I was reading an article from the EFF about Digital IDs and came across their article on Real ID in the United States. As a citizen of the USA, what are the privacy implications of a National ID system? I feel as though many countries already have similar systems in place, but I fail to see how these systems are any different to what the US currently has in many cases. The local, state, and national government already knows your address, date of birth, and other identifiable information. These institutions could already be seen as valuable targets for mass ID breaches. What makes Real ID, and other similar National ID systems, so much worse than what we already have?
That’s a good question. My assessment is most of the criticism takes issue with how Real ID is implemented, rather than whether a national system is inherently the problem.
A major criticism is Real ID increases the requirements of asylum seekers’ documents. This is a problem, because obviously refugees are not always going to have thorough paperwork on hand. Doing this ostensibly to combat terrorism is as overkill as voter ID laws, which marginally (if at all) protect election integrity at the substantial cost of lower (legitimate) voter turnout.
Another big criticism of Real ID is the financial burden. Despite being a federal mandate, Real ID is not actually federally funded. States will have to pay to implement it out of their own budgets. Maine estimated it will cost Maine hundreds of millions of dollars to implement.
Real ID has received some inherent criticism as a national ID system. Primarily at issue is the usurpation of states’ rights.
The privacy criticism of Real ID and a national ID in general seems to be no different than that of state ID cards and Social Security numbers. We already have those, and those are already used to violate our privacy, so I don’t see the big problem with Real ID, other than that it broadens/changes the threat model.