THE IDENTITY PROJECT (IDP)

The right to travel freely in their own country is a right that has been taken by Americans as their birthright.  This right is basic, fundamental, and necessary for the free exercise of many of our other protected rights.  Identity-based domestic security programs condition our mobility to freely assemble, associate, speak, and exchange ideas upon the government’s permission to do so.

Demands on citizens to ‘show their ID‘ have spread from airports to all major forms of long distance public transport.  Some of these ID-based programs check people against secret government lists or profile and score them with secret algorithms.  Some of these programs are simply tests of the traveler’s obedience.  Dissent through public protest is in danger of being chilled by the fear of ending up on government lists.  We are witnessing the advent of a national ID card, passed by Congress as the Real ID Act.

With private data aggregators being used for ‘national security’ purposes; and the ability to use technology to consolidate a wealth of personal information on citizens and have it accessed by both governmental and private agencies, the right to be left alone is under serious threat.

IDP shines a spotlight on these serious issues.

For our first twenty years, from 2004 to 2023, the Identity Project was part of the First Amendment Project.  In 2023, we were amicably spun off as an independent project.