PUBLIC COMMENT ON DHS-2006-0030, "Minimum Standards for Driver's Licenses and
Identification Cards Acceptable by Federal Agencies for Official Purposes"
28 April 2007

The REAL ID Act does not represent the will of the people, or even the explicit
will of Congress.  It became law only because it was attached to a must-pass
supplemental appropriations bill.

If the REAL ID Act is implemented, it will compel state motor vehicle
departments to become de facto extensions of the federal immigration service.
By denying driving licences to undocumented immigrants, it will increase the
numbers of uninsured drivers.

Most frighteningly, the REAL ID Act's requirements for data standardisation and
data sharing will lay the groundwork for a national identification card that
will become required for travel by air, rail or road, much like the internal
passports issued by the old Soviet Union.  (The existing National Driver
Register / Problem Driver Pointer System and Commercial Driver's License
Information System do not constitute precedents for this level of
centralisation, since these existing systems pertain only to the operation
of a motor vehicle, and not to travel and identity in general.)

Furthermore, identity theft will be simplified since all of an individual's
records will be tied to a single identifying document.

For all these reasons, the REAL ID Act should not be implemented.