Stricter Driver's License Rules May Fuel a Firestorm
"We've never before put so much personally identifiable information in one places and then given access to potentially millions of employees," says Sparapani. "This is an identity thief's dream."
Many of the nation's governors have been up in arms about the Real ID Act, because of cost and efficiency concerns. A report released last September by the National Governors Association and other groups estimated that compliance with the statute could cost states more than $11 billion over five years and extend the already long waiting lines for obtaining driver's licenses. Since many state legislatures are in session for just a few months, they are only now waking up to the fact that compliance with the law is around the corner–May 11, 2008.
"Governors support increasing the security and integrity of our systems," says David Quam, director of federal relations for the National Governors Association. "But we're concerned that Real ID in its present form can't work."
Quam says five national databases will have to be up and running before states can implement the law, to verify legal status, Social Security numbers, foreign passports, existing driving records, and vital records.
"It's one thing to tell states what a driver's license has to look and feel like," says Quam. "But if the bar is set at an unreasonable level, then state governments won't be able to meet it." Right now, adds Quam, not even the federal government can fulfill its own mandate.
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