13:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
15:2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.
Here is the mark
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-PIyL3ke24&mode=related&search=
Is the REAL ID THE NUMBER? Remember we are called to overcome not just the mark but also the number of his name (note the OR in 13:17 and the AND in 15:2)
Note the beast is a Man
7:9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number *, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
Number in 7:9 is a verb rather than a noun. The multitude consists of persons which no man could number. Does this limit those in the multitude to those who did not receive the number?
http://www.epic.org/privacy/id-cards/epic_realid_comments.pdf
REAL ID CREATES A NATIONAL ID SYSTEM
Throughout the history of the United States, its people have rejected the idea of a national identification system as abhorrent to freedom and democracy. The REAL ID Act and the draft regulations to implement it create a de facto national identification system, and the Act must be repealed.
A. Americans Have Consistently Rejected a National ID System
When the Social Security Number (SSN) was created in 1936, it was meant to be used only as an account number associated with the administration of the Social Security system.5 Though use of the SSN has expanded considerably, it is not a universal identifier and efforts to make it one have been consistently rejected.6 In 1973, the Health, Education and Welfare Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Automated Personal Data Systems rejected the creation of a national identifier and advocated the establishment of significant safeguards to protect personal information. The committee said:
We recommend against the adoption of any nationwide, standard, personal identification format, with or without the SSN, that would enhance the likelihood of arbitrary or uncontrolled linkage of records about people, particularly between government or government-supported automated personal data systems. What is needed is a halt to the drift toward [a standard universal identifier] and prompt action to establish safeguards providing legal sanctions against abuses of automated personal data systems.7
In 1977, the Carter Administration reiterated that the SSN was not to become an identifier. In Congressional testimony in 1981, Attorney General William French Smith stated that the Reagan Administration was “explicitly opposed to the creation of a national identity card.”8 When it created the Department of Homeland Security, Congress made clear in the enabling legislation that the agency could not create a national ID system.9 In September 2004, then-Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge [director of Savi Technology a manufacturer of microchips] reiterated, “[t]he legislation that created the Department of Homeland Security was very specific on the question of a national ID card. They said there will be no national ID card.”10 The citizens of the United States have consistently rejected the idea of a national identification system.B. REAL ID Is Not Voluntary
Supporters of REAL ID point to the legislation, which says that State implementation is “voluntary.” However, States are under considerable pressure to implement REAL ID and citizens who fail to carry the new identity document will find it impossible to pursue many routine activities, The administration has also pursued a heavy-handed assault on those who have raised legitimate questions about the efficacy, cost, and impact of the $23B program. Critics of REAL ID have been labeled anti-security. In Congressional testimony, a high-ranking DHS official said, “Any State or territory that does not comply increases the risk for the rest of the Nation.”11 It is not anti-security to reject a national identification system that does not add to our security protections, but in fact makes us weaker as a nation. This system is also an unfunded mandate that imposes an enormous burden upon the states and the citizenry. The federal government has estimated that REAL ID will cost $23.1 billion, but it has allocated only $40 million for implementation and has told the states that they may divert homeland security grant funding already allocated to other security programs for REAL ID.12 Design standardization means that anyone with a different license or ID card would be instantly recognized, and immediately suspected. The Department of Homeland Security already contemplates expanding the REAL ID card into “everyday transactions.”13 It will be easy for insurance firms, credit card companies, even video stores, to demand a REAL ID driver’s license or ID card in order to receive services. Significant delay, complication and possibly harassment or discrimination would fall upon those without a REAL ID card. In actuality, the “voluntary” card is the centerpiece of a mandatory national identification system that the federal government seeks to impose on the states and the citizens of the United States.C. Regulations Create a De Facto National ID System
The Department of Homeland Security draft regulations would (1) impose more difficult standards for acceptable identification documents that could limit the ability of individuals to get a state drivers license; (2) compel data verification procedures that the Federal government itself is not capable of following; (3) mandate minimum data elements required on the face of and in the machine readable zone of the card; (4) require changes to the design of licenses and identification cards (5) expand schedules and procedures for retention and distribution of identification documents and other personal data; and (6) dictate security standards for the card, state motor vehicle facilities, and the personal data and documents collected in state motor vehicle databases. These regulations create a de facto national identification system. State licenses and identification cards must meet standards set out in the regulations to be accepted for Federal use. REAL ID cards will be necessary for: “accessing Federal facilities, boarding commercial aircraft, and entering nuclear power plants.”14 The Supreme Court has long recognized that citizens enjoy a constitutional right to travel. In Saenz v. Roe, the Court noted that the “‘constitutional right to travel from one State to another’ is firmly embedded in our jurisprudence.” 15 For that reason, any government initiative that conditions the ability to travel upon the surrender of privacy rights requires particular scrutiny. This is particularly relevant under the REAL ID regulations, as they affect 245 million license and cardholders nationwide. REAL ID could preclude citizens from entering Federal courthouses to exercise their right to due process, or from entering Federal agency buildings in order to receive their Social Security or veterans’ benefits.
DHS may compel card design standardization, “whether a uniform design/color should be implemented nationwide for non-REAL ID driver’s licenses and identification cards,” so that non-REAL ID cards will be easy to spot. 16 This universal card design will lead to a national identification system, combined with the mandate under the proposed regulations imposing new requirements on state motor vehicle agencies so that the Federal government can link together their databases to distribute license and cardholders’ personal data, create a national identification system. 17 DHS also has
considered expanding the official uses for the REAL ID system, going so far as to estimate that one of the ancillary benefits of REAL ID implementation would be to reduce identity theft – a reduction DHS bases on “the extent that the rulemaking leads to incidental and required use of REAL ID documents in everyday transactions.”18 There are other ways in which DHS has contemplated expanding the uses of the REAL ID system so that the card becomes a national identifier – one card for each person throughout the country. 19--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5 EPIC & PRIVACY INT’L, PRIVACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS: AN INTERNATIONAL SURVEY OF PRIVACY LAWS
AND PRACTICE 47 (EPIC 2004).
6 See Marc Rotenberg, Exec. Dir., EPIC, Testimony and Statement for the Record at a Hearing on Social
Security Number High Risk Issues Before the Subcomm. on Social Sec., H. Comm on Ways & Means, 109th
Cong. (Mar. 16, 2006), available at http://www.epic.org/privacy/ssn/mar_16test.pdf; EPIC page on Social
Security Numbers, http://www.epic.org/privacy/ssn/.
7 Dep’t of Health, Educ. & Welfare, Sec’y’s Advisory Comm. on Automated Personal Data Systems,
Records, Computers, and the Rights of Citizens (July 1973), available at
http://www.epic.org/privacy/hew1973report/.
8 Robert B. Cullen, Administration Announcing Plan, Associated Press, July 30, 1981.
9 Pub. L. No. 107-296, 116 Stat. 2135 (2002).
10 Tom Ridge, Sec’y, Dep’t of Homeland Sec., Address at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns
Hopkins University: “Transatlantic Homeland Security Conference” (Sept. 13, 2004), available at
http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/speeches/speech_0206.shtml
11 Richard C. Barth, Ass’t Sec’y for Policy Development, Dep’t of Homeland Sec., Testimony at a Hearing
on Understanding the Realities of REAL ID: A Review of Efforts to Secure Drivers’ Licenses and
Identification Cards Before the Subcomm. on Oversight of Gov’t Management, the Federal Workforce &
the District of Columbia, S. Comm. on Homeland Sec. & Governmental Affairs, 110th Cong. (Mar. 26,
2007) [“DHS Testimony at REAL ID Hearing”], available at
http://hsgac.senate.gov/_files/Testimonybarth.pdf.
12 REAL ID Draft Regulations at 10,845, supra note 1.
13 See Data Collection Expansion discussion, infra Section IX (DHS plans to expand uses of REAL ID).
14 REAL ID Draft Regulations at 10,823, supra note 1.
15 526 U.S. 489 (1999), quoting United States v. Guest, 383 U.S. 745 (1966).
16 REAL ID Draft Regulations at 10,841, supra note 1.
17 Id. at 10,825.
18 Dep’t of Homeland Sec., Regulatory Evaluation; Notice of Proposed Rulemaking; REAL ID; 6 CFR Part 37; RIN: 1061-AA37; Docket No. DHS-2006-0030, at 130 (Feb. 28, 2007) [“Regulatory Evaluation”], available at http://www.epic.org/privacy/id_cards/reg_eval_draftregs.pdf.
19 See Data Collection Expansion discussion, infra Section IX (DHS plans to expand uses of REAL ID).
See the 666 in the barcode.
http://www.av1611.org/666/barcode.html
Agape <><
Mark Rouleau
rouleau-law@insightbb.com