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Thursday, October 7, 2004
LIFE WITH BIG BROTHER
Lawmakers consider 'smart' driver's licenses
Computer chip's signals allow data to be read from a
distance
Posted: October 7, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
A controversial technology already planned for tracking consumer
products could be used to create "smart" driver's licenses that emit
signals readable from a distance, according to federal and state
government officials contemplating ways to fight identity fraud.
Radio frequency identification, or RFID, could help thwart terrorists
who use falsified documents to get around, say Virginia lawmakers who will
hear testimony on the technology's uses, reports Wired.com.
As WorldNetDaily
reported, a Johnson & Johnson executive recently told industry
leaders that in the future, the RFID chips will be "on everything from
diapers to surgical instruments."
On the driver's licenses, the computer chips would emit a radio signal
bearing the holder's unique, personal information. Virginia is considering
adding biometric data such as fingerprints and retinal scans to the RFID
tags.
But privacy advocates fear government could use the technology to spy
on citizens and believe it could make identity theft even more
complicated.
Government agents could, for example, easily identify large numbers of
protesters in a march, and crooks could mine personal information from the
wallets of passersby on a street corner, Wired.com said.
A government also could track the movement of its citizens by coupling
global positioning data related to satellites with information from card
readers that translate the signals.
Advocates of the technology insist, however, the fears are exaggerated.
"Putting a chip or biometric data on a driver's license doesn't change
one iota the rules under which that information can be used," said Robert
D. Atkinson, vice president at the Progressive Policy Institute, according
to Wired.
But Virginia lawmakers say they need to be convinced the technology
cannot be easily abused.
"I can't see us using RFID until we're comfortable we can without
encroaching on individual privacy, and ensure it won't be used as a Big
Brother technology by the government," Joe May, chairman of the Virginia
General Assembly's House Science and Technology Committee, told Wired.
Some privacy advocates worry about the capability of reader devices to
sense signals from a distance. Tests have demonstrated broadcast ranges of
up to 30 feet.
Opponents also point out federal legislators could require states to
conform with uniform "smart card" standards, effectively turning the
licenses into a national ID that could be read anywhere in the country.
But costs will be a factor as states face the burden of complying with
the federal standards.
"It could easily become yet another unfunded federal mandate, of which
we already have $60 billion worth," said Cheye Calvo, director of the
transportation committee at the National Conference of State Legislatures,
according to Wired.
Previous stories:
Tiny
tracking chips will be 'everywhere'
Fears
of national ID with driver's licenses
