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Maine lawmakers on Thursday became the first in the nation to demand repeal of a federal law tightening identification requirements for drivers' licenses, a post-September 11 security measure that states say will cost them billions of dollars to administer. Maine lawmakers passed a resolution urging repeal of the Real ID Act, which would create a national digital identification system by 2008. The lawmakers said it would cost Maine about $185 million, fail to boost security and put people at greater risk of identity theft. Maine's resolution is the strongest stand yet by a state against the law, which Congress passed...

Maine overwhelmingly rejected federal requirements for national identification cards on Thursday, marking the first formal state opposition to controversial legislation scheduled to go in effect for Americans next year. Both chambers of the Maine legislature approved a resolution saying the state flatly "refuses" to force its citizens to use driver's licenses that comply with digital ID standards, which were established under the 2005 Real ID Act. It asks the U.S. Congress to repeal the law....

In 1775, New Hampshire was the first colony to declare its independence from oppressive laws and taxes levied by the British crown. Now it may become the first state to declare its independence from an oppressive digital ID law concocted in Washington, D.C. New Hampshire's House of Representatives has overwhelmingly approved a remarkable bill, HB 1582, that would prohibit the state from participating in the national ID card system that will be created in 2008. A state Senate vote is expected as early as next week. The federal law in question is the Real ID Act (here's our FAQ on...

By the time my four year old son is swathed in the soft flesh of old age, he will likely find it unremarkable that he and almost everyone he knows will be permanently implanted with a microchip. Automatically tracking his location real time, it will connect him with databases monitoring and recording his smallest behavioural traits.Toronto Star

It's unfair to say that the Republican Congress has done nothing on immigration. In one respect, according to a new report from state officials, Congress made matters worse. In May of last year Congress passed the Real ID Act at the urging of House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R., Wis.). It was yet another border-security measure, intended to thwart illegal immigration by denying drivers' licenses to undocumented aliens. President Bush signed the legislation in hopes that Republicans then would meet him halfway on comprehensive immigration reform. Didn't happen. We now know that the Tom Tancredo "enforcement first" crowd has no...

Sacramento -- Starting in 2008, all 22 million licensed California drivers will be required to go in person to a DMV office and prove their identity and address with three different documents before getting a new, federally approved state license. The sheer size and scope of that task -- required by a federal law passed in the wake of Sept. 11 -- already has the state Department of Motor Vehicles worried about lines that would make current complaints about the agency's notoriously slow service seem trivial. The new identification cards will be required in order to fly on airplanes and...

Luis Hernandez is laughing as he sells fake drivers licenses and Social Security cards to illegal immigrants near a park known for shady deals. The joke, to him, is the government's promise to put people like him out of business with a tamperproof ID card. "One way or another, we'll always find a way," said Hernandez, 35, a sidewalk pitchman who is part of a complex counterfeiting network operating around MacArthur Park, a teeming area near downtown. No matter what the federal government does, sellers vow to keep providing authentic-looking IDs for as little as $150, to anyone who wants...

VeriChip chairman Scott Silverman's appearance on American TV this week has raised fears of the introduction of RFID technology. According to RNIF, he "bandied about the idea of chipping foreigners on national television Tuesday". RINF said Silverman appeared to be emboldened by the Bush Administration call to know "who is in our country and why they are here". He told Fox & Friends that the VeriChip could be used to register guest workers, verify their identities as they cross the border, and "be used for enforcement purposes at the employer level". He added: "We have talked to many people in...

Excerpt - WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- Buried in the huge border bill the U.S. Senate passed Thursday is a provision that would allow states to put citizenship details on new secure driver`s licenses. The pilot program, which would allow those getting new licenses the option to have the card confirm their citizenship as well as their identity, would make licenses an effective substitute for a U.S. passport at the nation`s borders and throughout the Caribbean. And critics say it would be an important step towards a national identity card system. The license provision is one of a series...

HB 1582 – AS INTRODUCED 2006 SESSION 06-2986 05/03 HOUSE BILL 1582 AN ACT prohibiting New Hampshire from participating in a national identification card system. SPONSORS: Rep. Marple, Merr 9; Rep. Souza, Hills 11; Rep. Phinizy, Sull 5; Rep. L. Christiansen, Hills 27; Rep. Kurk, Hills 7 COMMITTEE: Transportation ANALYSIS This bill prohibits New Hampshire from participating in a national identification card system. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -...

A group of Christian conservatives is urging Gov. Joe Manchin to reject a federally mandated digitized driver's license law, comparing the bar-coded national ID program to the "mark of the beast." Fourteen members of the group that opposes the federal Real ID Act of 2005 met with Division of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Joseph Cicchirillo, governor's office lawyer Joe Ward and Manchin legislative aide Jim Pitrolo for more than an hour on April 5. Pastor Ervin "Butch" Paugh, a 57-year-old Nicholas County preacher who heads the group, said last week that the new driver's licenses are unconstitutional, invade people's privacy and...

And the wallet of every other American who wants to fly on an airliner or visit certain federally-controlled facilities in the future. President Bush signed the The Real ID Act of 2005 into law in May 2005, mandating that all states meet minimum standards within three years. Legislators enacted the standards for a national ID after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and over concern about illegal immigrants crossing U.S. borders. But in the 12 months since Bush signed the act into law, there has been a lot of confusion surrounding the national ID card. What is known is...

RFID: Europe Wants to Tag You From the desk of Elaib Harvey on Sun, 2006-03-12 20:45 Am I the only one who is a tad concerned about the new RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Devices) Policy for Europe? I hope not. This year data retention legislation was introduced by the European Parliament and now we have the execrable Viviane Reding at a major conference in Hanover burbling about the Commission’s new consultation on the electronic tagging technology. Given that Commission Press Releases are normally bland to the point of ennui the following is quite something, “But their power to report their...

(Read this article in the original for links to all the events, etc. http://tinyurl.com/8xuvu ) 2005 Year in Review What happened on the Underground (NHFree.com) during the last year By Kat Dillon The New Hampshire Underground is a loose organization of freedom fighters composed mainly of Free State Project (http://freestateproject.org) members who have already made the move to NH. There, these members worked with native New Hampshirites with the encouragement of Freestaters still waiting to make the big move to NH. It is difficult to describe the incredible synergy from amassing so many liberty lovers in one area. The individuals...

An umbrella organization of dozens of groups that monitor legislation affecting civil liberties says a new immigration-reform measure contains a provision that could lead to de facto establishment of a national identification scheme. Officials with Liberty Coalition say the bill, called the "Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act," ominously "creates a dangerous new national identity database system and firmly establishes the predicate for a new national ID card system." In particular, said the organization, Title VII of the bill contains a requirement that employers compare current and prospective workers' Social Security numbers with a Department of Homeland Security...

An immigration reform bill moving quickly through the U.S. House of Representatives contains language requiring the Social Security Administration, Treasury Department and Department of Justice to study the concept of a machine-readable Social Security card with a photo ID. The House Judiciary Committee approved the legislation (H.R. 4437), sponsored by Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R.-Wis.), on a party-line 23-15 vote Thursday. Next week the House is set to vote on the bill, which calls for mandatory verification of employees’ legal status and increases enforcement along the Mexican border. But language about the machine-readable Social Security cards has alarmed civil libertarians who...

On Saturday, November 12, Free State activists from Keene and as far away as New London Connecticut gathered to defy national identification systems. In full view of the social security administration, social security cards were burned, sending a message that national ID will not be accepted. Around twenty activists gathered to take part in the torching festivities. When Social Security was first foisted on America, the cards were imprinted with, "Not to be used for Identification." People were wary of the tyranny involved with a national ID card, so the government had to promise that the Social Security number would...

Passport plan won't better border security The Saratogian, 11/20/2005 Imagine having to show a passport to visit a friend or relative or go to a business luncheon. That's what residents along New York's northern border face because of the proposed Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. While a driver's license or birth certificate is all that's needed now, the initiative would require passports by 2008 at all land crossings into the United States. This is an effort to block terrorists, but it's a stumble in homeland security that ignores actual gaps in border protection. Terrorists tend not to bother with niceties such...

The American Civil Liberties Union in Arizona says it is concerned about Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's new driver-fingerprinting program. Arpaio announced Oct. 19 that drivers pulled over for criminal violations would be fingerprinted or face jail. The prints are entered into the Automated Fingerprint Identification System to see if drivers are using fake identification, a move designed to combat identity theft. Dawn Wyland, interim director of the Arizona ACLU, said the group is researching the program's constitutionality. It would need a plaintiff to file suit. "My gut tells me this is just a horrible violation of privacy," she said....

WASHINGTON -- As a legal aide in the Reagan administration in 1983, Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. declared that he would support creating a national identification card in order to combat ''the real threat to our social fabric posed by uncontrolled immigration," a memo released yesterday by the National Archives revealed. In a memo that offered new insight into how he might rule on cases that test the balance between national security and civil liberties, Roberts said he ''yield[ed] to no one in the area of commitment to individual liberty against the spectre of overreaching central authority." However,...