Real ID Act about to become real

Barry Steinhardt of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has emailed Declan to say:

"Congressional passage of the "Real ID" legislation is now all but a done
deal, House and Senate conferees having agreed to inclusion of language
in an appropriations bill that is all but certain to pass."

And he's not happy:

" In the days after 9/11, President Bush and others proclaimed that we must not let the terrorists change American life. It is now clear that - despite its lack of effectiveness against actual terrorism - we have allowed our security agencies push us into making a deep, far-reaching change to the character of American life."

He makes some important practical points about the scheme in his email and it is worth reading in its entirety.