"This Tuesday, the US Senate is scheduled to vote on the implementation of a national ID card system. The Real ID Act is nothing less than a Real National ID Act. The only thing left to the individual states is to decide which pretty picture they will choose to put on the card: everything else will be controlled by Washington DC bureaucrats."

The REAL ID Act would establish a vast national database of ID holders, where even a small percentage of errors would cause major social disruption. The ID would essentially be an internal passport that would be shown before accessing planes, trains, national parks, and court houses - an irresistible target for forgers and identity thieves. It would also divert resources from security measures that could actually work.