Over 50 organizations and 75 bloggers have now joined the campaign to stop REAL ID. The deadline for submitting comments to the Department of Homeland Security is May 8th at 5:00 pm EST, so take a minute to send your comments now!
From the Privacy Coalition web site:
A broad coalition of organizations across the United States is urging the public to submit comments rejecting the illegal national identification system created under the Department of Homeland Security's REAL ID program.
Five states and several members of Congress have rejected the scheme, which creates a massive national ID system without adequate security or privacy safeguards, which makes it more difficult and costly for people to get licenses, and which makes it easier for identity thieves to access the personal data of 245 million license and cardholders nationwide.
If you have not already submitted your comments, use online forms or fax:
- Online through the Federal Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov (search for "DHS-2006-0030-0001" and follow the instructions for submitting comments);
- Fax to 1-866-466-5370. Your fax must state that you are submitting comments in response to Notice of Proposed Rulemaking DHS-2006-0030.
You can find portals for submitting comments and/or sample letters at Privacy Coalition and EFF.
You can also get more background info on REAL ID at EPIC and see the ACLU's video clip on REAL ID at YouTube.
For links to news stories on REAL ID over the past year, see PogoWasRight.org's archives.