The initial discussion tracks will be as follows:

This track is facilitated by Colleen Gilbert, Executive Director of the Coalition for a Secure Driver License. This discussion track of the MIT Real ID online forum is focused on the assertion that a secure driver license is needed for reasons of national security, especially as an anti-terrorism measure. In addition, the scope of this track includes assertions that the Real ID Act can help combat common frauds and crimes such as identity theft, by creating a more reliable state issued identity system that is easily linked at the national level.

This track is facilitated by Lee Tien, Senior Staff Attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. This discussion track of the MIT Real ID online forum is focused on the assertion that the Real ID Act of 2005 represents a National ID Card that will result in violation of the privacy rights and other civil liberties of Americans and others who are lawfully in the jurisdiction of the U.S. In addition, other constitutional issues related to this exercise of federal authority in an arena traditionally controlled by the states is in the scope of this discussion.

This track is jointly facilitated by David Lewis, Former CIO, Massachusetts and Chairman of American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators Committee that implemented the National Commercial Driver License and by Barry Goleman. This discussion track of the MIT Real ID online forum is focused on the assertion that the Real ID Act of 2005 has important, and perhaps unforeseen, implications at the practical level for state governments who are required to comply with the provisions of this statute. How would the cards and underlying data systems and business practices be implemented in a way that is effective, efficient, compliant with federal deadlines and other requirements and within the available budget and other resource constraints of the states? Within the scope of this discussion are other potential models to look at as examples, such as the existing national system for commercial driver licenses, implemented at the state level. How the physical and online systems will be architected and built, whether or how they will interoperate, the access rights and other safeguards and protections that will be present or absent will all be factors in the over all discussion of the ramifications of this new federal statute.

This track is facilitated by Dan Combs, President of Global Identity Solution. This discussion track of the MIT Real ID online forum is focused on the assertion that the Real ID Act of 2005, once widely implemented, will be an important foundation for the convergence of physical identity and digital identity systems. This assertion is based on the fact that the Real ID statute requires that each compliant driver license be encoded with a particular data model of information and that the information be "machine readable". As discussed elsewhere on this online discussion, the machine readable aspect of the new nationally standard driver license will create a strong market to use these cards as part of signing on to all manner of web sites, e-commerce and e-government applications. Given that the Real ID card will have linked information that will serve as a physical token of identity (like current driver licenses and other physical identity cards like an employee badge or a passport) as well as a source of digital identity for the Internet and other software systems and applications, it can represent a widely used "killer app" for converging digital and physical identity for access controls, authorization and many other purposes.

This track is facilitated by Professor Michael Froomkin, of the University of Miami School of Law. This discussion track of the MIT Real ID online forum is focused on ideas, proposals and dialog around how to best balance the competing and apparently conflicting interests triggered by the Real ID Act of 2005. Professor Froomkin will use as a starting point, his recent article entitled "The Uneasy Case for a National ID". Within the scope of this discussion are practical, business, technical, legal and policy aspects of the Real ID Act that will need to be harmonized acceptably once the provisions of this new law go into effect. It is expected that this track will begin mid-week.

We encourage you to comment on as many topics associated with each discussion track as interest you. Please also consider commenting on the comments of others. The facilitator for each discussion track will, from time to time, jump in the dialog to keep it moving, answer questions (if appropriate) or toss in additional aspects of the topic for consideration. Please feel free to use the built in blog features, such as tracking back to any blog entries you may have and syndication. To participate in the discussion, simply click the "comment" button associated with the topic you would like to join in with.

If you log in before 3pm on Monday, September 19, 2005, it is likely that not all the initial statements for each discussion track will yet be posted. Feel free to comment on any track that is available when you log in, and please check back later today and through the rest of this week to see how the conversation develops. As new topics are added or other important changes are made, we’ll try to send a reminder to you from time to time this week to let you know.

Finally, if you have comments on the software itself, we’d be interested to hear them. This is a test of the blog platform provided by typepad, which we are evaluating for possible future use. We think it is pretty nifty, but your feedback and suggestions will be invaluable as we make our final selections.

Again, thank you for your interest in this important and timely event. We look forward to your participation.

Best regards,

- Daniel J. Greenwood

Lecturer, Media Lab of MIT

Director, MIT E-Commerce Architecture Program