Social Security card

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Eighty-two percent of Americans support the use of biometric identification on passports, according to a recent survey conducted by TRUSTe, the leading online privacy certification and seal program, and market information group TNS. Three-quarters of Americans support the addition of biometric information to driver's licenses and nearly as many (72.6 percent) support adding it to Social Security cards.

How do you feel about the prospect of having to painstakingly document who you are next time you get a driver's license, and then do the same thing five years later when you have to renew? That's the burden that would be placed on Americans under the federal Real ID law passed in 2005 and scheduled to go into effect in 2008. The act requires - among many other things - that motor vehicle departments verify, copy and store both in paper and electronic form all the foundation documents such as the birth certificate and Social Security card required to prove your identity, and to keep those records for up to 10 years.