especially since what debate occurred did not include the idea of requiring RFID in driver’s licenses. The Department of Homeland Security, which pushed through micro-transmitters put into passports, now presses for these chips in driver’s licenses, Medicare identification cards and other federal and state documents. Civil rights advocates find the possibilities alarming.

“What we’re talking about here is that readers could be in all sorts of places —above a doorway or hidden within the décor of the room. Hand-held readers are available on the market that are as small as a palm pilot,” states the ACLU’s Ozer. “Imagine being at a political rally, a doctor’s office, or walking down the street and being read. The issue here is not knowing when your information is being read or by whom.”

Ozer and others see good reason to be concerned should RFID technology be put to use by one of the most secretive administrations in the nation’s history. Political activists - as well as citizens simply exercising their constitutional rights - are being tracked to a degree not seen since J. Edgar Hoover’s day. Now, instead of videotaping political rallies from afar or relying on informants, undercover officers can move through a crowd, identifying and collecting information on participants by reading their RFID chips. Government access to other readers in the public and private sectors would allow police to “track” where individuals travel, shop, eat and sleep.

This is not simply lefty paranoia. In California, legislators gave up on a bill when parents expressed outrage about tagging children as young as five with RFID the way ranchers tag their livestock. Even some federal government officials are alarmed over RFID’s potential impacts on privacy and security.

“We hear a lot from the RFID industry that it can only be read from a short distance. Congress asked the Government Accounting Office to research privacy and security concerns when RFID was being considered for passports,” states Ozer. “The Government Accounting Office found some of these chips could be read as far as 30 feet away. The Government Accounting Office is hardly a hotbed of radicals but they are sounding the privacy and security alarms.”

With RFID there’s more than Big Brother to worry about.

Your identity or your life ...

In the information age, identity theft is eclipsing all other types of theft at an alarming rate. In 2002, an estimated 10 million Americans — 5 percent of the adult population — were victims of identity theft according to the Federal Trade Commission. Corporations spend millions each year to outsmart high-tech thieves using credit card numbers extracted from dumpsters and elsewhere to run up millions of dollars of illegal transactions. Many lawmakers, consumer groups and civil liberties advocates believe introducing RFID into driver’s licenses and other commonly carried documents will only accelerate the identity theft crime wave.

A burglar break-in at home at least leaves evidence that a crime occurred, and oftentimes enough evidence to identify the criminal. As the RFID network proliferates, however, RFID chips in driver’s licenses, clothing and elsewhere may be read dozens of times without your knowledge. How do you catch someone when you don’t know where or when critical RFID data was read by the criminal cleaning out your savings account or maxing out your credit cards?

“We think it’s going to make identify theft problems even worse,” states Oregon ACLU’s Fidanque. “The technology is so available and easy to buy that anyone could steal your identity. It would be almost impossible to stop identity theft with RFID.”

DMV: Where the rubber hits the road

Regardless of whether RFID becomes part of the Real ID Act, the new law is going to have a tremendous impact on how local departments of motor vehicles perform their jobs. It is also going to cost a great deal of money to implement — the vast majority of which must come from already strapped state budgets.

Under the provisions of the Real ID Act, state DMV's are required to demand a whole new list of documents from license applicants and then be responsible for determining that the documents provided are valid. States like Oregon have gone a long way towards making it possible to carry out most DMV transactions by mail or minimize the number of times applicants must visit field offices. Now, applicants will need to go to the office with a growing stack of identification papers in hand and possibly make return trips as the DMV validates those documents. According to a 2005 ACLU survey of motor vehicle administrators, same-day licensing may now become a thing of the past, replaced with a process that takes weeks — longer if there’s problems with the submitted documents. That means more staff, more expense and more lost hours for people who just want to get their license renewed.

The real horror story is the standardized data collection and storage using common technology that links all DMV databases to the federal system. A decade ago, Oregonians watched several million tax dollars go up in smoke when the DMV tried to revamp its computer system. This time, new systems will not only need to link with other states, but must store vast new amounts of data ranging from birth certificates to social security records. That means making changes at the most basic levels such as enlarging the number of spaces within a field for last names from 10 to 100, for example, a simple change that sets off a chain reaction of other changes that must be made throughout the system. Keep in mind, there is no existing software capable of doing what the Real ID Act wants. Most states will need to start fresh rather than modify existing programs.

The expanded system will need more security since successful hackers will hit a data mother lode. Internal security will also need upgrades to deal with corrupt DMV employees who previously sold fake driver’s licenses but can now offer an array of identity documents.

How much will this cost taxpayers? None of the Real ID Act’s 140 sponsors have a clue. Passed as an unfunded mandate, Congress allocated only $100 million to help states transition. Motor vehicle administrators say that figure is totally inadequate and most likely would not even cover the cost of hiring more personnel to handle the increased workload.

Most states expect the new law to cost a lot. Washington believes it will cost $251 million over the next five years. Virginia’s estimate for the same time period is $232 million. At that rate, the cost for all 50 states would be an estimated $9.1 billion to $12.8 billion according to the ACLU. It is no surprise that opponents call the Real ID Act a hidden security tax on Americans — a tax imposed without proper congressional deliberation.

Standing up to Homeland Security

Real ID Act opposition began forming almost as soon as President Bush signed the bill into law last May. Many states are already developing legislation that attempts to sharply curtail the more Orwellian aspects of Real ID. California has several bills working through its legislature, as does Washington. At the agency level, 82 percent of motor vehicle administrators say the new law will greatly increase operational costs and should be rethought, according to the ACLU survey. A growing number of civil liberties, consumer, social justice and other groups are joining the opposition.

Unfortunately, Oregon is not one of the centers of strong resistance to the looming Real ID shadow. In fact, Oregon’s government doesn’t seem much concerned or even informed. Part of the problem is that Homeland Security hasn’t yet written rules providing the details to implement the Real ID Act.

“We’ve begun to plan for the parts we know but there’s a lot more questions than answers at this point,” states David House, Oregon DMV spokesperson.

House notes that the act requires states to prove citizenship of license-holders, but hasn’t spelled out how to do so. He also points out that there is no existing system to verify birth certificates.

“There’s not a lot we can do yet,” House states. “There’s a system to verify social security numbers. That’s cheap. There’s one for alien identification card numbers. But there’s no doubt we’re talking about a billion dollar project.”

As for RFID, House had no comment since he was unaware of the issue.

The governor’s office seems to be lacking awareness as well. Anna Richard Taylor, a member of Gov. Kulongoski’s communications office, stated she was not prepared to give any substantive answers but would call the Alliance back once she had checked with the governor. As this issue goes to press, there has been no additional word from the governor’s office about how he intends to comply with Real ID and how he intends to pay for it.

Which is not to say the governor isn’t trying to comply with Real ID. He has already been moving along a similar track. Under his instructions, DMV is already looking at centralizing its database system and its operations. The legislature passed a bill last session calling for biometric identifiers on Oregon licenses that could be used with facial recognition software, a process similar to fingerprint matching. According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology and other federal agencies that have studied such software, the technology is experimental and highly inaccurate. Recognition drops dramatically after only a few months. That, not a joint letter last August from the ACLU of Oregon and several organizations representing Latinos, has not deterred our bowling governor from moving forward.

That means the primary burden of stopping the Real ID Act and all its awful ramifications falls in the lap of the people, particularly those most effected by the new law. The challenge may not be as daunting as it appears. The ability of the Bushadministration to carry through any comprehensive program seems to be deteriorating at a rapid rate — does anyone seriously talk about the president’s Social Security reform? At the state level, Kulongoski’s lackluster administration and growing number of challengers in the upcoming primary has already damaged him. Alienating large and disparate blocks of voters with an election coming is less than wise. Finally, this is an issue that is cutting across all sorts of political lines, bringing together civil liberty advocates, conservatives, progressives, communities of color and others. With that and a little luck, American may avoid having to answer whether their papers are in order.

Dave Mazza is editor of The Portland Alliance