The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois today applauded yesterday's "unopposed" vote by the Illinois House to add Illinois the list of states "in full revolt against REAL ID." The measure, House Joint Resolution, was sponsored by State Representative Karen Yarbrough and a bipartisan group of legislators concerned about the personal privacy of constituents. H.J.R. 27 calls on Congress to repeal the REAL ID Act of 2005, a measure that creates an unworkable system of nationalize the collection and sharing of data from the driver's license agencies of all 50 states and the territories. Congress adopted REAL ID in 2005 - without substantive committee hearings or debate - as part of legislation providing emergency funding for the Iraq War and Tsunami relief in South Asia.

Last month, the Department of Homeland Security finally issued regulations designed to implement the REAL ID Act, regulations that required the Department to grant all states and territories an 18-month extension for implementation - moving the target date of implementation back from May 2008 to December 2009.

"We commend Representative Yarbrough and the entire House for approving H.J. Res. 27 and working to keep the personal data about all persons in Illinois with a driver's license or state identification card from being dumped into a massive national database that can be accessed by the federal government, other government agencies, merchants and hackers," said Edwin C. Yohnka, Director of Communications and Public Policy. "We hope the Illinois congressional delegation will heed the views of the state legislature on this critical issue."

REAL ID calls for a uniform system of collecting and storing data used to issue driver's license and state identification cards without mandating uniform privacy and encryption protections. Under the legislation, the federal government and all state governments would be able to access information stored about Illinois drivers and identification card holders from a currently self-contained data system. In February 2006, the Secretary of State's office was able to repel more than 58,000 unauthorized attempts to access the state's database. Adding fifty-plus backdoors, as required by the new federal law, places the security of this information outside the control of Illinois officials. In addition, the agencies responsible for issuing driver's licenses must verify all documents presented for application for a license or identification card. This means that individuals would no longer enjoy the current benefit of being able to apply and receive a license on the same day. Rather, if REAL ID becomes reality, a person seeking a license or identification card would be compelled to stand in line to apply, wait for one's documents to be verified, and then return to complete the process for receiving a driver's license or identification card.

"REAL ID is a flawed idea that cannot be fixed," added the ACLU's Yohnka. "It is time to repeal this law and focus on measures that actually enhance our national security."