February 27, 2007 12:22PM # Who You Gonna Believe, Me or Your Lying Eyes? By [Jim Harper](https://www.cato.org/people/jim-harper) --- SHARE Here’s Representative Barbara Cubin’s (R‑WY) letter to state legislators regarding the REAL ID Act, as [reported in the Casper Star-Tribune](http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2007/02/27/news/wyoming/ea81d4c602e315e48725728f0003e51d.txt): “The new driver’s licenses will allow state and federal law enforcement to check the authenticity of a license, but will not grant access to state databases of private information.” Now here’s section 202(d) [of the REAL ID Act](http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:H.R.1268): > To meet the requirements of this section, a State shall adopt the following practices in the issuance of drivers’ licenses and identification cards: … > (12) Provide electronic access to all other States to information contained in the motor vehicle database of the State. > > > (13) Maintain a State motor vehicle database that contains, at a minimum– > (A) all data fields printed on drivers’ licenses and identification cards issued by the State; and > > > (B) motor vehicle drivers’ histories, including motor vehicle violations, suspensions, and points on licenses. Who you gonna believe? ##### Related Tags [Defense and Foreign Policy](https://www.cato.org/defense-foreign-policy), [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Technology and Privacy](https://www.cato.org/technology-privacy), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).