May 05 2025

The REAL-ID Act of 2005

What is the REAL-ID Act? The REAL-ID Act of 2005 is a Federal law that was hastily enacted by Congress, with almost no debate, during the period of panic after 9/11. States almost immediately realized that it would be expensive to implement and would violate individual rights. But Congress has been unwilling to admit its […]

May 02 2025

Objections to blanket approval for USCIS surveillance of social media

Today the Identity Project, Privacy Times, and Government Information Watch filed comments objecting to a proposal by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for blanket advance approval for USCIS to demand that all foreigners submitting any sort of application to USCIS provide a statement under penalty of perjury a list of all  social media “platforms” […]

Jan 28 2025

Surveillance as a service (SAAS)

Does SAAS stand for “software as a service” or “surveillance as a service”? As we’ve reported previously, the UN Security Council and ICAO have illegally ordered all UN and ICAO members to create national agencies for surveillance of airline passengers and global sharing of airline reservations (PNR) and passenger manifest (API) data. Through bilateral and […]

Jan 15 2025

Maine may stop complying with the REAL-ID Act

A bipartisan group of six Maine state legislators has introduced a bill, L.D. 160, which would repeal all of the provisions of Maine law enabling the state to issue driver’s licenses and state ID cards potentially compliant with the REAL-ID Act of 2005. L.D. 160 was introduced yesterday and immediately referred to the Joint Committee […]

Dec 16 2024

Identification as the enabler of ID-based surveillance and control

Edward Hasbrouck of the Identity Project was a guest today with Prof. David Farber (Keio Univ. Cyber Civilization Research Center) and Prof. Dan Gillmor (Arizona State Univ.) for the CCRC / IP-ASIA weekly online gathering on current issues, discussing the expansion of demands for ID, identification as a service provided by the government to commercial entities, […]

Dec 09 2024

Public/private partnerships for financial surveillance

[Email from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the US Department of the Treasury to some of its banking industry partners forwarding list prepared by Mitsubishi United Financial Group (MUFG) of vendors at DMV (DC, Maryland, and Virginia) airports, train stations, and bus stops, to target reporting of purchases at these locations as “suspicious” […]

Sep 06 2024

Planned new European travel restrictions follow US precedents and pressure

Citizens of the USA and some other most-favored nations have long been able to travel to many European countries for tourism or business without visas or prearrangements and with minimal border formalities, as long as they didn’t stay too long or seek local residence or employment. This is scheduled to change with the imposition of […]