[Infowarrior] - Vermont accepts the other REAL ID

[Richard Forno]

ermont accepts the other REAL ID
By Michael Hampton
Posted: August 22, 2007 7:28 pm
http://www.homelandstupidity.us/2007/08/22/vermont-accepts-the-other-real-id
/

The state of Vermont has partnered with the Department of Homeland Security
to develop a new driver license document which will be accepted in lieu of a
passport for border crossings, the department announced Tuesday.

Following the lead of Washington state, which announced plans earlier this
year to develop a secure identification card which would be acceptable for
land border crossing under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, Vermont
plans to have the licenses available by the end of 2008. Residents would
have to provide proof of identity and citizenship and pay an extra fee, not
yet announced, for the card.

³I applaud the leadership of the state of Vermont who came forward to join
us in our effort to bolster security through secure identification,² said
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. ³This partnership helps us
strike the right balance between security and facilitation, incorporating
21st century technology and innovation.²

That¹s right; it was apparently Vermont¹s idea to join the national ID
program.

Next summer, people returning to the U.S. will be required to present a
passport or other proof of citizenship approved by the Department of
Homeland Security under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. The
requirement has already taken effect for people returning by air, leading to
months-long backlogs in passport applications.

In the Washington state pilot, the driver license/border crossing cards will
contain RFID chips readable from as much as 30 feet away. Though the chips
contain only a single number referencing a DHS database entry, the
technology could be used by terrorists to pick Americans out of a crowd.

But DHS spokeswoman Laura Keehner said that the specific technology to be
used in the Vermont card has yet to be determined.

    DHS has not determined whether the Vermont passport will be using the
same radio frequency identification tag technology as in Washington State¹s
hybrid driver¹s license/border crossing card, Keenher said.

    Washington State officials have said they will place on the cards
Generation 2 RFID tags that can be scanned at 30 feet. Critics also contend
those types of RFID tags cannot be encrypted and can be easily cloned. To
protect privacy, DHS and Washington State have said the RFID tag will
transmit wirelessly only a reference number, which must be matched to a
database to obtain personal information. DHS is planning to use a similar
technology in its People Access Security Services identification card to be
created for people who frequently cross the borders.

    For Vermont, the technology decisions for the identification card are
not yet final, Keehner said. ³We are still determining the technology,² she
said. ³We are working together to finalize those details.² ‹ Washington
Technology

³I¹m pleased we will be able to provide this more reasonable option for
Vermonters who travel frequently to Canada,² Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas said
in a statement. ³As we move forward with this innovative project, we must
continue to include our northern neighbors whose economic and security
interests are linked directly to our own.²

Douglas spokesman Jason Gibbs said the governor is pushing for Quebec to
adopt similar identification for Québécois visitors to the U.S.

DHS spokesman Russ Knocke said that the secure licenses would ³take that use
of fake IDs off the table for terrorists, as well as for other criminals.²

It doesn¹t, of course, take identity theft off the table. Today, identity
theft is easier than ever, and this sort of ³secure² document will make it
even more attractive to terrorists and other criminals.

For the moment, as in Washington, the new Vermont ID and passport card is
voluntary. But it, like REAL ID, lays the groundwork for nationally
standardized identification documents which everyone may eventually be
required to carry at all times. And like all bad government programs, it
will cause additional expense for ordinary people through duplication of
effort with the REAL ID program, and will make people who accept it even
less secure. The only thing made secure by this program, and others like it,
is the government ‹ secure from We the People.