Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Obama's DHS Secretary opposes Real ID

From the NYTimes (By MATTHEW L. WALD):

As governor of Arizona, Janet Napolitano, President-elect Barack Obama’s choice for homeland security secretary, pledged that her state would not cooperate with a major domestic security initiative, the Real ID drivers’ license program.

Based on what I know of the program, I oppose the Real ID act because I don't see the need for Big Brother knowing what I'm doing. The unfunded mandate aspect is a secondary issue to me.

Tim White

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

She's no libertarian. She's a squish on border security. A swell choice to head DHS.

Tim, you make so much sense for awhile and then you go back to undiluted Ron Paul whiskey. Real ID is meant to prevent identity theft. Which is sorta important to deal with, ya think?

Anonymous said...

ID theft is a very big deal... both from a financial perspective and from a "headache" perspective.

A few years ago I had problems because I had "declared bankruptcy." Funny thing is, I didn't recall declaring bankruptcy... and I'm guessing that's something that I woulda remembered.

To make a long story short... I was told it is not uncommon for court clerks to type social security numbers into the record with typos. And it was too bad for me that this clerk's typo became my SS#. Very annoying and my problem was just a mistake... no criminal wrongdoing. I still wonder from time to time if I'll need to deal with this again ever.

I agree, ID theft is a big deal. But Real ID requires me to trust the government with my information. And while I don't think Bush or Obama have any nefarious plans to use my information... my concern is the future. 100 years from now, will those people be trustworthy?

I haven't studied Real ID or any alternatives though. And I'm not voting on this stuff, so I'm not researching it either. I just don't care for the concept of big brother watching me.