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ID cards are needed to stop the soaring costs of identity theft, Prime Minister Tony Blair has said as proposals for a national scheme were reintroduced. The plan is for cards to be phased in from 2008, and made compulsory later. The Conservatives have now decided they will join the Lib Dems and some Labour in opposing the measure. Critics claim Mr Blair is highlighting ID theft as his other reasons for the cards have not won support. The cost of the scheme has risen since November. Passport costs The Home Office will not put a figure on the cost...

Are you who you say you are? Answering that question may soon involve more than simply handing over your ID. You may also need to hand over part of your personal biology by submitting to a biometric scan. Voice, face, and eye scanners have been a staple of Hollywood science fiction for years. Now they're rapidly becoming a part of everyday life, as the spike in identity theft and fears over terrorism have created a biometrics boom. Today, facial recognition is used in airports to identify potential terrorists and at casinos to finger card sharks. Schools use fingerprint and hand...

From NHfree.com Man Without I.D. Vows to Board Flight or be Jailed Manchester, NH May 21, 2005 Inspired by New Hampshire's "outlaw manicurist," another Granite Stater is stepping forward to peacefully defy license-related laws. Thirty-five-year old Russell Kanning of Keene has announced he will approach a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint at Manchester airport on June 11 and refuse to cooperate with the requirement to show ID. "I will either board the plane without I.D. or be arrested," he says. "In a free country you do not need government permission to travel." Kanning has a ticket to Philadelphia and, if...

The shops were shuttered on Hardyville Main Street last Wednesday. No traffic moved in the streets, though the parking spaces near the Hardyville One-Plex were full. Despite the bright spring day, it was like being in one of those movies where a city is empty in the aftermath of a disaster. And that's appropriate. Because Wednesday was the aftermath of a disaster. Or maybe it was the beginning of a disaster. Either way, the handful of rugged individualists who populate the mid-nowhere town of Hardyville had an emergency on their hands. On Tuesday, May 10, 2005 America finally died. It...

On Tuesday, May 10, 2005, America became a true police state. Your U.S. senators voted -- unanimously, with no discussion, and without even reading the bill -- to create a national ID card. The Real ID Act blackmails state governments into turning their drivers licenses into a draconian tool of the federal homeland security apparatus. If states refuse, their citizens lose such "privileges" as being allowed to board an airplane, enter a federal building, or apply for social security. President Bush is expected to sign the bill eagerly on Thursday. In three years -- by May 2008 -- this Stalin-style...

The REAL ID Act has many Americans, especially civil libertarians, up in arms. They are concerned that "Big Brother" has crossed the fine line between security and intrusion. While we are all well advised to guard against an ever-intrusive government, it serves no good purpose to denigrate a piece of legislation simply because special interest groups are attempting to persuade us into believing there is something sinister afoot. "We the People" have a responsibility to ascertain the facts about any given issue before we storm the village square, flaming torches in hand. This concept is called civic responsibility and our...

By Declan McCullagh Last-minute attempts by online activists to halt an electronic ID card failed Tuesday when the U.S. Senate unanimously voted to impose a sweeping set of identification requirements on Americans. The so-called Real ID Act now heads to President Bush, who is expected to sign the bill into law this month. Its backers, including the Bush administration, say it's needed to stop illegal immigrants from obtaining drivers' licenses. If the act's mandates take effect in May 2008, as expected, Americans will be required to obtain federally approved ID cards with "machine readable technology" that abides by Department of...

What's So Scary About a National ID An emergency funding measure earmarked for our fighting men and women overseas seems an odd place for a sweeping change to U.S. privacy policy. But that's just where House conservatives have tucked their proposal to impose federal requirements on state driver's licenses—a proposal dubbed the Real ID Act. Civil libertarians hate the idea, because in the ACLU's phrase, it "takes us one step closer to a national ID." What's rarely stated is why a national ID would be such a bad thing. Discussion about whether the U.S. needs some kind of federal identification...

States May Disobey Driver's License Rules By SUZANNE GAMBOA Associated Press Writer May 10, 2005, 8:19 AM EDT WASHINGTON -- States are threatening to challenge in court and even disobey new orders from Congress to start issuing more uniform driver's licenses and verify the citizenship or legal status of people getting them. There is concern among some states that they'll get stuck with a large tab to pay for implementing the new rules and that getting a driver's license will become a bigger headache for law-abiding residents. "Governors are looking at all their options. If more than half of the...

The US House of Representatives passed a spending bill last week that contains provisions establishing a national ID card, and the Senate is poised to approve the measure in the next few days. This week marks the American public’s last chance to convince their Senators they don’t want to live in a nation that demands papers from its citizens as they go about their lives. Absent a political miracle in the Senate, within two years every American will need a conforming national ID card to participate in ordinary activities. This REAL ID Act establishes a massive, centrally-coordinated database of highly...

The US House of Representatives passed a spending bill last week that contains provisions establishing a national ID card, and the Senate is poised to approve the measure in the next few days. This week marks the American public’s last chance to convince their Senators they don’t want to live in a nation that demands papers from its citizens as they go about their lives. Absent a political miracle in the Senate, within two years every American will need a conforming national ID card to participate in ordinary activities. This REAL ID Act establishes a massive, centrally-coordinated database of highly...

Papers, Please! Sensenbrenner ID Graphic Real ID = National ID Card This Tuesday, the US Senate is scheduled to vote on the implementation of a national ID card system. The Real ID Act is nothing less than a Real National ID Act. The only thing left to the individual states is to decide which pretty picture they will choose to put on the card: everything else will be controlled by Washington DC bureaucrats. The Real ID Act has never been debated on the US Senate floor. They've never talked about it in any committee. Heck, most of them haven't even...

FAQ: How Real ID will affect you What's all the fuss with the Real ID Act about? President Bush is expected to sign an $82 billion military spending bill soon that will, in part, create electronically readable, federally approved ID cards for Americans. The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the package--which includes the Real ID Act--on Thursday. What does that mean for me? Starting three years from now, if you live or work in the United States, you'll need a federally approved ID card to travel on an airplane, open a bank account, collect Social Security payments, or take advantage...

In a more rational world, Congress would have started thinking hard about identity cards right after Sept. 11. By now, the nation's lawmakers could have had a long and serious discussion about how to create a sensible national ID that would provide identification and security while protecting privacy. This is, after all, a critical issue in terms of both safety and civil liberties. Too bad. What Congress is doing instead is to ram through a bill that turns state-issued driver's licenses into a kind of phony national identity card through the mislabeled "Real ID" provision. And in order to make...

Peter Busch ReportsCongressman says Border Patrol defying checkpoint laws May 2, 2005, 01:34 PM MST On Capitol Hill last Thursday, The U.S. Border Patrol's head man, David Aguilar, told U.S. senators that permanent checkpoints in the Tucson sector would help his agents catch more illegal immigrants. The sector is the only one along the U.S.- Mexico border not permitted to establish permanent checkpoints. Congressman Jim Kolbe wants to keep it that way. "I don't object to checkpoints. The idea of tactical, mobile checkpoints, that move from place to place just like we do all law enforcement, makes sense," says Kolbe....

The head of the U.S. Border Patrol says his agency is hampered by its inability to put up permanent checkpoints on roads in southeastern Arizona. David Aguilar told a Senate hearing Thursday that no similar prohibition exists in other border states, but appropriations provisions have required that all checkpoints be temporary and be moved every two weeks in Arizona. Critics say permanent checkpoints, which force motorists to pull off roads leading away from the border for inspections, disrupt trade and traffic. But Aguilar said they have proven effective in other states. Congressman Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., is behind the provisions that...

Washington, DC: The White House will sponsor regional summits this spring to encourage middle and high-school officials to enact random, student drug testing in public schools. The taxpayer-funded summits will take place in Dallas, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Portland. The announcement of the summits comes just weeks after the White Houses' 2005 "National Drug Control Strategy" proposed increasing federal funding for student drug testing by more than 150 percent to a record $25.4 million annually. NORML Director Allen St. Pierre criticized the White Houses' push for the expanded use of suspicionless, student drug testing. "Random drug testing of students is...

The House recently passed legislation requiring states to turn 190 million driver's licenses into national ID cards, with state taxpayers paying most of the cost. The first thing wrong here is that the House stuck the ID card proposal on the appropriations bill that supports troops in Iraq and sent it over to the Senate. We should not slow down money for our troops while we debate ID cards. The second problem is that states not only get to create these ID cards, they'll likely end up paying the bill. This is one more of the unfunded federal mandates that...

SAN FRANCISCO - John Gilmore's splendid isolation began July 4, 2002, when, with defiance aforethought, he strolled to the Southwest Airlines counter at Oakland Airport and presented his ticket. The gate agent asked for his ID. Gilmore asked her why. It is the law, she said. Gilmore asked to see the law. Nobody could produce a copy. To date, nobody has. The regulation that mandates ID at airports is "Sensitive Security Information." The law, as it turns out, is unavailable for inspection. What started out as a weekend trip to Washington became a crawl through the courts in search...

MADD: Sobriety checks key to stopping drunken driving 1/12/2005, 6:56 p.m. ET By LAURIE KELLMAN The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The best way to further reduce alcohol-related traffic fatalities is to set up more sobriety checkpoints, especially in the 10 states, including Michigan, that currently bar them, Mothers Against Drunk Driving said Wednesday. "This is a proven, effective strategy," said MADD President Wendy Hamilton. "It really does have credible scientific backing that proves that it reduces alcohol-related fatalities by 20 percent." Increasing the number of sobriety checkpoints and funding for advertising them is the group's first priority as it...