- 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
http://snipurl.com/9lq1http://snipurl.com/9lq1
, a Johnson & Johnson executive recently told industry leaders that
in the future, the RFID chips will be "on everything from diapers
to surgical instruments."
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- 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.
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- 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.
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