Rose, I noticed your question about the limited passport has not been answered. First off, passports are a federal document and states don't have any control over them. A U.S. passport is valid for 5yrs. We go to a federal office such as our post offices or other authorized facilities to obtain a passport. Limited passports simply acknowledge that a change is expected within one year of issuance. In this case the change is gender and the required documentation is simply as Nicole mentioned, a letter from the psych and surgeon confirming the appointment and the surgery is irreversable, and your current birth certificate. The limited passport then can changed to a permanent passport once the new documentation, amended birth certificate, is submitted and then the remainder of the 5yrs reflects the change. The limited passport helps explain any discrepancies between the passport and the traveler.

Hugs,
Marsha

Last year REAL ID -- the Bush administration's plan to turn state driver's licenses into a national ID card -- was stopped by a heroic grassroots effort. Ultimately, an amazing 23 states enacted anti-REAL ID bills or resolutions, driving a stake into the heart of that monstrous proposal.

But a national ID is just too terrible an idea not to appeal to power-hungry Demopublicans.

And so the fight is on again. REAL ID is back, under the name PASS ID and with the support of both Comrade Obama and the Department of Homeland Security. And like its predecessor, PASS ID is radical Big Brother legislation of the very worst kind.

PASS ID, introduced in the Senate on June 15, will create America's first-ever national ID card. Like REAL ID, PASS ID will subject every driver's license applicant to a "mandatory facial image capture" resulting in a holographic photograph readable by face-recognition technology (which opens the possibility of tracking by surveillance cameras). A digital signature and other biometrics are also required.

Each driver's license will also contain machine-readable bar codes with unique numbers for each individual, which critics warn could be used to amass databases of citizens who attend gun shows, transgender support group meetings or other "controversial" events.

PASS ID further allows the use of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) chips to identify and track individuals, though it does not (yet) mandate them. Homeland Security has already worked with some states to develop RFID-chipped licenses which emit signals that can be read as far as twenty feet away.

PASS ID requires states to conduct national background checks on all driver's license applicants -- by running their names through federal immigration, Social Security and State Department databases, as well as the driver's license databases of other states.

Further, as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) notes: "your driver's license will have to be PASS ID-compliant if you plan on using it to board an airplane or enter any federal facility more critical to homeland security than your local post office." Those attempting to fly without PASS IDs will be subjected to time-consuming and invasive interrogation and searches.

Even the name PASS ID--whether intentionally or not--sounds like what it in fact is: a national internal PASSport -- a document required simply to travel within our own borders. Or a national "hall PASS" required by our Homeland Security "school monitors" to go about our business. This is something never before seen in America and is a hallmark of tyranny.

PASS ID has eliminated some parts of REAL ID that stirred up opposition. But that's just window dressing. PASS ID is just REAL ID with duller lipstick and a new hairdo: a national ID, posing extreme threats to our freedom.

Should it becomes law, it can quickly and easily be expanded to become even more dangerous. As the libertarian Cato Institute's Jim Harper notes:

"PASS ID places no limits on how the Department of Homeland Security, other agencies, and states could use the national ID to regulate the population. ... A simple law change or amendment to existing regulation would expand those uses to give the federal government control over access to employment, access to credit cards, voting... And these are just the ideas that have already been floated."

PASS ID is a nightmare. It is in complete opposition to the function of the Constitution (limiting the powers of the Federal Government). Americans must urge lawmakers to "PASS up" this miserable proposal unless we wish to see Orwell’s prophesies come to PASS.

I’m only somewhat familiar with the way things go politically in the UK—I have a hard enough time trying to keep track of all the b*llsh*t going on in my home country. From what I know of your turf civil liberties have already been attacked enough simply through the prevalence of cameras. Let alone something akin to our PASS ID or Real ID propositions.

Here many state & city governments have tried to institute cameras similar to those in the UK. But thankfully our local thugs have done an outstanding job of either tearing the cameras off their posts or spraying their lenses with paint. A growing number of citizens have also started carrying small calibre handguns in their cars specifically for shooting at cameras posted on/near traffic signals or in public parks.

Big Brother may be trying to watch us, but if we keep sticking stuff in his eye he won’t be able to see so good!

BTW something else here should be noted…

Social Security was instituted in the USA as a VOLUNTARY insurance. But because when a political ball begins rolling it tends to grow one’s Social Security number has now become more-or-less a national identification number. One cannot purchase a car, a house, visit a doctor, or even open a bank account without providing a SSN.
Recently I agreed to be a co-signer on a credit card for my daughter. Because my SSN could be tracked, just to prove my identity, I was asked questions about places I lived almost 3 decades ago and was asked personal questions about my ex-wife!

Without privacy one cannot have freedom! If this is true for every citizen how does this affect trannies? All I can say is poke the monster in the eye while you have the chance!

If I said anything offensive it certainly wasn’t intended.

The word “trannie” may be taken differently depending on where one goes. My ex-girlfriend referred to herself as a “trannie”, for example. Hel, this site is called “Trannyweb”!

Maybe the implications of the word vary geographically just like the implications of the word “admirer”?

I certainly do not think myself superior to anyone here. Quite the contrary, I see myself more as a guest in a forum such as this. I do, however, get pretty charged up about privacy issues and maybe that’s why you perceive me as coming off so strongly.

Again, if I came across as anything worse than a concerned citizen please accept my apology.

I wouldn't lose sleep over it Steve.
Hugs,
Marsha

Thanks, Marsh Ann!

But in EU countries you can use your driving licence as ID card and it's also enough for travelling between the member states and other countries linked to EU like example Island and Norway. I also did read that in Asia they are now preparing for ASEAN which is the Asian version of EU and they already got national smart card driving license that are valid as passport to travel within the ASEAN countries.

The good thing about smart card ID’s is that they does not show your picture nor gender and only people with card readers can read them like Police, Passport control, hospitals etc. I think that is good enough?

Xxx Natalie

I don't know what the answer to all of this is, short of another revolution. And that could get extremely ugly.

Since I've scheduled SRS in Bangkok for late September, I've had to apply for a "limited" US Passport. It identifies me as female and is only valid for one year. I had to provide the typical proof of citizenship, my Birth Certificate, which has been amended with my female name, but still carries the male designation for my sex. I had to provide a copy of my therapist's referral for SRS letter to my surgeon, and a confirmation letter from my surgeon explaining that after my surgery "...In accordance with all presently accepted medical and legal definitions, the operation will irreversibly and permanently change her sex from male to female..." (The Department of State retained the copy of my therapist's referral letter, and the letter from my surgeon; my Birth Certificate was returned however.)

Of course, the passport has an RFID chip in it.... After I return from Thailand with the properly notarized certification from my surgeon, I will be able to convert my passport to a "normal" passport, valid for the regular term of 10-years.

Recently, as an employee of a transportation company, serving the "Port of Oakland", I was required (by the Dept. of Homeland Security) to obtain a Transportation Worker Identification Card (TWIC), which has some of the most elaborate anti-counterfeiting measures I've ever seen. (It also has a chip in it too.) The funny part is, the TWIC didn't require any actual "proof of citizenship" other than my California Driver's License, but I did have to submit to finger-printing and a photo. The only other time I've been finger-printed, was when I was hired for a job at the Federal Reserve Bank; I was only 17-years old.

I wonder... I may be one of the best documented Transsexuals in America today! LOL!

There are things one can do to trip up the system. Like any war there’s the constant battle between weapons and armour. One can purchase, for example, a phoney IP address for about $10US to cover internet tracks.

I don’t generally support the actions of thugs, but as long as we have kids spray painting the lenses of spy cameras, yes, I fully support them. I’ve cut the RFID tag out of my driver’s licence by using s simple hole punch.

As someone before said (I think Rose?) the battle is a losing one. But the war ain’t over yet!

As Benjamin Franklin pointed out many years ago: “Without privacy one cannot have freedom”.

The big problem with any RFID card is that it is readable at a distance with technology that is quite simple to acquire.

Steve Gibson recently talked about it on Security Now and the dangers of RFID on ID and credit cards.

Security Now Episode #207 is the episode with the discussion on RFID and the implications to privacy and protection of personal information.

Universal IDs are a two edged sword. Having one place to update info when you move would be great. Down side is that everything gets tied together and unless the system is designed from the ground up to compartmentalize and prevent co-relation of data the risk to privacy is very real.

Just my $0.02

Talia

**sighs heavily**

Goddess, what a crock of sh*t!

I thought this piece of cr@p was dead and gone. It's a zombie; it keeps coming back to half-life.

Fight this. Bad enough Social Insecurity is being used to ID everything; now they'll be able to track us. Reeks of Nazi Germany to me.

Will we as Transpeople have to leave en masse? Can we set up a place where we can be free from this idiocy? (Didn't we have a thread about forming our own tranny village at one time?)

As for being called tranny---I'll take that over transvestite any day. (ugh. I'm gonna have to rinse my mouth out, I find that term so distasteful. )

Luv 'n hugs,

Mina

Uhm, you conspiracy theorists make for great entertainment. You forget that there are billions of people on this planet and so worried everyone is out to get you. In the big scheme of things, you are nobodies that obviously think you're important.
Hugs,
Marsha

Conversely, there is a small group of people that own a vast majority of the wealth and whose economic strategies inevitably affect us billions of "nobodies". It's pretty plain to see that RFID is a big business pipe dream. Put them in everything! Put them on everyone! Finally, a 'free' flow of information!

I'm all for keeping paranoia at bay, but at the same time thinking everything turns out peachy by ignoring the ramifications of decisions which will dramatically affect the future of business and privacy while ridiculing those who do care seems... unwise.

Here's to defeating the silliness again. =)

Irelle, Steve makes this out to be big brother keeping too watchful of an eye on all we do and you make it out to be a plan by big business to better market to us or somehow make money off of us. Clearly two different theories. I can agree with you that too few people control the vast majority of wealth and basically call the shots, so much for democracy, but once again that leaves us as pee-ons that are pretty meaningless in the big scheme of things.

I also see the perfect analogy to this is the CD/TV who stays in the closet fearful of what might happen should he/she venture out. Although there is the possibility bad things may be done or said, the reality is the fear is baseless and there is little likelihood of anything bad happening.

Hugs,
Marsha

Marsha Ann--

And here I thought you knew me better than that. I don't have that inflated a view of myself, nor am I a conspiracy theorist. However...

**grins**

...I wouldn't be so paranoid if my government weren't out to get me!

**more serious tone**

I didn't say I didn't support certain provisions of things such as the PATRIOT act. I just don't like certain other provisions. For example, we do need to tighten our borders; they've been porous for far too long. REAL ID or PASS ID sounds good on the surface. But--if used improperly, mind you--it could really be used to ruin many a life. Sure, we can trust the people right now using it to fight terrorists.

But who decides what a terrorist is?

What if we were to get another President in place, one who decides, for example, that anyone who disagrees with them is a communist or terrorist menace? Or that anyone who protests at an abortion clinic suddenly is a threat to society, and thus a terrorist? Maybe a terrorist is a right wing Christian who listens to talk radio, or a left wing "liberal" who hugs trees! (Your pick.) Or maybe that those of us TG/TS types were a menace to kids, moms, and apple pie, and thus, needs a little extra scrutiny?

It's not the specific use that concerns me. It's the potential for abuses that make me want to shoot this down.

As a TS, I have enough to worry about. I shouldn't have to be concerned about flippin' RFID tags; the stuff I get from WalMart is rife with them. While those are passive, and simply tells them what I buy, an RFID tag in my license and/or passport and/or "national ID card" seems to be an invasion of my privacy. If I want to go somewhere and not be found, for example, I'd have to leave the thing home. But if it's in my drivers license, I can't really do that, now can I?

And goddess help you if the thing gets stolen...perhaps what they need to do is simply imbed the thing under the skin of the right hand...or perhaps on your forehead.

Luv 'n hugs,

Mina

Rose,

I missed your question "Do all US states provide those limited passports?"

US passports are only issued by the US Department of State.

Once the surgery and everything is behind me, I'll have to register with the Social Security Administration (Sort of a national 'retirement' and welfare plan. Employers and employees get the honor to forcibly contribute to the plan, a percentage of our wages.) and the Railroad Retirement Board (similar to the Social Security Administration, but at a higher percentage.) I've been employed under both systems, and provided the plans don't go completely bankrupt, I'll get to collect from both when/if I eventually get to retire. But only time will tell how a change of gender(sex) will eventually affect my benefits.

HI All,
Actually some of you are already being tracked on spend. Many of the new credit cards have RFID tags readable from up to 6 feet away. Most travel stores now offer a RFID shield wallet and or RFID sleeves to make the card only readable when you take it out of your purse/wallet. As far as ID is concerned, Mina is right , we may not need to be concerned at present, but all it would take is another "Dick Chaney" type to ignore our Constitution here in the US and abuse the system.

Hugz,
MichelleLynn

Well big business is inherently tied into the concept of Big Brother (especially its build-up). I was echoing his point while trying to point out the monetary drive behind the political hype. It isn't because some philanthropic multi-billionaires want people safer, regardless of politicians who see it that way - economic concerns are primary here (as usual). It's just one of those things that once it is welcomed by widespread (passive) acceptance it will not go away, and the only solutions to problems brought to the table will be whatever doesn't include scrapping it altogether... like the ongoing failure of the Drug War. I don't plan on relinquishing my future just because there are bigger fish in the pond.

"Living is like working out a long addition sum, and if you make a mistake in the first two totals you will never find the right answer. It means involving oneself in a complicated chain of circumstances." - Cesare Pavese (1908-1950) Italian poet, critic, novelist, and translator

I see what you're saying with your analogy, but I don't think it is exactly apt because yours is related to how people act toward other people (generally okay), and this is more related to how people act around money (generally insane, especially at the top decision-making levels which have massive psychological distance from the consequences of actions - see: poverty, hunger, war). It's a personalized abstraction of a very impersonal idea's consequences for people.

much <3
irielle

Irielle, I agree with much of what you are saying, it is just that I don't see RFID chips being much of an issue for those that just go about their business each day. Of course as with anything, there is abuse. I see this as something that will bother you if you let it.
Hugs,
Marsha

I believe it was Benjamin Franklin who warned: "Without privacy one cannot have liberty". The invasions of one's privacy were certainly much less then than they are today. They had no credit card trails, no SSN, no bar coded items, and couldn't have event dreamed of anything like a national ID card or RFID (they didn't even have a national currency, let alone a national ID)! His biggest complaint was the local church minister getting into everybody's business!

UK Govt is working on something similar...and as they have been doing it for some time it is likely that the infrastructure is in place or production etc...apart from civil liberties - whcih basically I'm not too concerned about - its the mega billions cost that will be a serious problem for many..and then keeping everything up to date will be a nightmare unless the whizzkids have figured out soem unhackable software or design of card...then of course with all the human rights legislation and lotsof legal sharks around how can all the illegals be traced, checked out and carded?

Steve, I did wonder why you ventured into Trannyweb's portals and I still do but can you step away from the bar and all you beer guzzling macho mates for a moment and listen while I say: the word 'trannies' is very derogatory and is what the tabloids use to make life difficult for us all.
Refer to us as transpeople, transsexuals, transvestites or whatever the target you are aiming your 'peeshooter' at , even 'you people' is preferable to labelling us as 'trannies'.
Apart from that I don't like being lectured at by guys whose testosterone makes them think they are superior to us 'transpeople', although it is a backhanded compliment.
Rose

The battle is lost. By the time the idea of an ID card has escaped into the public domain you can be sure that the infrastructure is being put in place and the long term contracts have all been awarded and funded...
I always carry ID cards in the form of bank cards, library card, EU insurance card, driving licence, mobile phone...I think we can all be certain that any of those account numbers can be linked back to any other and to central databases...also every computer that uses any Windows and internet is linked directly to Microsoft and from there to who knows onto what other destination...I'm not bothered at all so long as I'm now listed as female and not 'trannie'...

it's to be hoped that the pople checking your details into all the databases are more throughly checked and documented than you so they don't want to steal IDs.
But its interesting to know you can get a temporary limited passport that should have made you feel good.
Do all US states provide those limited passports?

All else aside, there is one definite issue that bothers me. If I trusted my government 100% for the next 1000 years it would bother me.

The information about me on my credit records is incorrect. This is not credit history but the "facts" that they use to make me prove I am me to access my credit records. Except their information is wrong and I can't guess what "facts" they want from me to prove who I am....so I can not access my credit records to correct the errors that I must guess to access my credit records. This alone is reason enough to not put all our identification eggs in one basket. "It must be right, it's in the Federal Database." Heck I can not even remember all the addresses I lived at. I had 8 addresses by the time I was 8. I lived on two USAF bases that are now civilian territory and have city names they did not have when I lived there. So if someone asks me if i lived in Tinklebells, Iowa and I lived on a Federal land called Slumpkiff Air Force Base, what do I do when they ask me 50 yrs later if I ever lived in Tinklebells. No, I never did, even though that land is now State land and now called Tinklebells. This is just the tip of the iceberg that is getting worse by the day with Identity theft of computer records growing by the day. No thanks. I'll meet Steve on the steps of the Federal Bldg to burn my Federal National ID card. If we all do it things will grind to a halt and they have to back off. I've already tasted the Hell of national personal records using birth date, name and social security number. I do not trust them to keep the records accurate and YES I do not trust them not to abuse it. It's not paranoia. I study this field closely. The only way to be sure it is not abused is to not let it be put in place.

Remember, never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity. Malice is just the next step.

http://aclu.org/pizza/ima[...]een.swf

Is this what we can look forward to?