The REAL ID Act mandates a de facto national ID card for American citizens by requiring each state to meet the same set of guidelines in order for a state ID card to be recognized as legal identification for "official purposes." Such applications, determined by the Department of Homeland Security, include commercial air travel and entry into federal facilities.

REAL ID requires all states to follow the new requirements for issuing driver's licenses and ID cards by May 11, 2011, with all people under age 50 required to have a compliant ID by December 1, 2014. All remaining citizens have until December 1, 2017.

Important changes to REAL ID rules include the implementation of a barcode, as opposed to an easily hackable RFID chip, on an ID card. State DMVs will be allowed to set their own rules on sharing name and gender history with other states, and such history will not be accessible through the ID card's barcode. States are also given leeway on recording a person's gender when, for example, Social Security and driver's license records differ.

"Though the final regulations are improved from the draft version," says the NCTE, "they still have significant flaws. The final DHS rules still invade personal privacy, create a bureaucratic nightmare, and will cost Americans billions of dollars."

"The rules," the notice goes on, "fail to provide adequate privacy protections (including protections against data capture by third parties), fail to offer recourse for individuals caught in bureaucratic breakdowns, fail to provide funding, fail to provide systems as required by the REAL ID Act, and fail to provide any protections against terrorism, the supposed purpose of REAL ID. These failures illustrate fundamental problems not just with the final rules, but with the REAL ID Act itself."

NCTE urges all Americans to speak out against REAL ID by contacting state representatives to urge rejection of compliance, and telling federal representatives to support bills S. 717 and H.R. 1117.

The entire report, in PDF format, is available to read HERE.