Oppose Checks of Insecure REAL ID for Job Seekers

[BurtWorm]

The following is from an e-mail I received from the Center for Democracy and Technology. It includes information for NY residents, but there's an e-mail addres where residents of other states can find their senators' phone numbers:


Dear Activist:

Oppose Checks of Insecure REAL ID for Job Seekers

The Senate immigration bill (S. 1348) contains a provision that would
require all Americans to present a REAL ID card before they can get a
job. The bill could be brought up before the full Senate soon,
perhaps as early as the week of June 18.

Regardless of what you think about immigration reform, and regardless
of whether you favor or oppose creation of a national ID card, you
should be worried about this provision.

The REAL ID (which is supposed to be a tamper-proof driver's license)
hasn't even been developed yet yet, so it is premature to start
requiring people to use it to prove their citizenship to get a job.

And REAL ID could turn into a real nightmare because the government
has failed to develop privacy and security rules for the data that
will go on the card. Without privacy and security standards, that
data can be swiped and skimmed and used to compile databases for all
kinds of purposes.

For further information, see CDT's extensive review of the privacy and
security flaws with the REAL ID http://www.cdt.org/security/identity/
and our recent blog post on the immigration bill's REAL ID mandate
http://blog.cdt.org/2007/06/05/real-id-creeps-into-the-immigration-
debate/.

Make Your Voice Heard - Take Action Today - Three Easy Steps

1. Call Senator Schumer at 202-224-6542 and Senator Clinton at
202-224-4451.

Ask for the staffer who handles immigration issues.

Why we don't suggest sending email:
http://www.cdt.org/action/noemail.shtml

2. Tell the staffer that the REAL ID provision should be deleted from
the immigration bill before it is brought back to the Senate floor.
If the REAL ID language remains in the bill, tell your Senators that
you support Senate Amendments 1236 and 1441, which would strip any
mention of the REAL ID Act from the immigration bill..

Use these words if you feel tongue-tied:

Staffer: Hello, Senator Schumer's office.

You: Hi, I'm a constituent and I have been very concerned about the
lack of privacy protections in the REAL ID Act. Now there's a
provision in the immigration bill that would require all Americans to
show a REAL ID card to get a job.

I'm calling to encourage the Senator to tell the sponsors of the
immigration bill, S. 1328, to remove the REAL ID provision from the
immigration bill before it goes back to the Senate floor.

Otherwise, I ask the Senator to support Senate Amendments 1236 and
1441. These amendments would strip any mention of the REAL ID Act from
the immigration bill. We should not be expanding the mission of the
REAL ID - it hasn't even been implemented yet, and DHS has not yet
established privacy and security protections for the personal
information on the card.

The REAL ID is not suitable to become a national ID card, but that is
what will happen if the immigration bill requires all potential
employees to present a REAL ID card before they can work. This would
be a disaster for the privacy of Americans.

Staffer: I'll tell the Senator. Thanks!

3. Tell Others

Tell your family and friends to call their Senators as well. You can
refer them to this URL: http://www.cdt.org/action/immigration/ so they
can look up the phone numbers of their Members of Congress. Feel free
to include links to that page in blogs as well.

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