The United States' quest for a national identification database associated with driver's licenses won't be finished by year's end.

The deadline was Dec. 31 for the states to create what would be the largest identification database of its kind under the auspices of the Real ID program. The law also mandates uniform anti-counterfeiting standards for state driver's licenses.

None of the states are in full compliance with the law, first adopted in 2005, requiring state motor vehicle bureaus to obtain and internally scan and store personal information like Social Security cards and birth certificates for a national database, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. About half the states oppose the mandate, or have said they would never comply.

Beginning Jan.1, the law was supposed to have blocked anybody from boarding a plane using their driver's license as ID if their resident state did not comport with the Real ID program. But the Department of Homeland Security is set to extend, for at least a year, the deadline of the Real ID program that has raised the ire of privacy advocates.

Homeland Security officials point to the 9/11 hijackers' ability to get driver's licenses in Virginia using false information as justification for the proposed $24 billion program.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation suggest the plan is misguided, and might pave the way for requiring such IDs to vote or purchase prescription drugs.

"Our biggest concern is that it is a national ID card. It changes the relationship between the citizen and the state," Chris Calabrese, the ACLU's legislative counsel, said in a telephone interview. "We see it as a potential mission creep, and an individual's rights can be curtailed because of this."

Richard Esguerra, the EFF's residence activist, said in a telephone interview Monday and in a recent blog post that the giant database, if it ever comes to fruition, "threatens citizens' personal privacy without actually justifying its impact or improving security."

Map: ACLU

See Also: