Federal REAL ID Jeopardizes Civil Liberties and Security
 
Bipartisan Coalition urges Pennsylvania to reject REAL ID
 
Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania (LPPA)
Green Party of Pennsylvania (GPPA)
 
For Immediate Release
January 14, 2008
 
For more information contact:
Michael Robertson (LPPA Chair) at 1-800-R-RIGHTS / chair@lppa.org
Hillary Aisenstein (GPPA Chair) at 1-267-971-3559 / hillarya@pobox.upenn.edu
 
 
Harrisburg, PA – Two of Pennsylvania's political parties found common ground and issued a joint announcement to fellow Pennsylvanians calling on the General Assembly to reject the federal REAL ID Act. In 2008, Pennsylvania will be required to begin implementation of the REAL ID Act, mandating that driver’s licenses contain specific personal information, providing the federal government with a database of all records, and developing the ability to track citizens. This will result in a never before seen massive collection of personal information.
 
Intended to enhance domestic security, REAL ID instead makes us more vulnerable. According to Berks County State Representative Samuel Rohrer, “There are no safeguards in this Act to sufficiently guarantee that this massive national database will not be compromised.”
 
To make matters worse, negotiations are underway to share database access among participants in the North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA) to allow bureaucrats in Mexico and Canada access to our personal information.
 
Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania Chair Michael Robertson noted “There is opposition to REAL ID because of the costs to implement this system, but the threat posed by this Act to civil liberties and personal security cannot be measured in dollars.”  Governments could easily require the REAL ID for bank and credit card transactions; healthcare purchases; public event admittance; or firearm and ammunition purchases, all of which would become part of the database. 
 
Marakay Rogers, a civil rights attorney from York, who also serves on the Green Party of PA Steering Committee, said “Under the cover of a so-called War on Terror, our government has steadily eroded the rights and liberties of citizens, immigrants, and visiting foreigners.  The REAL ID legislation is one more effort to invade our privacy at the state level.”
 
"A national ID system will redefine privacy as we know it,” observed State Senator Mike Folmer, �