The State of California, 21 years after the original passage of the Real ID Act of 2005, and during the most dangerous federal administration seen to date, is preparing to upload state Department of Motor Vehicles data to the private Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators Database (AAMVA). The upload is expected to be authorized in the upcoming state budget.
AAMVA is a private not for profit owned by the DMV’s of the 50 states. It provides a host of data verification services to motor vehicle departments through its aamvanet system, which connects to all DMV’s and a host of federal agencies, including the Social Security Administration, the Department of Transportation, the Selective Service and Homeland Security.
The State to State Vehicle Sharing System or SVS, whose purpose is to compare driver names and the last five digits of SS#’s so that states do not issue more than one Real ID to the same individual is supposedly walled off from the feds inside of aamva.net, but we continue to have concerns about the strength of that firewall as well as AAMVA’s vulnerability to a subpoena with a gag order.
Everything You Ever Wanted Know About Real ID on the Papers Please blog.
Oakland Privacy’s Letter of Concern to the Budget Committees of the State Senate and State Assembly