A May deadline looms. The Real ID law is touted by Homeland Security officials as an anti-crime and anti-terror measure, the question is, how is this law going to affect your privacy and mine? This is the question that many states are asking and the reason why some states are protesting its existence. After-all this would be a computer database “linked” together with our personal information… how secure could this possibly be? Could this contribute to more identity theft?

May is the supposed deadline but some states are requesting extensions to comply, and according to one article this extension is only an attempt to put off the inevitable… One major issue at this point for residents of those states opposing Real ID is the uncertainty of what will happen if they attempt to board a plane for example… at this point it’s not clear what solution will exist if residents do not have a Real ID. The likely solution would be an extremely slow moving line at the airport for those residents who are without this new identification, however, this law will not only affect air travel but also entry to government buildings and possibly a lot of other privileges including making certain purchases.

Information stored on the ID card includes at a minimum: name, birth date, sex, ID number, a digital photograph, address, and a “common machine-readable technology” that Homeland Security approves.

It appears that Real ID is going to happen but the question is… will May be the month?