A National ID: AAMVA's Unique ID

[John Gilmore]

> The solution then is obvious, don't have a big central database. Instead use
> a distributed database.

Our favorite civil servants, the Departments of Motor Vehicles, are about
to do exactly this to us.

They call it "Unique ID" and their credo is: "One person, one license,
one record".  They swear that it isn't national ID, because national
ID is disfavored by the public.  But it's the same thing in
distributed-computing clothes.

The reason they say it isn't a national ID is because it's 50 state
IDs (plus US territories and Canadian provinces and Mexican states) --
but the new part is that they will all be linked by a continent-wide
network.  Any official who looks up your record from anywhere on the
continent will be able to pull up that record.  Anyplace you apply for
a state license or ID card, they will search the network, find your
old record (if you have one) and "transfer" it to that state.  So
there's no way to escape your past record, and no way to get two cards
(in the absence of successful fraud, either by citizens or DMV
employees).

This sure smells to me like national ID.

This, like the MATRIX program, is the brainchild of the federal
Department of inJustice.  But those wolves are in the sheepskins of
state DMV administrators, who are doing the grassroots politics and
the actual administration.  It is all coordinated in periodic meetings
by "AAMVA", the "American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators"
(http://aamva.org/).  Draft bills to join the "Unique ID Compact", the
legally binding agreement among the states to do this, are already
being circulated in the state legislatures by the heads of state DMVs.
The idea is to sneak them past the public, and past the state
legislators, before there's any serious public debate on the topic.

They have lots of documents about exactly what they're up to.  See
http://aamva.org/IDSecurity/.  Unfortunately for us, the real
documents are only available to AAMVA members; the affected public is
not invited.

Robyn Wagner and I have tried to join AAMVA numerous times, as
"freetotravel.org".  We think that we have something to say about the
imposition of Unique ID on an unsuspecting public.  They have rejected
our application every time -- does this remind you of the Hollywood
copy-prevention "standards committees"?  Here is their recent
rejection letter:

  Thank you for submitting an application for associate membership in AAMVA.
  Unfortunately, the application was denied again. The Board is not clear as
  to how FreeToTravel will further enhance AAMVA's mission and service to our
  membership. We will be crediting your American Express for the full amount
  charged.

  Please feel free to contact Linda Lewis at (703) 522-4200 if you would like
  to discuss this further.

  Dianne 
  Dianne E. Graham 
  Director, Member and Conference Services 
  AAMVA 
  4301 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 400 
  Arlington, VA 22203 
  T: (703) 522-4200 | F: (703) 908-5868 
  www.aamva.org <http://www.aamva.org/>  

At the same time, they let in a bunch of vendors of "high security" ID
cards as associate members.

AAMVA, the 'guardians' of our right to travel and of our identity
records, doesn't see how listening to citizens concerned with the
erosion of exactly those rights and records would enhance their
"mission and service".  Their mission appears to be to ram their
secret policy down our throats.  Their service is to take our tax
money, use it to label all of us like cattle with ear-tags, and deny
us our constitutional right to travel unless we submit to being
tagged.

We protest.  Do you?

	John Gilmore