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submitted 19 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) by WindAqueduct@lemmy.ml to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

Please read Section 201(3)-(4) of the Real ID Act:

(3) OFFICIAL PURPOSE- The term 'official purpose' includes but is not limited to accessing Federal facilities, boarding federally regulated commercial aircraft, entering nuclear power plants, and any other purposes that the Secretary shall determine.

(4) SECRETARY- The term 'Secretary' means the Secretary of Homeland Security.

Source: https://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/real-id-act-text.pdf

In other words, the Secretary of Homeland Security has unilateral authority to expand the uses of real IDs. In their 2008 rule, DHS even doubled down:

"DHS does not agree that it must seek the approval of Congress as a prerequisite to changing the definition in the future (except of course to remove one of the three statutorily-mandated official purposes) as § 201(3) of the Act gives discretion to the Secretary of Homeland Security to determine other purposes."

Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2008/01/29/08-140/minimum-standards-for-drivers-licenses-and-identification-cards-acceptable-by-federal-agencies-for

That could include voting, accessing medical care, etc. Do you trust Kristi Noem with this power? Do you trust every future secretary with this power?

If not, I urge you to not get a real id if you don't have one, or turn in your real id for a state one if you do have one, and instead get a passport. The DHS cannot enforce anything if the majority of Americans refuse to get real ids. Let us not just bow down to a national id that invades our privacy and could be used to control us.

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[-] eneff@discuss.tchncs.de 20 points 17 hours ago

This is entirely irrelevant to any member of this community that is not a US citizen.

I would appreciate if you could post things like this in a regional community to avoid generating useless noise for everyone else.

[-] WindAqueduct@lemmy.ml 5 points 12 hours ago

Yeah, and the UK Online Safety Act is only relevant to the UK, so it shouldn't be posted in this community I guess.

[-] xeroxguts@lemmy.dbzer0.com 23 points 17 hours ago

Maybe a compromise could be including "US:" in the title, so others may scroll past

[-] unphazed@lemmy.world 5 points 11 hours ago

This is acceptable. Saw all the OSA posts and thought it was the US because we're looking at similar (possibly worse?) bills against freedom and privacy.

this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2025
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