Is REAL ID a Threat?

Civil libertarians have been up in arms about the new REAL ID law that was passed by Congress with little debate in 2005. Thus far, many states have revolted against the REAL ID requirements and the Department of Homeland Security has given every state in the country an extension from the original May 11 deadline until the end of 2009, whether they requested it or not.

Civil Libertarians have raised a wide variety of objections to the bill, which would require state issued IDs to meet certain standards to be accepted for “federal purposes,” such as boarding an airplane, entering a federal courthouse or going into a nuclear power plant. State IDs would be required to have your home address and other personal information such as name and birthday on them, both in printed form and in a barcode on the back. States have to ensure that people who get IDs are legal citizens or residents and require documentation to prove that applicants are not illegal immigrants. States are also required to verify the source documents that applicants use to prove their identity through federal databases and to meet security standards to offices that issue IDs and databases that hold ID information.