What is the Real ID Act? And why are so many Freedom Loving Americans opposing it? (including more and more ANTI sites)

More and more ANTI sites are opposing the SAVE ACT due to its e-Verify-RealID provisions. The latest site defines the details of the RealID Act. Click here and then on "What Is ´Real ID´for the details.

Let us sum up the provisions of the Real ID Act:

1. All state-issued driver's licenses and non-driver ID shall include a "biometric parameter," commonly understood to mean fingerprints, from at least two of the identified person's fingers. This will result in a dramatic increase in the number of people fingerprinted and in the size of computerized fingerprint databases. Currently, fingerprinting is common in conjunction with arrests, as well as for certain forms of employment, but is not usually required for a driver's license.
2. All of the above-mentioned documents are to include a "common machine-readable technology," understood to mean that the cards will be swipe-able like a credit card, and that all of the information encoded on the card would be available to the owner of the card-reading machine. The legislation itself does not specify whether only government agencies or private persons such as bar owners checking the age of patrons would have access to the encoded data, but "common" does imply that the authorities in California would be able to read licenses from New York, so the card-reading machines would have to be pretty generic. The Department of Homeland Security is pushing for the introduction of RFID chips, also known as "proximity chips," into licenses and ID cards, which enable anyone with the right instrument to read the card while it is still in its owner's pocket. The Digimarc Corporation has already sold systems for "contactless" smart card driver's licenses to North Carolina and other states. Digimarc touts the smart card licenses for their ability to be scanned by border authorities on the Mexican and Canadian side, more or less the way tolls are paid via Easy Pass at bridges and tunnels, at quite a distance.

3. In order to obtain a driver's license, a real geographical address will have to be provided, not a post office box. This will essentially bar homeless people (or people whose home is their car) from obtaining licenses.

4. The Real ID Act requires states to link the databases of information on their issued IDs into a national database and to share this data with Federal law enforcement officials, as well as those from other states, and from Canada and Mexico.
5. Real ID includes several provisions that do not pertain to identification at all, but to immigration policy. One of these deprives state and local authorities of the right to use their own zoning or eminent domain provisions to interfere with the building of the border fence that is intended to hinder illegal immigration. Another allows the Department of Homeland Security to arbitrarily define the meaning of the word "terrorist" when deciding who shall and shall not be allowed to enter the country. This provision will probably be used to restrict the ability of non-citizens opposed to U.S. policies on a whole range of issues to travel in and out of the country, effectively cutting off the free exchange of information on those issues.

USID LEGEND: 1. USID number = SS #; 2. Optical Memory Strip (like small CD) for digitized fingerprints and personal information; 3. Photograph; 4. Smart Card Technology (the card can perform data manipulation and run cryptographic algorithms, include medical history but could include travel history, education, work histories, other histories); 5. Internal Memory Strip (A high-capacity device could store rich biometric data such as several fingerprints, iris scans, face scans, heartbeat characteristics, or DNA sequences); 6. 2-D Bar Code: This low-tech info coding could be used by officials who don't have more sophisticated optical reading devices.

DeWeese letter to Beck: "Just Say NO to SAVE Act!" (Even the ANTIs Agree!)

An open letter from famous ANTI Leader Tom DeWeese (American Policy Center) to famous ANTI Leader Roy Beck (NumbersUSA) advocates "Just Say NO to the SAVE Act!" As I have shared, and as DeWeese explains, we ALL lose our Civil Liberties if this heinous Act is passed.

AMERICAN POLICY CENTER OPPOSES S.A.V.E. ACT

Dear Roy,

As we agreed during our conference call in December, I want to fulfill on my obligation to address our concerns with Sections 201, (Mandatory Employment Authorization Verification through the E-Verify System) and 203 (Establishment of Electronic Birth and Death Registration Systems) of the SAVE Act (Secure America Through Verification and Enforcement Act. H.R. 4088) ...The question of whether a National ID is good or bad is really a question of who is the predator and who is the prey. In the case of illegal immigration clearly those of us who want to rid the nation of illegals are the predators. So it is easy to support such means to rid us of this threat. Some of us may even take pride in being able to "show our papers" to prove "we are American citizens." It's pretty compelling - until the same system is used to make us the prey. That is my fear, and that is why I oppose any excuse to create even a small piece of a National ID databank system. Like you, I certainly have political enemies. Someday I will certainly be the prey.

Once begun, even for an honorable purpose, how can the system be controlled? Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff has said, "Again, eventually, this might allow us to do double-duty or triple duty, have the same license also be used to cross the border, and be used for a whole host of other purposes where you now have to carry different identification." Could it be that those other purposes won't match what you are hoping to accomplish? Could it be that once such a system is in place it will be out of our control?
Congressional testimony by Professor Ben Shneiderman of the University of Maryland explains in great detail the problems inherent in trying to integrate existing data banks as a means to guarantee identification.
"While most proposals have been well intentioned, some have been misguided in that they overlook the potential for unintended consequences or underestimate the technical challenges and risks inherent in their implementation." Professor Shneiderman, an expert in human-computer interaction, went on to say: "A national ID system requires a complex integration of social and technical systems, including humans to enter and verify data, plus hardware, software and networks to store and transmit. Such socio-technical systems are always vulnerable to error, breakdown, sabotage and destruction by natural events or by people with malicious intentions.

For this reason, the creation of a single system of identification could unintentionally result in degrading the overall safety and security of the nation, because of the unrealistic trust in the efficacy of the technology... The fact is the Real ID Act is not going to just help create a NATIONAL ID, instead it is helping to create an INTERNATIONAL Biometric ID Card. The world is being enrolled into a single global biometric ID system through documents purported to establish and authenticate identity - passports, driver's license Social Security card and others. On March 1, 2007 REAL ID's "Notice of Proposed Rulemaking" was issued, revealing REAL ID's global biometric connection. The three main entities driving this system are: The Department of Homeland Security, The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, (AAMVA) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). ..Together, DHS, AAMVA and ICAO are fulfilling the three elements necessary for a global biometric system. The fact is, whether it is your intention or not, by including Sections 201 and 203 into the SAVE Act, you are aiding this international ID effort. This won’t increase security, but rather prepare us for a tyranny unknown in human history. ..

Freedom is a difficult concept to retain. We live in dangerous times indeed and we must be very careful in our actions as we seek to achieve certain goals. Just because the technology exists, does not mean that it is the solution to our problem. Nor does its existence require us to use it, especially if such use will make this or other problems worse. This is the case with integrating unrelated, and poorly verified data bases which always has unintended consequences. I believe Sections 201 and 203 of the SAVE Act are helping to create parts of a matrix that will lead to a National ID system which will destroy our liberty. Those are the very liberties you see as threatened by illegal immigration. Illegal immigration can be stopped - but if allowed to start, a National ID will be forever. In such a system today's predators will be tomorrow's prey.
For these reasons, the American Policy Center and others are now prepared to resume our fight to oppose the SAVE Act.

The Road to Dystopia! Another Reason to SAY NO to the SAVE ACT!

This is one amazing op-ed! All in a nutshell! This New York Times article tells the story of WHY we should not be forcing BAD IMMIGRATION BILLS and instead opt for Comprehensive Immigration Reform!

The Road to Dystopia!

The search for a silver bullet to slay illegal immigration continues. Hard-liners are turning the country upside down looking for it. They are looking in Washington, where Senate Republicans last week offered more than a dozen bills to further enshrine mass deportation as the national immigration strategy. It is a grab bag of enforcement measures that will be useful for tough-talking campaign commercials, but will not actually solve anything. Republicans and some Democrats in the House are trying to force a vote on a bad bill called the SAVE Act, which among other things would force all workers, including citizens, to prove they have a right to earn a living — a bad idea compounded by the notoriously bad state of federal government records. The error rate in just one database, the Social Security Administration’s, is believed to be more than 4 percent, making it likely that many thousands of Americans would face unjust firings and discrimination, and waste a lot of time and effort trying to clear their names.
The harsh-enforcement virus has spread far beyond the Capitol. In states like Oklahoma, laws have been enacted to force illegal immigrants further underground, off official registries and into anonymity, by denying them identification like driver’s licenses. In a growing number of states and counties, politicians are offering up police officers to the federal government for immigration posses. From Prince William County, Va., to Maricopa County, Ariz., officers who pull people over for minor traffic infractions are checking immigration papers, too. Many law-enforcement professionals say this is reckless and self-defeating, because it sends a deep, silencing chill into immigrant communities. Citizens and legal residents will inevitably be hassled for looking Latino. And it is expensive; Prince William’s new law is expected to cost $26 million over five years, plus a few million more to outfit police cars with cameras, as a hedge against lawsuits.
Maybe some people do not mind that immigration zealotry is sending the country down a path of far greater intrusion into citizens’ lives, into a world of ingrained suspicion, routine discrimination and economic disruption. Is that what we want — to make the immigration system tougher without fixing it? To make illegal immigrants suffer without any hope of ever becoming legal, because that is amnesty? Could it be that tightening the screws relentlessly on illegal immigrants, even if some citizens suffer in the process, is all for the greater good? Which is — what exactly? To drive a large cohort of workers out of a sputtering economy? To take more people off the books? To prop up the under-the-table businesses that inevitably evade such crackdowns? To worsen wages and working conditions for all Americans, since nobody works more cheaply and takes more abuse than a terrified, desperate immigrant? (the author of this op-ed is a genius!!! He spelled out the core issues in a nutshell!!)
This is a country that runs on routine amnesties. Where would the courts be without plea bargains, or state budgets without periodic tax forgiveness? Are illegal immigrants the one class of undesirables for whom common sense, proportionality, discernment, good judgment and compassion are unthinkable?
It is frightening to think that this country’s answer could be an emphatic yes.

Note: Dystopia - a dystopian (ANTI) society’s dreams of improvement are overshadowed by STIMULATING FALSE FEARS of the supposedly “ugly consequences of present-day reality”.

Even ANTIs say NO to SAVE (Gestapo) Act!

More Reasons to Just Say NO to SAVE ACT (Gestapo Bill). Even ANTI´s agree:

AMERICAN POLICY CENTER OPPOSES S.A.V.E. ACT
By Tom DeWeese February 24, 2008 NewsWithViews.com February 22, 2008
Mr. Roy Beck Numbers USA 1601 N. Kent Street Suite 1100 Arlington, Virginia 22209 Dear Roy: As we agreed during our conference call in December, I want to fulfill on my obligation to address our concerns with Sections 201, (Mandatory Employment Authorization Verification through the E-Verify System) and 203 (Establishment of Electronic Birth and Death Registration Systems) of the SAVE Act (Secure America Through Verification and Enforcement Act. H.R. 4088) ...Our differences are in the need for government data banks which snare all Americans in their nets in order to find the few law breakers. I fully accept your claim that you aren't interested in creating a National ID. I accept that your motivation is to protect this country. However, I think that in your zeal to achieve those goals you are helping to create that very National ID system. Freedom is a very difficult thing to protect. I suppose the definition of freedom can be twisted to accept anything in its name. Many believe that freedom means being safe. Many now believe that creating a national matrix to document our every movement is freedom. A very wise friend of mine just related a bit of a parable to me that I think puts the situation well into perspective. She asked me this question: Do you know why Zebras have stripes? My answer was - for camouflage. She said, do you see black and white in the landscape of Africa? The stripes don't blend in. The fact is, when a lion (the predator) seeks to capture a Zebra (the prey) he focuses on one animal from the herd, chasing it down until it drops from exhaustion. When a herd of Zebras runs to get away from the lion, the stripes make it absolutely impossible to focus on just one animal. Therefore the lions can't detach just one from the herd. The stripes are the Zebra's protection. It would be to the great advantage of the lion to have a system to focus on one Zebra - a chip, an ID card, some way to break it from the herd. On the other hand, it would be a great disadvantage to the Zebra to have such a system of identification. The question of whether a National ID is good or bad is really a question of who is the predator and who is the prey. In the case of illegal immigration clearly those of us who want to rid the nation of illegals are the predators. So it is easy to support such means to rid us of this threat. Some of us may even take pride in being able to "show our papers" to prove "we are American citizens." It's pretty compelling - until the same system is used to make us the prey. That is my fear, and that is why I oppose any excuse to create even a small piece of a National ID databank system. Like you, I certainly have political enemies. Someday I will certainly be the prey. Once begun, even for an honorable purpose, how can the system be controlled? Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff has said, "Again, eventually, this might allow us to do double-duty or triple duty, have the same license also be used to cross the border, and be used for a whole host of other purposes where you now have to carry different identification." Could it be that those other purposes won't match what you are hoping to accomplish? Could it be that once such a system is in place it will be out of our control? Congressional testimony by Professor Ben Shneiderman of the University of Maryland explains in great detail the problems inherent in trying to integrate existing data banks as a means to guarantee identification. "While most proposals have been well intentioned, some have been misguided in that they overlook the potential for unintended consequences or underestimate the technical challenges and risks inherent in their implementation." Professor Shneiderman, an expert in human-computer interaction, went on to say: "A national ID system requires a complex integration of social and technical systems, including humans to enter and verify data, plus hardware, software and networks to store and transmit. Such socio-technical systems are always vulnerable to error, breakdown, sabotage and destruction by natural events or by people with malicious intentions. For this reason, the creation of a single system of identification could unintentionally result in degrading the overall safety and security of the nation, because of the unrealistic trust in the efficacy of the technology... We must ask whether there is now a secure database that consists of 300 million individual records that can be accessed in real time? The government agencies which come close are the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration, neither of which are capable of maintaining a network that is widely accessible and responsive to voluminous queries on a 24 hour by 7 days a week basis." No matter how much we may desire a quick, easy solution to deal with the issue of illegal immigration; no matter how well intentioned we may be to enforce tough laws to make it happen, sometimes such actions are worse than the problem they seek to solve. So it is with using federal data banks to establish "verifiable" Identification. Moreover, the E-Verify System is not designed, nor ready for the massive accessibility required to meet the requirements of Section 201. The SS data bank is dirty. And it was not created for the purpose of authenticating citizenship. But you argue that the E-Verify System is already in existence and therefore not helping to create a National ID Card. Consider this congressional testimony by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC): "Under the newly announced changes, the Department of Homeland Security will (1) greatly expand E-Verify, (2) raise fines against employers by 25 percent, (3) increasingly use criminal action against employers, as opposed to administrative action, (4) add to the numbers of databases E-Verify checks by including visa and passport databases, (5) ask states to "voluntarily" allow DHS access to their motor vehicle databases, and (6) use an "enhanced photograph capability" that will allow employers to check photographs in E-Verify databases. These do not resolve the many problems already in E-Verify; instead, the Department of Homeland Security has made the employment eligibility verification worse." The fact is the Real ID Act is not going to just help create a NATIONAL ID, instead it is helping to create an INTERNATIONAL Biometric ID Card. The world is being enrolled into a single global biometric ID system through documents purported to establish and authenticate identity - passports, driver's license Social Security card and others. On March 1, 2007 REAL ID's "Notice of Proposed Rulemaking" was issued, revealing REAL ID's global biometric connection. The three main entities driving this system are: The Department of Homeland Security, The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, (AAMVA) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). AAMVA is an international association of motor vehicle and law enforcement officials and is responsible for international biometric driver's license ID card standards and an international information sharing agreement. ICAO monitors travelers, designed biometric "e-passports" required for "Visa Waiver Nations" and is affiliated with the United Nations. Together, DHS, AAMVA and ICAO are fulfilling the three elements necessary for a global biometric system. The fact is, whether it is your intention or not, by including Sections 201 and 203 into the SAVE Act, you are aiding this international ID effort. This wont increase security, but rather prepare us for a tyranny unknown in human history. I believe that you are honestly trying to create a method by which Identification can be verified. However, it appears you have accepted the premise that the Driver's License is the proper means of identification. In fact it is not. The driver's license is strictly an authorization to drive on American streets and should stay that way. To enforce an ID through DMVs means empowering a hoard of state government employees who were never supposed to have such power, allowing them access to information they aren't supposed to have and in so doing, creating a false sense of security that simply isn't valid. In order to protect the privacy of the American people it is essential that we decouple identification from driver's licenses. The only proper government entity specifically designed to have such information and responsibility is the U.S. Department of State. It alone should have the responsibility to create documents that establish and authenticate identity and that monitor and permit border crossings. And that is really what we are talking about here - border crossings, legal or illegal. In fact, the State Department is now developing a new passport "card" that possibly could be used to satisfy citizen status that you seek under SAVE. It is less than a full passport and it comes in a wallet size that could be easily carried just as the driver's license. While it is true that the Card contains an RFID chip (not to our liking) the chip contains no personal information - only a unique number linking the card to stored records contained in secured government databases. The passport Card currently is not valid for flying, but that could be fixed. I don't specifically advocate use of such a card for many of the same reasons argued here. But, if we are determined to go down the road of government documentation of American citizens, then something on the lines of the passport Card is preferable to creating a vast new system through state DMVs, as long as its purpose is very narrow and strictly enforced so as not to be expanded for secondary uses. ...We are being given a false choice in the immigration war. We are being told that we must sacrifice freedom so that we may have order and security. It's simply not a true choice. As Katherine Albrecht, author of the book "Spychips" wrote, "One of the most surveilled people in history were the Soviets under communist rule. During Stalin's decades-long reign of terror and the KGB era that followed, government agents could intercept and read mail, listen in on phone calls, and plant informants to probe their neighbors' political views and assess their loyalty to the state. The surveillance was near complete, but did the watchful eye of the state keep the Soviet people safe? Hardly. It seems no coincidence that history's most watchful regime was also one of its most deadly. Between 1917 and 1987, the Soviet government killed over 60 million of its own citizens - more than any other government in the 20th Century." Freedom is a difficult concept to retain. We live in dangerous times indeed and we must be very careful in our actions as we seek to achieve certain goals. Just because the technology exists, does not mean that it is the solution to our problem. Nor does its existence require us to use it, especially if such use will make this or other problems worse. This is the case with integrating unrelated, and poorly verified data bases which always has unintended consequences. I believe Sections 201 and 203 of the SAVE Act are helping to create parts of a matrix that will lead to a National ID system which will destroy our liberty. Those are the very liberties you see as threatened by illegal immigration. Illegal immigration can be stopped - but if allowed to start, a National ID will be forever. In such a system today's predators will be tomorrow's prey. For these reasons, the American Policy Center and others are now prepared to resume our fight to oppose the SAVE Act.

ANTIs In Congress To FORCE Introduction of SAVE ACT (GESTAPO Bill)

As I predicted the ANTIs in Congress are getting ready to push the heinous and misnamed SAVE (GESTAPO) Act. (read about the Gestapo Bill-Save Act here).

John Tanton´s ANTI Group Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) has published this report indicating they will attempt subversive measures in order to FORCE the heinous SAVE Act to be introduced before Congress:

Congress May Debate SAVE Act Legislation Soon
Tuesday, supporters of the SAVE Act (H.R.4088) filed a discharge petition in the House of Representatives in an attempt to force a vote on the House floor. The SAVE Act, introduced by Congressman Heath Shuler (D-NC) is an enforcement-only immigration reform bill that, among other things, mandates that employers verify the work eligibility of new hires by using the E-verify system. As introduced, the SAVE Act has 141 cosponsors, 93 Republicans and 48 Democrats. If at least 218 Representatives sign on to the discharge petition,it will be enough to force the SAVE Act directly to the House floor for a vote. By Tuesday evening, Representative Thelma Drake (R-VA) who introduced the petition, had collected 135 signatures: 128 from Republicans, and seven from Democrats. (CQ Today, March 11, 2008) As of Wednesday afternoon, House staff has informed FAIR that the discharge petition has received 150 signatures. According to CQ Today, party leaders disagree as to whether the discharge petition will be successful. "I think some of those Democrats will sign. But there was a lot of pressure on Democrats not to sign," said House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO). He added that "the next few weeks, when members will be home for spring recess, will be crucial." But Democratic leaders seemed skeptical, saying they doubted Republicans would be able to get all 198 Republicans to sign on. Without unity with in the Republican party, they argued, the question of Democratic signatures would be moot. (CQ Today, March 11, 2008)
Read the full Legislative Update

Note to Readers: A number of ANTI websites including FAIR, NumbersUSA, Alipac.us and others are providing their members (blind followers) free fax and form letters for emails. They are being asked to mass call and deluge Congress´emails and faxes. The ANTI sites are keeping track and hounding all Congress members who have not signed on. Here is an example of what the ANTI sites are saying. READ HERE

Update: email from Roy Beck to followers:

DEAR FRIENDS, Our allies in Congress are asking you to make phone calls before 7 p.m. EDT this afternoon to keep open an incredible window of opportunity in the fight against illegal immigration. Members of the House go home this evening. We need as many as possible to sign the Discharge Petition to create the right kind of momentum during the upcoming two-week recess. Read below about the phone calls most needed this afternoon. Can you believe it? Since Tuesday, 168 Members of the U.S. House have signed the Discharge Petition to go around House leadership and force a vote on H.R. 4088, the SAVE Act by Rep. Shuler (D-N.C.). That leaves us only 50 to go! The SAVE Act would, within 4 years, remove nearly all illegal aliens from legitimate U.S. jobs! Nothing is more important in the fight against illegal immigration. Although Discharge Petitions rarely succeed, and although the DC media are writing that we will fail, we know from past experience that we have the ability to create so much constituency pressure that political miracles often occur. Your phone calls and faxes already this week are the chief reason for getting to 168. But these last 50 are going to be much harder to get. PLEASE GO TO YOUR NumbersUSA Action Buffet at www.NumbersUSA.com/actionbuffet right now and use the phone and fax notes to add fuel to the fire on the Hill before the Members of the House go home.