Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2002 18:09:09 EST
From: freemanaz@aol.com
Subject: [azpeace] New driver's licenses threaten to become national ID
To: azpeace@yahoogroups.com
Reply-To: azpeace@yahoogroups.com


http://www.freemarket.net/rd/96681726.html

New Driver's Licenses Pit Privacy Against Security

Tuesday, January 08, 2002


WASHINGTON  In the future, when you flash your driver's license to a police 
officer, be careful  someone else may be watching you.


A new generation of driver's licenses that the federal government is 
developing with the states would contain electronically stored information 
such as fingerprints and could allow authorities to easily track citizens 
nationwide.

Supporters claim that with careful use, these new licenses could alert 
authorities to an attempt by a suspected terrorist to board an airliner, 
withdraw cash or enter the country  all in-demand precautions after Sept. 11

But privacy experts argue that the plan is simply a way to bystep widespread 
public opposition to federal ID cards. 

"What you're seeing here is sort of a hardening of the driver's license that 
could lead to development of a national ID system without creating a national 
ID card," said Marc Rotenberg, head of the Washington-based Electronic 
Privacy Information Center. 

"If they start scanning these things, they can track where I go," said 
Richard Smith, former chief technology officer for the Privacy Foundation, an 
advocacy organization in Denver. "If we do this, come up with a national 
standard, there's no difference between a driver's license and a national ID 
card."

The Transportation Department, under Congress' instruction, is expected to 
develop rules for states to encode data onto drivers' licenses to prevent 
criminals from using them as false identification. 

Congress told the department it would strongly encourage officials there to 
develop guides quickly with states for electronically storing information on 
licenses. "This could benefit the nation's efforts to improve security," 
lawmakers wrote, and could cut down on financial fraud and underage drinking. 

Transportation officials told The Associated Press the department's new 
security administration probably will take charge of the project, still in 
its early stages. Already, 37 states store information on licenses 
electronically, often using bar codes or magnetic stripes, but few are known 
to have included fingerprints or imprints of retinal- or facial-scans. 
Georgia, for example, includes a digital thumbprinton its licenses. 

Some experts said the cards' state issue could make them easier to swallow.

"The debate after Sept. 11 showed that Americans are instinctively suspicious 
of a single federally issued card, but they might be more sympathetic to 
identifications issued by businesses or perhaps states," said Jeffrey Rosen, 
a leading privacy expert and associate law professor at George Washington 
University. 

Even supporters admit the impact of a national tracking network could be 
significant, especially if groups as diverse as retailers, sports stadiums, 
banks and movie theaters begin to demand ID checks using licenses. 

"They're giving these systems too much credit in even assuming that somebody 
would be able and interested to track everybody's whereabouts and doings," 
said Nathan Root, standards director for the American Association of Motor 
Vehicle Administrators. He added, however, that critics' warnings "aren't 
totally without merit. There should be some controls placed, some kind of 
accountability." 

The Asociated Press contributed to this report.


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