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Wed, 11 May 2005

A National ID for the US by Claudio


Yesterday the US Senate passed a bill that requires all state drivers licenses to conform to a new standard, and it also creates a US wide database of drivers. Some interesting points to note, especially if you come from CH:

  • The "Real ID" provision was attached to a bill about spending an additional $87billions in Iraq. While combining unrelated stuff into one bill is a standard practice in the US senate there are several US states that prohibit this, and I cannot remember ever seeing such a law passed in CH (propositions cannot combine subjects, but I don't think that applies to laws).
  • Europeans don't care usually about country wide IDs, as they have existed for a long time already in most countries. However, in the US a large part of the citizen are very much against such an ID. In fact, if you tell them that in most countries in Europe you have to register with the town in which you live they look at you as if you come from another planet. Such a concept is unheard of here.
  • The fact that one does not have to register has interesting side effects:
    • if you need to prove that you live in a certain area of a town (for example in order to send your kids to the local school) the following documents help: utility bills (gas, electric, water, garbage), lease payments, mortgage payments.
    • It also made it very hard for banks to establish your identity, which is one reason why the credit history companies are so important: by having a long history of debts (credit cards, tuition, car, and house, each time with your current address) you can establish that you lived in some place for a while and payed your dept back. However, that all depends mostly on your social security number and name as a search key, so if someone gets access to it (and your birthday) they can usually get a credit card in your name (a.k.a. Identity theft, a big problem in the US).
  • The US ID is actually a drivers license. Kids don't have one. However, you can get a drivers license that says that you are not allowed to drive if you need an ID anyway.
  • The ID is available for everybody living legally in the US for a longer period of time (after all, they do need a local drivers license), while in Europe the ID is only for citizen, and the drivers license is a separate piece of paper or plastic.
  • The US already has a national ID called "Passport". However, I've personally witnessed that merchants did not accept a US passport as an ID, and required a state ID (i.e. the drivers license).

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