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FCPC ALERT #2005-4
www.FairfaxCountyPrivacyCouncil.org
Originally Published on 27 April 2005
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This message is intended for members of the Fairfax County Privacy Council, and
anyone else who might be interested in advancing privacy in Virginia. Maximum
dissemination of this message is encouraged!
Privacy Notice: All communication from the Fairfax Privacy Council is sent
using blind carbon copy ("BCC") format for your security and privacy.
ALERT ITEM SUMMARY:
1. Urgent Action Item: Insist US Senate
rejects “REAL ID Act” language during emergency spending bill conference
2. FCPC quarterly public meeting - Thursday 28 April @
Kingstowne library
3. Action Item: Tell Congress to get serious on PATRIOT Act
reform
4. Not too late to apply for US Passport without surveillance chip
5. Privacy Quote: “We will not make that deadline”
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1. Urgent Action Item: Insist US Senate rejects “REAL ID Act”
language during emergency spending bill conference
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FCPC has just learned that the White House has sent a letter to Republican and
Democratic leadership in the House/Senate conference committee urging them to
include the Real ID Act on the final version of the
Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill intended to supply our troops
in Iraq and provide tsunami relief (see this letter at http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=12991277&url_num=1&u
rl=http://hq.demaction.org/dia/organizations/NILC/images/Supp.Cnf.Lewis.
04.25.05.pdf). Last week the Senate declined to
add the House approved “REAL ID Act” language to the pending federal emergency
supplemental spending bill. But now Senate negotiators are under pressure
to cave on this issue.
TAKE ACTION at both http://www.aclu.org/Privacy/Privacy.cfm?ID=17982&c=39
AND https://secure.eff.org/site/Advocacy?JServSessionIdr003=9lu6qr2513.app8a&page=UserAction&cmd=display&id=119
to urge Senators to reject attempts to add. You have to modify or create
your own subject line – given that the issue will be decided now in joint
conference committee, here is a recommended title: “Oppose Inclusion of
REAL ID Act at Emergency Supplemental Bill Conference”
Additionally, CALL every Senator who represents you –
in every state that you have a residence or other interest. Suggested
message: “I am counting on Senator ____ to oppose any effort by Senate
conferees to allow the REAL ID Act to be added to the pending agency
supplemental spending bill. The REAL ID Act is an unfunded mandate to the
states that’s bad for privacy and bad for
NOTE: It is especially important for folks to call Senator Arlen Specter
of
Read more about the REAL ID act at “License to spy: A national driver’s license
— in reality, a national ID card,” by Richard Sobel,
and other related items, at http://www.libertycoalition.net,
http://www.unrealidea.org/home.html,
and http://www.dcexaminer.com/articles/2005/04/08//opinion/op-ed/25oped08plummer.txt.
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2. FCPC quarterly public meeting - Thursday 28 April @ Kingstowne library
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FCPC will meet at
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3. Action Item: Tell Congress to get serious on PATRIOT Act reform
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Some in Congress are considering ADDING more restrictions on US civil liberties
to the USAPATRIOT Act at the same time as it debates reforming the Act.
As a recent New York Times Editorial warned, “If Congress becomes too bogged
down in the minutiae of the Patriot Act in coming weeks, it will be in danger
of missing the larger picture on restoring civil liberties” (see “Revising the
Patriot Act to restore American liberties,” Editorial, 11 April 2005, as
re-published in full on the Internet at http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/04/10/opinion/edpatriot.html).
TAKE ACTION at http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=17913&c=206
to urge Congress to support corrections to the USA Patriot Act and other
domestic surveillance powers.
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4. Not too late to apply for US Passport without surveillance chip
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While many in Congress and the State Department still continue to support the
“chipping” and facial recognition compliant photographic registration of
Americans (in violation of the Constitutional right to privacy and to travel
internationally), production plans have reportedly been delayed into late 2005
– meanwhile, the ACLU is seeking seeking the results
of tests the government has conducted on the computerized tags it plans to
place on all U.S. passports, charging in a statement that officials have
"inexplicably kept the details of this testing process secret" (see
“ACLU seeks results of tests of chips in passports,” Government Executive, by
Shane Harris, 26 April 2005; http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0405/042605h1.htm
- note, this news item incorrectly notes that the RFID would broadcast the
passport holder’s SSN – this is incorrect as no SSN is printed on the passport,
nor required to apply for a passport; Government Executive has acknowledged
this error to FCPC and is preparing a correction).
But it’s not too late to apply for new passports without Radio Frequency ID
Chips (and presumably without facial recognition compliant photographic
registration) for you and your family. Passports don’t expire for 10
years (5 years for children under 14), and are **lifetime** evidence of work
authorization in the
Interestingly, experts disagree if the Radio Frequency ID Chips will even work
(see “Officials disagree over effectiveness of passport chip,” National Journal's Technology Daily, By
Sarah Lai Stirland,
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5. Privacy Quote: “We will not make that deadline”
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–Elaine Dezenski, acting assistant secretary at the
Homeland Security Department's border and transportation security directorate,
who told the House Judiciary Subcommittee On Immigration, Border Security and
Claims during a hearing Thursday that her department would not have enough
passport readers deployed to every port of entry by Oct. 26, 2005, despite the
billions of dollars that have been spent to implement massive surveillance of
foreign travelers and Americans **already complying with the law** to enter the
United States with proper ID & visas at official ports of entry (see “U.S.
will not be able to read high-tech foreign passports,” National Journal’s Technology Daily, by
Greta Wodele, 21 April 2005; http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0405/042105tdpm1.htm).
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Questions, or to be added/deleted from future Alerts? Contact Mike
Stollenwerk atFCPCChairman@cox.net.