TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: FAQ: How Real ID Will Affect You

FAQ: How Real ID Will Affect You

By Declan McCullagh

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 of nearly any government service. Practically speaking,
your driver's license likely will have to be reissued to meet federal
standards.

The Real ID Act hands the Department of Homeland Security the power to
set these standards and determine whether state drivers' licenses and
other ID cards pass muster. Only ID cards approved by Homeland
Security can be accepted "for any official purpose" by the feds.

...

http://news.com.com/2100-1028-5697111.html

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Times are getting tough all over in
this country; all I can say is I am _so glad_ that over the next ten
to fifteen years, as the United States sinks deeper and deeper into
trouble and strays further and further away from the type of life I
remember here, I will probably be dead and not have to deal with it.
Do not misunderstand; I do not intend to off myself, I'll just let
nature takes its normal course, but I am very fearful about how
'things will be' for the younger guys forty or fifty years from now,
assuming the United States is still around, with about half the
population in prison and the other half employed to guard them, etc.

The laws will be _so restrictive_; social security will be a thing
of the past, etc. I guess you saw in the papers or on the computer
yesterday that the FBI arrested _three dozen_ individuals, mostly
American soldiers (National Guardsmen mostly) _and several border
patrol agents _and_ several law enforcement officers in a 'drug
sting on the Nexican/US border. Things are getting so depressing
everywhere one goes in this country these days. I agree with the
words of Johann Sebastian Bach in his work "Come Sweet Death, Come
Blest Repose". Some days it couldn't be soon enough for me. PAT]

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