THE REPEAL DILEMMA
Vendor profit is a poor excuse to allow bad law to continue. Grassroots abolition coalitions are always forming. Discussions about how to do away with bad laws are ongoing in Washington. There is an unnatural attachment to law in Washington, even treacherous, deeply flawed laws like the Real ID Act.
One question being tossed around by analysts and thinkers in Washington is what will replace a repealed law like Real ID once it is gone?
You might get the picture of panicky politicians fretting about the absence of a rotten tooth in the mouth of a massive bureaucratic beast, which breaks teeth, loses teeth and grows new teeth all the time.
A repeal would not simply kill Real ID, it would kill the corporate entitlement check going to an biometrics or ID card vendor. The difference it makes is in the bottom line of those most impacted by the removal of corporate welfare finance.
Washington can simply make new laws tomorrow. That's what they should do in Washington - make laws. The biggest difference here should be in who they make the laws for: individual citizens or public-private interests competing for the taxpayer dollar.
One thing you can be sure of, vendor lobbies don't care about your rights or who you are. You shouldn't leave something as personal as your identity up to them and their pet legislators.
SOURCES:
[1] Information revelation and privacy in online social networks; http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1102199.1102214
[2] Example of identity in political power struggle; http://books.google.com/books?id=OcFEhWRRnFwC&pg=PA149&lpg=PA149&dq=Identity+%26++power+struggle&source=bl&ots=QGEC-xYlrP&sig=fD8Bi0Wb2LO3p-Ipyah1bT6wamY&hl=en&ei=BtbxStipDMSl8QblxuSECQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CCIQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=Identity%20%26%20%20power%20struggle&f=false
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
