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Monday, August 25, 2008

REAL ID: CONNECTING THE DOTS TO AN INTERNATIONAL ID


History offers many examples of societies which have sought to increase security by sacrificing freedom. America itself provides many pertinent instances. However, our founding fathers have not left us without wisdom on this issue. Ben Franklin has famously stated, "People willing to trade freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both." REAL ID undoubtedly exemplifies a scenario in which a difficult tension exists between freedom and security. By commandeering every state's driver's license issuing process, REAL ID threatens the results warned by Franklin - loss of both freedom and security. It has become the biometric enrollment phase of a plan to implement a terribly invasive tracking system, largely without public knowledge or approval. REAL ID is merely the current face of a far larger, international government and private economic effort to collect, store, and distribute the sensitive biometric data of citizens to use for the twin purposes of government tracking and economic control. At issue are much more than standardized or non-duplicative driver's licenses. This effort extends worldwide, threatening every person alive today. Although very legitimate security concerns exist in this age of terrorism, this Act extends far beyond terrorism prevention or protection of the innocent. Keeping that broad picture in mind, let us move to some background behind the face of REAL ID implementation in America.

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