‘Ya know those movies that have hints of post apocalyptic futures, a dictatorship government, giant bugs and ladies with three boobs? Oh wait, that’s Starship Troopers and Total Recall…

Ok, well, just imagine a time when we have the Department of Homeland Security pushing congress for a universal ID. Imagine just ONE place where they would have all the info that would be on the ID (makes it very handy for any hackers or con artists to focus their efforts). That time seems to coming, my friends. And DHS wants all states to comply by 2011.

More…”Americans born after Dec. 1, 1964, will have to get more secure driver’s licenses in the next six years under ambitious post-9/11 security rules to be unveiled Friday by federal officials.”

This is the first paragraph of the article and the announcement made by federal officials. Is anyone worried yet about the emboldened words? Seems to be always brought up, huh?

There’s a bunch of little things to the new REAL ID system that seem uncomfortably ambitious by the government. However, there are some details that are not brought up in the article. What about state ID’s? They mention driver’s licenses being the main ID involved but where does that put the people who can’t drive or just need an ID? And in one of the last paragraphs of the article, the wording is somewhat confusing in that it sounds like it states that people with passports would be told to “get a driver’s license”. Does this mean “as well” or “instead of” a passport? Either way, it doesn’t sound efficient yet.

Oh yeah, they mention the 50+ exemption for the first few years of the ID implementation: “…the risk of someone in that age group being a terrorist, illegal immigrant or con artist is much less.” So, they don’t have to update their ID yet. Say what?! I would like to know where they get these statistics/observations… And the ACLU wants a word in as well.

Anyways, if you want to know more about what’s going on, click on the source link below. I would suggest keeping an ear open in the future, in case you ever want to fly somewhere again.

Source: NPR and the Associated Press