California recently joined a growing list of states offering digital driver’s licenses through “digital wallets” including Apple Wallet, Google Wallet and California DMV Wallet, Tododisca reported.
The development comes amid a national push to encourage U.S. citizens to acquire REAL ID-compliant documents by May 7, when the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will begin REAL ID enforcement for domestic air travelers.
The REAL ID Act of 2005 established security standards for state-issued ID cards, in response to the 9/11 attacks and the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. In the intervening years though, its implementation has been delayed, most recently due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Proponents of state-level digital ID documents and REAL ID cite factors such as the convenience of digital documents and national security concerns that necessitate the collection of biometric data to verify people’s identities.
In January, former President Joe Biden issued an executive order offering guidance for digital ID documents.
But for Twila Brase, co-founder and president of the Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom, REAL ID and digital ID may allow the federal government to usurp state’s rights and assert unprecedented control over people’s lives.
“The real ID is meant for much more than flying,” Brase said. “It’s meant for your life, for all the things you might need an ID for in the future. … It is meant for federal control overall, your identification and all your transactions.”
Such a system “will almost certainly be used to destroy the last remaining vestiges of individual liberty, freedom and privacy in this country,” Holderman said.
A national ID system could enable the rollout of a national vaccine passport or implementation of a national social credit scheme, Brase said.
According to Tododisca, “Digital IDs make it easier to verify identity at security checkpoints, retail stores, and other institutions without carrying a physical license.”
Brase cited 2008 remarks by former Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who said REAL ID “creates a national ID card.”
“The REAL ID is a federal ID,” Brase said. “It’s under federal control and states that have conformed with the REAL ID law have said essentially that they will abide with any changes Homeland Security or TSA makes in the future,” Brase said.
Speaking March 6 on the “One Dream Podcast,” Brase said REAL ID will also give the federal government unprecedented access to people’s personal data.
“Once the government gets access to your phone through your identification credential, they put the REAL ID credential on your phone, they have remote real-time access to it, then they’ve got access to your phone,” Brase said during the podcast.
According to Brase, REAL ID was intended to serve three purposes — “access to certain federal buildings, access to nuclear facilities, access to commercial flight, and any other purposes as deemed necessary by the Secretary of Homeland Security.”
However, a 2014 U.S. Department of Homeland Security rule also allowed REAL ID to be used for “any other purposes as deemed necessary by the Secretary of Homeland Security.” Brase said this rule “essentially eviscerates the state’s driver’s license if it is fully imposed” by placing driver’s licenses under federal control.
Ironically, I received my national ID card (paper form) in 1963 - SSN.
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