Real ID’s may become real indeed.

In 2005, the United States legislature passed the Real ID Act. This Act, which was “piggybacked” on a federal tsunami relief bill, focuses on the creation of a national identification system to be used by all United States citizens beginning in May 2008.

While the Real ID Act already passed and the identification system itself is already in development, privacy advocates, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, are just starting to make their voices heard on the subject.

The Act entails that a national ID card will be carried by United States citizens, similar to state drivers licenses, but with a higher level of accuracy and security. These ID’s would be required not only for security-intensive tasks, such as entrance into federal facilities, but also for more mundane activities, such as boarding an airplane or visiting a national park.

According to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff:

“For terrorists, travel documents are like weapons. We do have a right and an obligation to see that those licenses reflect the identity of the person who’s presenting it.”

With the Act’s May 2008 activation date drawing near, a total of 28 states have enacted legislation either refusing or opposing the bill, and 17 states have bills applauding it.

According to the NCSL, the Act is an “unfunded mandate.” They estimate the cost of the national ID system to be on the order of US$14 billion, but report that federal funding is at just US$40 million. According to NCSL spokesman Bill Wyatt, states will have to pass the cost of the system onto the American taxpayer. He says that with the costs of the system itself and its infrastructure (buildings, staff, and a centralized database), a source has told him that states may even have to charge upwards of US$100 per person, per license.

Both the ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation denounce the idea of a centralized database and say that it infringes on a basic right to privacy.

From CNN:

“The civil liberties watchdog dubs the IDs “internal passports” and claims it wouldn’t be long before office buildings, gas stations, toll booths, subways and buses begin accessing the system.”

As with most federal measures, states may choose their level of compliance. According to Chertoff:

“This is not a mandate. A state doesn’t have to do this, but if the state doesn’t have – at the end of the day, at the end of the deadline – Real ID-compliant licenses then the state cannot expect that those licenses will be accepted for federal purposes.”