Tag: digital id

2 weeks before Real ID deadline, 28 Kentucky lawmakers ask for another delay

The federal Real ID deadline is just two weeks away, and with less than 40% of Kentuckians eligible for driver’s license compliant, 28 state senators are asking the federal government to again delay the move.

Currently, just 36.3% of Kentuckians eligible for a driver’s license have a Real ID, the state says.

Sen. Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon, chair of the Kentucky Senate Transportation Committee, joined 27 other state senators this week calling for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to delay the May 7 deadline. The letter, dated April 17, says Kentucky “isn’t fully prepared” for the change.

“If the REAL ID requirement moves forward as scheduled, it will further strain already overburdened regional offices and create unnecessary hardship, particularly for seniors, rural residents, and working families who struggle to access the necessary documents or transportation,” the letter says. “Some measures were passed in the last legislative session, but these will not be implemented before May 7.

The state senators asked Noem for “another reasonable extension” to ensure a smooth rollout.

In Louisville, lines are growing as people rush to get their Real IDs. A quick search Wednesday of upcoming appointments at local branches showed no openings.

John Woodford was at the branch at Broadway and 29th Street in west Louisville on Wednesday. He said he’d been in line for more than 30 minutes.

It’s hard for time slots, it’s too long, (and) there’s not a big enough place for us,” Woodford said. “… Everybody wants to get here early, so it’s going to be a line when you get here early.”

With just two weeks left before the deadline, many people wish the branches could do more to accommodate the people waiting like extending hours or offering more places or space to service people who need the Real ID.

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Real ID: Phony Security, Real Authoritarianism

Those who hoped the second Trump Administration would reject big spending, war, and restrictions on liberty continue to be disappointed. A new disappointment came when Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced her department would in May begin enforcing the REAL ID law.

Passed in 2005, the REAL ID Act created federal standards for driver’s licenses. The law requires everyone applying for a driver’s license to provide the DMV with his social security number, proof of legal residence, and two proofs of his home address. The REAL ID Act allows the Homeland Security Department to mandate, as it sees fit, the including of addition items in the related government database, including “biometric” identifiers. Biometric identifiers include personal data such as retina scans, fingerprints, and DNA.

People who doubt that this database will be used to violate the rights of US citizens should ask what a present-day J. Edgar Hoover — a former FBI director who was notorious for collecting private information on politicians and other prominent individuals — would do with a database containing personal and even biometric information on American citizens. They should also consider the IRS’s history of targeting presidents’ political opponents. Americans also have the threat of violations of their rights by hackers. The government has a poor track record of protecting data of US citizens.

REAL ID’s supporters deny the law turns state driver’s licenses into national ID cards because states have no mandate to implement REAL ID. However, citizens of any state that refuses to adopt REAL ID will be unable to use their state-issued IDs for boarding an airplane or riding on a train.

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Digital ID Dangers: Whistleblower Alleges Massive Security Failures in UK’s GOV.UK One Login Digital ID System

UK’s digital ID scheme, GOV.UK One Login, allegedly contains a host of serious vulnerabilities affecting security and data protection, that are “built in” and present in the system since its launch.

These claims come from a whistleblower, a security expert who worked for the Government Digital Service (GDS, a part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology). The most grave consequences stemming from the flaws – that the whistleblower first pointed out through proper channels in 2022, only to be ignored – would include data breaches.

Another threat from more than half a million system vulnerabilities that they said were identified is identity theft. At this time, some three million people in the UK use the system to access 50 government services.

The security expert, whose identity has not been revealed in reports about the brewing scandal, asserted that thousands of vulnerabilities identified were rated as either critical or high.

The whistleblower’s account of the events suggests the authorities went for a slapdash approach to setting up the digital ID infrastructure, not only from the technical but also from the policy point of view.

“Basic” governance and risk management were not in place, according to the source, while the £330 ($436.70) million in funding arrived thanks to the business case that featured “misleading claims” regarding the quality of the scheme’s security.

And when the decision was made to outsource development to Romania, it came without GDS CEO’s approval, and without consultation with the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC).

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UK MP’s call for digital identity to “tackle illegal immigration”

It turns out that the solution to illegal immigration is instituting a nationwide system of digital identity, issued to every baby at birth and containing all your social, education, financial, medical, and employment information.

At least, according to the 40 or so Labour MPs who co-signed an open letter calling for such a system.

Of course, that digital ID could solve the immigration “problem” should come as no surprise. After all, it can solve every “problem”.

It can make sure our elections aren’t rigged. It can protect our children on the internet. It can prevent the spread of disease. It can lower crime. It can tackle truancy and benefit fraud. It can government eliminate inefficiency.

Oh, it’s good for the economy too!

Yay!

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Top Streamer Says Violent Threats on Reddit Will Lead to Real ID For the Internet

Top streamer Asmongold predicts that the sheer amount of violent threats being posted on Reddit will grease the skids for an Internet ID system that will end online anonymity.

Since Donald Trump took office, the far-left website has seen a massive uptick in threats of violence targeting Trump, people in his administration and conservatives in general.

Last month, Reddit temporarily banned multiple pages after users began posting threats aimed at staff working for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“Time to hunt,” one user posted, while another asserted, “Lets drag their necks up by a large coil up rope.”

According to popular streamer Asmongold, the deluge of threats will provide a pretext for the government to mandate tying a person’s real identification to their online user accounts.

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Tony Blair urges Starmer to bring in national digital IDs to use against the populist right

Former Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair wants his successor as British premier and Labour Party leader, Sir Keir Starmer, to impose a digital ID regime, in part to “flush out” anti-mass migration populists. 

“What the populists do is they take a real grievance and they exploit it but they very often don’t want to have a solution because solutions are much tougher than talking about problems,” Blair said, adding: “The grievance would be on immigration that the thing is out of control. The grievance would be on crime that we’re not doing enough on it. So you say, ‘OK, here’s what you do’. And then you have a big political fight. The populist is forced to choose. You’ve got to create an agenda that the other side has to respond to.”

Right-wing populists do offer solutions to Britain’s record-breaking mass migration influx – for example, simply capping visas issued at a set level – but in an interview with The Times,[1] Blair implies they have no proposed policy fixes and that digital ID can fill this gap.

“We are putting in place the building blocks for it, so that’s good. But we should embrace it fully and roll it out as soon as we can because it will have an immediate set of benefits,” the Iraq War architect told the newspaper, which revealed he is in regular contact with Prime Minister Starmer and his Cabinet.

“There will be a big debate coming down the line – and this is the political argument people should have – which is: how much privacy are you prepared to trade for efficiency? … My view is that people are actually prepared to trade quite a lot,” he argued, adding: “I think it’s a political debate the Government will win. It will also flush out a lot of people who want to talk about issues like immigration or benefit fraud but don’t actually will the means to get to the end.”

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Cyberattack on Ukraine Exposes The Dangers of Digital ID Systems

Ukraine’s reliance on its new digital identity systems has become a warning about the dangers of digital ID, as a recent cyberattack exposed critical vulnerabilities in the country’s digital infrastructure.

Last month, several key government databases were taken offline, disrupting essential services like legal filings and marriage registrations. Officials assured citizens that the controversial Diia, the government’s widely used e-governance app, would soon be restored, but the incident laid bare significant risks within the app’s centralized backend platform, Trembita.

This breach, the most serious since Trembita’s launch in 2020, raises urgent questions about the security of Ukraine’s growing dependence on digital IDs and is a clear warning to other countries that are rushing to embrace the controversial tech.

Trembita, the platform enabling Diia’s operations, functions as a digital network connecting government databases. While officials insisted it operated as designed during the breach, cybersecurity experts are sounding alarms. Mykyta Knysh, a former Ukrainian security official, described the platform’s centralized architecture as a dangerous “single point of failure.” Warnings about these risks had surfaced before — security analysts cautioned in 2021 that consolidating sensitive personal and administrative data under Diia would leave Ukraine exposed to large-scale attacks.

The Russian hacking group XakNet has claimed responsibility for the attack.

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The madness of digital ID in the Netherlands

Digital identity is not just a passport that you will have on your iPhone in digital form. It involves almost everything the government would want to know about you. And yesterday in a Dutch media outlet, we saw a perfect example of what it could entail in the near future. We had the CEO of one of the largest banks in the Netherlands saying, why don’t we start with a personal carbon credit? Oh, a carbon wallet, she actually called it. So it’s in line with the plans that the people at the World Economic Forum have for us. And she said it in a way that was particularly funny. She said, well, if everyone gets a personal carbon credit, why don’t we make it so that rich people who, for example, want to go on vacation a little too often, can buy personal carbon credits from other people who, for example, can’t afford to buy plane tickets or eat meat too often? “So we can swap them out that way.”

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Just Like Clockwork, the Propaganda Push for Digital ID Kicks Into Gear in the UK

After avoiding the issue for years, the legacy media are now trying to manufacture public complacency and consent for the government’s digital identity — and by extension, CBDC — agenda.

On July 5, the day Keir Starmer became UK prime minister, we wagered that a Starmer government would intensify the push to roll out a digital identity system in the UK — a country that has, until now, resisted all recent attempts to introduce an identity card system, including, most notably, by Starmer’s backroom consultant and mentor, Tony Blair.

Unfortunately, that prediction has proven to be pretty much on the money. Since taking office, the Starmer government has:

  • Launched the new Office for Digital Identities and Attributes, with the task of overseeing the country’s digital ID market. As of October 28, almost 50 organizations with DIATF-certified services had been added to the office’s register.
  • Pledged to roll out a digital ID card for army veterans. As in the US, the UK government is also looking to launch a digital driving license by next year.
  • Announced plans to introduce digital ID legislation for age verification purposes, meaning that young people will soon be able to use digital ID wallets on their phones to prove they are over 18 when visiting pubs, restaurants and shops.

Now, the propaganda is kicking into gear, and the main selling points, as always, are speed and convenience.

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Here are a few of the new laws taking effect in the US in 2025

At the end of last year, The Epoch Times highlighted the more notable new laws that will take effect in US states in 2025.  The outlet noted several new laws are set to take effect in 2025, impacting various aspects of life in the United States, including digital content creation, kids’ social media use and more.

Most of these laws are not unique to the US and throughout the West people are familiar with the underlying agenda that has given rise to such laws.   Judging by these laws alone, it is hard not to feel that the West is experiencing or being forced into a crisis of moral decline, with some places more in crisis than others.

Abortion

In New York, a constitutional amendment enshrining abortion as a right will become enforceable on 1 January 2025, although its full implications are still unclear as state law already protects abortion through foetal viability and in cases involving a risk to the mother’s health or life.

The amendment to the New York constitution also bars discrimination based on characteristics such as national origin, gender identity and gender expression.  Opponents argue that the amendment could lead to the expansion of other constitutional rights such as transgender surgeries for minors, male participation on female sports teams and voting rights for non-citizens.

Seven other states have passed amendments to expand or protect abortion access, with most either already in effect or facing legal disputes.

REAL ID Enforcement

The REAL ID Act, passed by Congress in 2005, established minimum security standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards. The Department of Homeland Security has delayed the enforcement of REAL ID multiple times due to the covid-19 pandemic. The enforcement date for REAL ID compliance is 7 May 2025.

From that date, all US adults will be required to present REAL ID-compliant identification to fly domestically and access certain federal facilities.  All REAL ID-compliant cards will have a star symbol on the upper portion of the card, with US passports also being an acceptable form of ID.

Digital Replication and AI

California will enforce two laws protecting the voices and likenesses of actors and performers from digital replication through artificial intelligence, requiring professionally negotiated contracts and banning the commercial use of digital replicas of deceased performers without their estate’s consent.

Similar laws will also be enforced in Illinois, which has banned the distribution of AI-generated audio or visual replicas of a person without their consent and expanded the definition of “child pornography” to include digitally manipulated or created depictions.

Children’s Social Media Use

In Florida, a new law will prohibit children ages 13 and under from joining social media platforms starting on 1 January 2025, and require parental consent for those aged 14 and 15 to create social media accounts, with civil penalties and liabilities imposed on non-compliant platforms.

California has introduced a law requiring parents or guardians of children who perform in monetised online videos to set aside a percentage of the minor’s gross earnings in a trust for their benefit.

Another California law, expanding the Coogan Law, will require employers of child influencers to set aside 15 per cent of their gross earnings in a trust, providing additional protections for child actors and influencers.

Ten Commandments in Louisiana Classrooms

In Louisiana, a law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in all public classrooms is set to take effect on 1 January 2025, despite a federal judge finding the law “facially unconstitutional” and temporarily blocking its enforcement.

Louisiana Attorney General Elizabeth Murrill is appealing the injunction, arguing that it only applies to the five school boards named in the lawsuit and plans to work with the remaining schools to ensure compliance.

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