by GEOFFREY D. KRAVITZ

One of the principal recommendations of The 9/11 Commission Report suggested that the federal government implement standards for identification cards to combat terrorism. In 2005, Congress responded by passing the REAL ID Act. The Act requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to create federal standards for identification cards that would be acceptable for certain official uses such as entering federal buildings and nuclear facilities and boarding commercial airplanes. However, the proposed solution’s reliance on an interconnected national database, an unencrypted barcode on each card and biometric identification increases the risk of identity theft, fraud and dissemination of private information without providing strong counterterrorism protection.

This Article argues that, despite a history of American resistance to a national identification system, the REAL ID Act and DHS regulations mandate issuance of unique identification numbers to individuals, numbers that will be accessible through a nationwide network of DMV databases. In essence, this combination creates a de facto national ID card. This Article demonstrates that the government’s failure to adequately secure these new technologies increases the potential for nongovernmental entities, such as hackers and private organizations, to access individuals’ personal information.  To counteract these emerging privacy threats, this Article proposes a combination of technological and legislative solutions aimed at both securing the REAL ID technologies and providing citizens harmed by REAL ID privacy invasions with a cause of action against the government.

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