Wednesday, February 20, 2008

ACT NOW!! : ACLU Real ID Petition

I have just read and signed the petition:

"Stand Firm Against the Privacy-Violating National ID Card"

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/549332544

Please go there and add your name to the list.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Texas Real ID extension until Dec. 31, 2009

NOTE: Beat the Chip. org frontpage goes live between now and tommorrow. I will be on the air tonight between 6 and 8 PM CST on We The People Radio Network (www.wtprn.com) discussing the May 11th deadline for implementation and why Texas is so important to the politics of Real ID.

Wouldn't you know just in time for Valentine's Day came an official document per the officical status of Texas Real ID extension issued a document, " that the Department of Homeland Security has granted your request for an extension of the compliance date until December 31, 2009. "

We also heard back from theDepartment of Public Safety's spokeperson, Tela Mange on the matter of a budget concerns and which tech contractor would be getting the money for the ID:

"We have not finalized the budgetary impact based on the release of the final rule. The extension does not affect the budget. The Texas legislature will have to address both the statutory changes as well as the budget in the 2009 session. We currently contract with Digimarc for production of licenses and have contractual authority to amend that contract to include possible Real ID changes. Real ID is out of the contractual scope for the current contract we have with Bearingpoint (software). "