National ID cards

Privacy advocates have long held that a national ID card would be a big invasion of privacy. Some say that the Social Security Card is just that, but it isn't. You aren't required to have one, so long as you don't earn any money. Attempts to get such cards in place have failed in the past, which is why people are looking with suspicion on the new attempt to nationalize drivers license standards.

The new standards would mandate minimum security features, as well as prohibit granting the licenses to illegal immigrants. What they don't do is mandate that the license data be shared with the federal government.

Why is this a big deal?

Because in every state, the driver's license (or state ID card for non-drivers) is seen as a primary ID document. The driver's license is used anywhere ID needs to be confirmed, which includes anytime you pass a check, attempt to get on an airplane, or apply for a job.

We do not have state ID cards in the sense that National ID cards would be. They are not required by law to have. They are required de facto, in the sense that it is nearly impossible to do business without one. This is the way privacy invasions start in the US; started by business, codified into law by lawmakers after enough time has passed.

In a sense, we already have a national ID card. It's called a passport. Since everyone already has a Driver's License (or rather, most everyone) there is little to no need to carry a passport in addition to a DL if you aren't planning international travel. Cashiers in stores frequently aren't sure how to handle a passport when they ask for a DL after getting passed a check. Should more companies start requiring a passport for proof-of-identity, adoption rates will pick up. If the federal government should pass a law requiring that the passport also contain home-address, you will be seven tenths of the way to a new national ID card.

The UK is considering implementing a new ID card. Details here.

The UK has a weaker tradition of privacy than the US does (and so does Canada, keep that in mind the next time you threaten to migrate there), so this kind of thing doesn't get rejected out of hand with the same vehemence it does here. There you see that they are planning to link the passport with the national ID card. The ID card would be a separate piece of plastic from the passport, but obtained at the same time. To quote:

Ministers say they do not expect compulsion until 80% of people have the cards anyway - although this is not spelled out in the bill.

In essence, only make having one mandatory when almost everyone already has one. This is to pick up the ID-card resistors out there. Adoptions at that level would require private industry buy-in, making the ID-card a preferred document for proving identity. The same thing would have to happen here.

The proposed driver's license standards are just an itty bitty step towards a US national ID card.