Government Taking Steps to Encode Personal Data on Driver's Licenses

ASSOCIATED PRESS, January 10, 2002 -- The government is taking first steps with the states to develop driver's licenses that can electronically store information - such as fingerprints - for the 184 million Americans who carry the cards.

Privacy experts fear the effort may lead to de facto national identification cards that would allow authorities to track citizens electronically, circumventing the intense debate about federal ID cards.

Supporters said it was predictable after September 11, and after a briefly raucous debate about U.S. identity cards, that officials would turn to improving existing identification systems. With careful use, they say, these new licenses could alert authorities if a suspected terrorist attempted to board an airliner, withdraw cash or enter the country.

The Transportation Department, under instructions from Congress, is expected to develop rules for states to encode data onto driver's licenses to prevent criminals from using them as false identification. Under a new national standard, a license from California could be verified and recorded using equipment even in Texas or Florida.

In the Conference Report accompanying the funding legislation, Congress told the department it would "strongly encourage" officials there to develop guides quickly with the states for electronically storing information on licenses:

Model guidelines for encoded data on driver's licenses.-- In light of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, it is clear that all levels of government need to work in concert to deter and prevent future attacks. One means of doing so is to ensure that individuals asked to identify themselves are not using false identities. The increasing availability through the internet of expertly crafted false identification makes the task very difficult. The conferees are aware of technology, existing today, that can quickly scan any encoded data on the reverse of a driver's license to validate the license as legitimately issued. By reviewing personal data encoded on the license, it can also be used to assist in making a quick determination that the person displaying the license is the person to whom it was issued. The conferees strongly encourage the department to consider the development of model guidelines specifying the types of encoded data that should be placed on driver's licenses for security purposes, and to work in concert with states and related licensing bodies toward the early implementation of such measures. This could benefit the nation's efforts to improve security as well as assist in reducing fraud and underage drinking.

Transportation officials told the Associated Press this week that 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.

"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 Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).

"If they start scanning these things, they can track where I go," said Richard M. Smith, former chief technology officer for the Privacy Foundation 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."

Nathan Root, standards director for the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, said, "When you look at the expense of improving what we have already versus implementing a new national ID document, the hassle and expense just don't compare." He said, "It would be a better idea just to work with what we have."

The association, based in Arlington, VA, has already developed detailed guides for storing information on licenses. Its current rules do not require states to include biometric data, such as fingerprints or retinal scans, but that could change. "It was not practical, not before Sept. 11," Root said. "It wasn't popular to include anything like that."

The association represents all the state motor vehicle agencies in the United States and Canada, and counts as associate members the U.S. government and Mexico.

Privacy experts said a broadly adopted new standard for machines to check state ID cards could allow authorities easily to track citizens nationwide, using a state license everyone is already accustomed to carrying.

"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 A. Rosen, a leading privacy expert and associate law professor at George Washington University.

Even supporters acknowledge that the impact of a national tracking network could be significant, especially if groups as diverse as retailers, sports stadiums, banks and movie theaters begin demanding 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," Root said. But he also said critics' warnings "aren't totally without merit. There should be some controls placed, some kind of accountability."

Root said he favors limits on which organizations can check the authenticity of a license against state records, since that check could create an electronic record of the citizen's location and business. "It doesn't mean the liquor store has a need," he said.

Motor Vehicle Group Backs High-Tech Driver's Licenses

January 14, 2002 -- The Washington Post reports state motor vehicle officials today plan to ask Congress for up to $100 million to create a national identification system that would include high-tech driver's licenses and a network of tightly linked databases of driver information. Shortly after the attacks, officials from the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators floated the idea of adopting cards containing fingerprints, computer chips or other unique identifiers to improve security, saying that driver's licenses have already become the "de facto national identification card." Full Story.

Read the New York Times' article of 1/8/02, "Upgraded Driver's Licenses Are Urged as National ID's."

Read the Washington Post's article of 12/17/01, "National ID Card Gaining Support" (second in the "A Changed America: Privacy" series of occasional articles).

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