Identity crisis: 'Real ID' controversy heats up.

Lines are being drawn in the battle over what new standards will be put in place when the Real ID Act of 2005 goes into effect two years from now.

The law, a rider to a defense appropriations bill last year, calls for states to comply with national standards for drivers' licenses by May 2007. Key will be the requirement for a uniform "machine-readable technology" that will store the bearer's data.

Since the law does not specify which machine-readable system will be employed, the task of sorting out the different technologies available falls to the Department of Homeland Security, which is undertaking the rulemaking process this year. Many states currently use magnetic strips to store information on drivers' licenses, but these strips can rarely be read outside their jurisdictions. Real ID will require inter-state operability.

Civil libertarians, both conservative and liberal, are gathering forces to influence the debate. The American Civil Liberties Union has opposed the measure as well as the libertarian Cato Institute. Some religious fringe groups have gone as far as suggesting national identification cards could be "the mark of the beast" as prophesized in the Book of Revelations.

On the other side of the fence, the Coalition for Secure Drivers' Licenses is a stanch supporter of more stringent ID standards. The 9/11 commission also called for federal regulations in the issuance of birth certificates and driver's licenses.

Of major concern to the groups opposing the measure is the possible use of radio frequency identification (REID) chips, which contain small antennae that can be read by low frequency transceivers. DHS has already put in place requirements to install the chips in passports, and critics of the technology fear driver's licenses will be next.

A taxpayer watchdog group, Citizens Against Government Waste, has taken an aggressive stance in opposing the technology; estimating in a report that the cost of a license could rise from $10 to $25 now, to $90 if chips are chosen over magnetic strips.

"Installing radio frequency identification chips or similar technology into every driver's license will he an expensive, invasive and less secure way to update identification documents," said CAGW president Tom Schatz. In December, the group delivered a petition with 5,200 signatures to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff opposing the RFID solution.

However, Chertoff is clearly a fan of the technology, calling RFID cards "very useful."

The chips are not 100 percent secure, opponents have said. Low-frequency transceivers used by unauthorized identity thieves can pick up data from several feet away.

One company on the Internet is already advertising an electromagnetic shield that can be placed in wallets or purses to protect driver's licenses against ID theft, even though REID remains two years away from implementation if it were to be approved.

Those who believe current state driver's licenses protect identities are "delusional," Chertoff told reporters at a briefing.

"I frankly think a secure card that is not forgeable, that is biometrically based, actually protects people against identity theft," he added. There might be some high-tech thieves out there who could read a card through someone's wallet or purse. "I don't know if taking extreme hypotheticals is a way to make public policy."