REAL ID might as well be national ID. States share all that info with the fed.
Try to get a drivers license in new york and an id card in California. You can't have both. Why? Because it's one person, one state, one certificate, one record.
Some clients at the day job contract with U.S. govt agencies. They practically salivate at the prospect of what is, essentially, a national ID. And state agencies, despite what they tell the public, play fast and loose with privacy laws when federal grants get tossed around.
It's truly nauseating what can be accessed, even by a low level employee at an NGO, let alone someone with higher credentials. Money and feigned concern for the 'safety and security' of Americans pretty much get you in the door, and after that it's about expanding access and lobbying the right people.
Everything about us, from where we shop, where we drive, which hotels we use and even the porn we watch, beer we drink and what brand of bath tissue we buy, is quite literally at the fingertips of hourly-paid analysts. Data Aggregation and mass storage is cheap. The cost to access though, that brings in the dollars. Any semblance of 'right to privacy' died with the patriot act.
There are only two surefire ways to get it back, and both options offend the sensibilities of good men.
REAL ID might as well be national ID. States share all that info with the fed.
Try to get a drivers license in new york and an id card in California. You can't have both. Why? Because it's one person, one state, one certificate, one record.
Some clients at the day job contract with U.S. govt agencies. They practically salivate at the prospect of what is, essentially, a national ID. And state agencies, despite what they tell the public, play fast and loose with privacy laws when federal grants get tossed around.
It's truly nauseating what can be accessed, even by a low level employee at an NGO, let alone someone with higher credentials. Money and feigned concern for the 'safety and security' of Americans pretty much get you in the door, and after that it's about expanding access and lobbying the right people.
Everything about us, from where we shop, where we drive, which hotels we use and even the porn we watch, beer we drink and what brand of bath tissue we buy, is quite literally at the fingertips of hourly-paid analysts. Data Aggregation and mass storage is cheap. The cost to access though, that brings in the dollars. Any semblance of 'right to privacy' died with the patriot act.
There are only two surefire ways to get it back, and both options offend the sensibilities of good men.