Luckily...

our government is inept enough, that this probably won't happen for a while. But on the other hand, Bush seems pretty hell-bent on making this a Big Brother country, with no privacy, or personal freedoms.

Where rubber meets the road in privacy debate

New federal requirements for driver's licenses rev up the arguments

Any hope we may have of keeping government, industry and criminals out of our personal business is scheduled to vanish completely in 18 months, privacy advocates say.

That's when the federal government's Real ID Act is to be fully in place, effectively setting up a national identification program by requiring states to adopt strict new high-tech standards for driver's licenses and ID cards if they are to be accepted by federal authorities at places ranging from airports to U.S. courthouses.

The act's passage last year has crystallized the U.S. debate over the delicate balance between individual privacy rights and the government's desire to securely identify travelers, applicants for federal benefits and anyone else who may pose a threat to its security or economy..

Real ID's looming implementation has fueled sky-is-falling rhetoric from a broad spectrum of groups. They say it will push the United States firmly toward an Orwellian surveillance society in which the federal government can track our every move. The personal data of every American with a driver's license or state ID card also will be far easier for businesses and criminals to obtain, cost billions to implement and do very little to fulfill its stated aim of increasing homeland security, they maintain.

"It is a very large step toward a national-identification, you-have-to-have-your-papers type of world," said Melissa Ngo, staff counsel of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.