Jim is the Director of Information Policy Studies at The Cato Institute, the Editor of Web-based privacy think-tank Privacilla.org, and the Webmaster of WashingtonWatch.com. Prior to becoming a policy analyst, Jim served as counsel to committees in both the House and Senate.
John Yoo has a deeply self-indulgent, book-promoting essay in the Philadelphia Inquirer today about the legal case filed against him by convicted terrorist Jose Padilla. A commenter on Volokh quotes Yoo, takes his point, and makes him downright ridiculous.
Think about what it would mean if Padilla were to win. Government officials and military personnel have to devise better ways to protect the country from more deadly surprise attacks.
Yes that would be horrible.
Too funny. Legal merits aside, I guess we should all be with Padilla now!
C|Net News reports that DHS Assistant Secretary for Policy Stewart Baker called today for national ID checks when Americans buy prescription drugs. This is yet another in a growing list of activities that federal authorities would bring within their control should the national ID system created by the REAL ID Act be implemented.
The eminently savvy Baker was unintentionally ironic when he reportedly said he “doesn’t ‘understand’ the civil liberties objections to the plan.”
At his press conference announcing the REAL ID Act last week, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said:
We are not going to have a national database. REAL ID does not require that states start to collect additional information from applicants that they have not already created. We are not going to wind up making this information available willy-nilly. In fact, the steps we are taking under REAL ID will enhance and protect privacy rather than degrade and impair privacy.
[A]mong the things we’re doing under REAL ID is requiring that state motor vehicle agencies have in place background checks and security plans for their databases at – in terms of the motor vehicle information. Traditionally, again and again we have seen corruption at motor vehicle agencies leading to people improperly disseminating personal information. These security plans and these background checks will actually minimize the risk that employees will improperly take that information and disseminate it.
Meanwhile, Section 508 of the Court Security Improvement Act of 2007, signed into law by President Bush last week, allows federal judges and Supreme Court Justices to withhold their addresses from the REAL ID database system, giving the addresses of their courts instead.
The federal judiciary evidently doesn’t trust Secretary Chertoff’s assurances.
Confirming my suspicions about its involvement, here’s an AP story reporting that Beaverton, OR-based Digimarc spent $350,000 lobbying for the REAL ID Act. Direct lobbying is only a small part of the PR and outreach efforts that go into a public policy effort.
Previously, I noted that Digimarc lost money in 2007. A wounded animal is the most dangerous. I think that may apply to this corporation, which is now clearly a direct enemy of Americans’ freedom.
Today, the Department of Homeland Security issued final regulations implementing the REAL ID Act, our moribund national ID law which several states have already refused to implement.
The regulations, in two parts, can be found here and here.
I will have more to say after examining them, but the House Committee on Homeland Security’s Chairman has already registered his preliminary objections. Cost issues, the difficulty of implementing this national ID, and privacy issues concern Chairman Thompson, who notes that DHS has spent close to $300 million on programs that have been discontinued because of failure to adhere to privacy laws and regulations.
REAL ID is, of course, a wasteful affront to privacy whether or not DHS follows all the rules. The Department is not in a position to correct the errors in this fundamentally misguided policy.
Headliner Stewart Baker from the Department of Homeland Security will be joined by pro-national ID lobbyist Janice Kephart (client: Digimarc) and a guy nobody’s ever heard of named Donald Rebovich.
Must miss! I do wonder what an event like this could be for, as it is assured to be devoid of content. (Rumor has it that the REAL ID Act regulations may come out this Friday.)
The case of Crawford v. Marion County Election Board is being argued in the Supreme Court tomorrow. In a TechKnowledge commentary out today, I argue that the voter ID debate is largely a tempest in a teapot. But teapots can boil over . . .
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology. Learn more about TLF →
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.