If you went to a political protest, would you want the FBI or the police to be able to know that? Would you want them to be able to identify everyone who was there, even if nothing illegal transpired? If radio frequency identification (RFID) becomes part of your driver’s license, this scenario will come true.

With RFID as an integral part of your driver's license, it would be possible for anyone with an RFID reader to 'see' whatever data the RFID chip had stored in it. The information is broadcast ‘in the clear’ and transmits without any prompting. It is the same technology used in the EZ-Pass system today.

A driver's license is one piece of identification that most people carry with them. If RFID were to be included, any nearby person with an RFID reader would be able to obtain the information contained on your license without your knowing. This data includes your name, home address, and driver’s license number.

Kent Willis, executive director of the Virginia ACLU, says that with RFID in driver's licenses, "FBI agents, for example, could sweep up the identities of everyone at a political meeting, protest march, gun show, or Islamic prayer service."

Virginia's consideration of RFID for its licenses comes at a time when members of Congress are pushing for a national identification card. Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.) has introduced H.R. 5111, "[t]o enforce restrictions on employment in the United States of unauthorized aliens through the use of improved social security cards and an Employment Eligibility Database, and for other purposes." Dreier’s bill would require employers to hire only those people who presented a valid federal identification card. The information on the card would then be checked against a large government database.

Other legislation is pending in the Senate, sponsored by John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.). The Senate bill would give the Department of Homeland Security "a blank check ... to design a national driver's license."

Giving a federal agency such power may be unconstitutional. The 10th Amendment states that, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution ... are reserved to the States respectively." The federal government is not granted the power to create a national identification system anywhere in the Constitution. Therefore, it is a power "reserved to the States."

I urge everyone to oppose the use of RFID in driver's licenses, and to oppose the creation of a national identification system. Neither proposal will make this country safer, but each will take away some of the freedom and liberty our nation is supposed to represent.