DAVIS, California – Department of Homeland Security officials got an earful Tuesday during a webcast town-hall-style meeting on the controversial Real ID initiative – a federal government plan to standardize state-issued ID cards and link identification databases nationwide.

States and civil liberties groups have been bristling at the requirements of the Real ID Act, which would require states, starting in 2008, to revalidate citizens' birth certificates, store copies of the documents, and interconnect their databases to prevent duplicate licenses. Current holders of driver's licenses would have to return to their state motor vehicle departments with certified source documents to re-up their licenses as part of the proposed upgrade, which DHS estimates will cost states and citizens $20 billion.

DHS Assistant Secretary Richard Barth, along with other federal officials sitting on the stage in Freeborn Hall at the University of California at Davis, heard personally from transgender activists, anti-domestic-violence workers and ordinary citizens worried about Real ID's privacy impact, and the burden of increased bureaucracy.

John Pinfield, an attorney for California's tax authority, said he took the day off work at the last minute to come register his concerns, which he said cost him $500 and some finagling with his boss.

"You say this is not a national ID card, but it looks like a national ID card to me and looks like a road to a national ID card that is undercover," Pinfield said. "There are people with a lot less money than I have and they will have to make excuses and pleas to get documents and get things done."

The proceeding was briefly interrupted for five minutes when about 50 immigrants-rights protesters stood at the back of the auditorium, clapping and chanting, "Real ID, Real ID, sounds like a racist thing to me." The protesters left, but returned an hour later outside the auditorium with a hundred more chanting supporters. The rules would prohibit states from allowing undocumented aliens from acquiring a Real ID-approved license.

For its part, DHS made its case with little subtlety. "A fraudulent ID card in the hands of a terrorist is a weapon," said Barth, sitting under a projection of 9/11 terrorist Mohamed Atta's Florida driver's license. Barth signaled that DHS was still open to changing the rules based on comments, but he seemed exasperated with the criticism.

"We are trying to make sure no state is the weakest link in letting people do things they shouldn't do, whether that is boarding an airplane, or any other activity we want to prevent," he said. "This is not a national ID card."

The sparsely attended meeting, which was the only public forum on Real ID planned by DHS, was announced only eight days ago.

Members of the Coalition for a Secure Driver's License, an advocacy group founded after 9/11, provided almost all of the citizen support for the rules.

"We live in the 21st century in a time of terrorism," said Neil Berro, the group's executive director. "The driver's license is our linchpin identification and has been for decades."

Lenny Goldberg, who has lobbied for the California-based Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, countered that state motor vehicle departments are in no condition to be part of the national security apparatus.

"We used to have huge long lines at the DMV and we then went to simplified processes with online and mail applications," Goldberg said. "If we hated the DMV then, we will hate it again in the future. Many of us are going to have to go back three times."

State legislatures have been bristling at the requirements of the Real ID Act, which would force states to comply with the regulations or face having their citizens unable to enter an airport security line, or any federal building or courthouse, with their state-issued identification. Maine and Montana have passed laws banning the states from complying with the rules, decrying them as damaging to privacy and impinging upon states' rights.