Privacy Digest

Worcester Telegram & Gazette News: "A new federal antiterrorism program, aimed at setting up nationally linked computer databases in every state with information on personal ID cards and higher-security driver's licenses, is running into opposition from states, including Massachusetts. Officials here say it would be expensive for the state, inconvenient for residents, may fail to improve security and would launch a black market for fake IDs.

The Real ID Act, passed by Congress in 2005 and signed by President Bush, requires all U.S. residents without a passport to obtain a new state-issued type of driver's license or ID card in order to board commercial airplanes, enter federal buildings, get Social Security benefits or get into other federal government programs, starting next May.

Because residents of states that do not adopt the new high security licenses would be barred from boarding airplanes or accessing government programs, the controversy is developing into a major state-federal standoff. The act's draft comment period ends Tuesday.

State Sen. Richard T. Moore, D-Uxbridge, has filed a bill seeking to stop implementation of the Real ID Act here, and Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley also has come out in opposition, saying the measure would create a false sense of security, create a lucrative black market for fake 'Real IDs' and pose major new risks of identity theft.

Mr. Moore said the law would 'create a huge bureaucratic nightmare and a nightmare for the traveling public,' starting next May.

In January, the Maine State Legislature adopted a bill refusing to participate. Some 20 other states are considering legislation to either block participation, delay implementation or seek revisions in the federal law. Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security advanced the program further last month, issuing regulations to implement the Real ID program next spring. "

(Read Original Article - Via Worcester Telegram & Gazette News.)