FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 1, 2007
Contact:
Melissa Ngo
Director, EPIC Identification and Surveillance Project
(202) 483-1140 ext. 123
ngo AT epic.org
FORTY-THREE GROUPS ANNOUNCE NATIONAL REAL ID PUBLIC CAMPAIGN
WASHINGTON, DC - Today, 43 organizations representing transpartisan,
nonpartisan, privacy, consumer, civil liberty, civil rights, and
immigrant organizations have joined to launch a national campaign to
solicit public comments to stop the nation's first national ID system:
REAL ID.
The groups joining in the anti-REAL ID campaign are concerned about the
increased threat of counterfeiting and identity theft, lack of security
to protect against unauthorized access to the document's machine
readable content, increased cost to taxpayers, diverting of state funds
intended for homeland security, increased costs for obtaining a license
or state issued ID card, and because the REAL ID would create a false
belief that it is secure and unforgeable.
This effort builds on the momentum that is signaling broad opposition to
the REAL ID in the states. Montana has become the fifth state, following
Maine, Idaho, Arkansas, and Washington, to prohibit cooperation with the
Department of Homeland Security in implementing the REAL ID national
identification system.
Under the Act, states and federal government would share access to a
vast national database that could include images of birth certificates,
marriage licenses, divorce papers, court ordered separations, medical
records, and detailed information on the name, date of birth, race,
religion, ethnicity, gender, address, telephone, e-mail address, Social
Security Number for more than 240 million with no requirements or
controls on how this database might be used. Many may not have the
documents required to obtain a REAL ID, or they may face added
requirements base on arbitrary and capricious decisions made by DMV
employees.
EPIC joins this group of 43 organizations in a fight against the
national identification system created by the Department of Homeland
Security. "Make no mistake, this is a national identification system
that will affect your everyday life," said Melissa Ngo, Director of
EPIC's Identification and Surveillance Project. "Critics of the REAL ID
scheme are called anti-security, but it is not anti-security to reject a
national identification system that will harm our national security and
make it easier for criminals to pretend to be law-abiding Americans."
The draft regulations to implement the REAL ID Act are open for comment
until 5 p.m. EST on May 8, 2007. To take action and submit comments
against the fundamentally flawed national identification scheme, under
Docket No. 2006-0030-0001.
Online: Through the public submission portal at:
http://www.regulations.gov
Or use one of the more user-friendly sites found at the following web
addresses:
EFF:
https://secure.eff.org/site/Advocacy?JServSessionIdr007=jursz5zko3.
app13b&cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=287
Privacy Activism:
http://stoprealid.privacyactivism.org/wiki/index.php?title=
Instructions_for_filing_comments
To Fax Comments to the Department of Homeland Security:
Electronic Frontier Foundation:
http://action.eff.org/site/Advocacy?id=287
Privacy Coalition:
http://www.privacycoalition.org/stoprealid/sampletext.html
Or send a letter to the agency. Fax: 1-866-466-5370.
Postal mail:
Department of Homeland Security
Attn: NAC 1-12037
Washington, DC 20528
All comments must be received by until 5:00 PM EST on May 8, 2007.
Visit the Stop REAL ID Campaign site:
http://www.privacycoalition.org/stoprealid
Visit EPIC's National ID Cards and REAL ID Act page:
http://www.epic.org/privacy/id_cards/
List of all of the Groups Supporting this Campaign:
American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations
American Library Association
American Policy Center
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
Association of American Physicians & Surgeons
Bill of Rights Defense Committee
Center for Digital Democracy
Center for Financial Privacy and Human Rights
Citizen Outreach Project.
Citizens Against Government Waste
Common Cause
Computing Professionals for Social Responsibility
Consumer Action
DownsizeDC.org
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Electronic Privacy Information Center
Fairfax County Privacy Council
Give Me Back My Rights Coalition
Government Accountability Project
Gun Owners of America
Immigrant Workers Union
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
Liberty Coalition
National Center for Transgender Equality
National Council of Jewish Women
National Council of La Raza
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
National Immigration Law Center
OpenCarry.org
Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays
Patient Privacy Rights Foundation
People for the American Way
Privacy Activism
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
Privacy Times
Republican Liberty Caucus
Rutherford Institute, The
The Arc of the United States United Cerebral Palsy
The Multiracial Activist
US Bill of Rights Foundation
Virginia Citizens Defense League
Virginia Gun Owners Coalition
World Privacy Forum
