President Bush signed an Executive Order June 6, 2008. This order specifically concerns the use of biometrics by federal agencies and departments. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/06/20080605-8.html
As I have gone from one coast to another across our country it is very apparent to me that Americans do not fully appreciate the attack on our Constitution that is taking place. The overwhelming majority of the public have never heard of the Real ID Act 2005. Of the few that have most do not know that biometrics (facial recognition) plays a significant role in the Real ID Act. The digital facial image required by the Real ID Act must meet international standards adopted by the ICAO, an U.N. agency, for compatibility with facial recognition software.
Our government has spent millions of dollars on CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) cameras otherwise known as surveillance cameras. The FRVT (Facial Recognition Vendor Test) 2006 focused on a number of items including 3D facial recognition technology. 3D facial recognition technology is what is ideal for surveillance applications.
http://face.nist.gov/mbgc/ I strongly urge each person to review the information provided by this link. Specifically you will see one of the goals was to test facial recognition with video.
With the use of CCTV and facial recognition our government will be able to identify you whether you are walking down the streets in your home town, visiting someone in another state or in another country.
Most people do not realize the digital surveillance cameras now being installed throughout our country are going to be aimed at us, the public. I am not talking about simple video cameras. The majority of people think of video CCTV cameras that can be replayed if there is a need. The new digital CCTV cameras can capture a person's facial image and then compare that captured image against a database of facial images. This can be done in real time. This technology and the use of it is not new to our government. Once a person's image is compared to database of facial images that person's identity will be known to a person sitting behind a computer monitor. That same person will have access to state and federal databases as well as databases maintained by data mining companies such as ChoicePoint. In real time that person at the computer monitor will be making a subjctive opinion as to whether the person the camera is aimed at presents a threat to our government. If you are not familiar with Project Hostile Intent you should research it. According to the American Psychological Association, Project Hostile Intent will allow for our behavior to be judged in real time to assess whether we present a threat.
The federal government under the provisions of the 1994 Driver's Privacy Protection Act has access to our personal information stored in any State's DMV database. This is precisely why DHS wanted the digital facial image required by the Real ID Act to be in accordance with ICAO adopted standards for compatibility with facial recognition technology. DHS added the requirement for the digital facial image to the Real ID Act so DHS could get around the provisions of the 1974 Privacy Act. They argue now it is not DHS but rather the States that will be collecting the biometric facial image. Although perhaps that is technically true, it is undeniably true that DHS is mandating the States collect the biometric facial image and that DHS knows they can get it from the State DMV databases without a warrant or probable cause. The digital facial image and the standard for it create a biometric sample which is then used to create biometric data from which a template is created.
Th FBI announced they are going to spend $1 billion to create the world's largest biometric database. Where does anyone think the biometric data for the database will come from?
Yes, there are databases that the federal government does have that currently do contain some biometric data but the Real ID Act will allow for the collection of all licensed drivers biometric samples. The Real ID Act's primary motivation is to enroll Americans into an international biometric (facial recognition) identification system.
REAL ID WILL CREATE A SURVEILLANCE SOCIETY.
L-1 Identity Solutions has become the de facto issuer of Real ID compliant driver's licenses and the enhanced driver's licenses that can be used in lieu of passports to cross our borders. They also have been awarded a contract to produce Passport cards. This same company has provided their facial recognition technology to a Chinese businessman that is competing in a trial by Red China to acquire facial recogntion technology. There is a valid question that must be asked, Has L-1 broken federal law that prohibits the transfer of this technology to China. The company's argument will be they did not provide the technology directly to Red China. That being said they did provide it to a Chinese citizen knowing he would provide it to the government. In fact Chinese authorities have already approached the Chinese citizen and asked that he use the technology to identify dissidents. L-1 gets a percentage of all revenue this "businessman" would get from the Chinese government.
L-1 a few months ago announced they were purchasing Digimarc's license division. Between the two companies they control nearly 95% of the U.S. production of State driver's licenses. You would have thought there would be anti-trust considerations. Instead of L-1 having face anti-trust issues they were granted a free pass by the Federal Trade Commission. That should be of no surprise to anyone. The Board of Directors of L-1 reads like a Who's Who list of former heads of government agencies and departments incluing the likes of George Tenet and Admiral Loy among others.
L-1 formerly known as Viisage Technology has a PDF page that is titled "Real ID Solutions". On that page is picture of a driver's license that has a person's political party on the front of the license. I cannot speak for everyone but I believe it is a fundemental right of all Americans not to have to divuldge their party affiliation unless they want to. Obviously when voting a voter registration card serves the purpose if needed to provide a person's politcal party of choice. A driver's license is seen by retailers, banks and others that have NO business knowing yours or mine politcal affiliation.
Robert Mocny of DHS has made no secret of the fact that DHS not only intends to share biometric and other personal information with other governments but also with corporations. He asks the question, How is it right not to share?
The DHS went to great lengths to hide the fact that facial recognition samples are going to be collected under the provisions of the Real ID Act. It is only in the footnotes of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that the standard for the photo (digital facial image) mandated by the Real ID Act can be found. Many of the state and national lawmkers I have met with including the committee staffers and counsel I have met with had no idea of the significance of the standard for the digital facial images. In short, they were not aware the standard was international or that it meant the photos collected by States for driver's licenses would allow the federal government to be able to spy on each of us.
Many times I have heard people say that if a person is doing nothing wrong then they have nothing to worry about. That is not true. Facial recognition technology does not work well in a surveillance application. An IBG (International Biometric Group) study conducted specifically states that facial recogntion technology will not work when large databases such as the one called for by the Real ID Act are used. As a matter of fact there is a very good chance a person will be misidentified as someone other than who they are.
Aside from First, Fourth and Tenth amendment issues, the Real ID Act has another major downside. DHS has named AAMVA (American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators) the "backbone" of the Real ID Act. AAMVA is an international organization. AAMVA is promoting the Driver's License Agreement. The agreement calls for the United States, Mexico and Canada to share all drivers information stored in each country's respective DMV databases. Grant money from the federal government has been available to States to participate in the DLA. http://www.aamva.org/aamva/DocumentDisplay.aspx?id=%7BC600908E-2538-4135-8166-1B25BB682698%7D This is the precusor to the North American Union otherwise named the Security and Prosperity Partnership. If we want to stop the NAU or SPP we MUST repeal the Real ID Act. I have the actual DLA paperwork. Scary does not do it justice. It threatens State's rights and U.S. sovereignty.
