Big Brother Is Watching You

By Justin Hauke on Apr 14, 2008

Here’s an example of one of those hot-button “libertarian” issues.

In 2005, Congress passed the “Real ID Act” as an addendum to an appropriations bill, for the Iraq war and tsunami relief. The “Real ID” Act set national standards for the data that is included on state driver’s licenses, and required states to build and share databases containing licensees’ personal information.

Libertarians find such identifying requirements to be a blatant violation of privacy rights, and a very dangerous precedent (not to mention a fiscal burden to the states).

Rep. Jim Guest (R-Kingwood) has succeeded in suspending the Missouri provision — at least temporarily. It prohibits the state Department of Revenue from amending its procedures to comply with the Real ID Act. It further prohibits the department from collecting, storing, or sharing additional personal data mandated by the act.

I, for one, would like to be free to move around the country without a constant border check and ID scan. If I wanted those, I would have moved to Russia back in the mid-80s … when I was like two years old.