Goodbye Privacy... Hello REAL ID

Posted by Kate Luther Mar 6, 2007

If you haven't already heard about the REAL ID Act, you will. Set to go into effect in 2008, the REAL ID Act authorizes the Department of Homeland Security to require all states to comply with a national ID system. This system will feature a card that contains your usual name, address and birthdate along with some form of biometric data for identification and a "common machine-readable technology" such as RFID chips.

This means your information - ALL of your information - will be contained in this one little card. The government has said that the national ID card is voluntary, therefore it doesn't violate any privacy rights guaranteed by the Constitution. But if you don't comply? You can't open a bank account, drive a car, board a plane, collect social security... and the list just goes on and on.

Want to see the potential of the REAL ID Act? Click here to read more and check out this video on YouTube.