Upgraded Driver's Licenses Are Urged as National ID's

January 8, 2002

Upgraded Driver's Licenses Are Urged as National ID's
By JENNIFER 8. LEE

Amid calls for a national identification card, state officials are
proposing unified standards for driver's licenses that would allow them to
be used for the same purpose. The proposal would make licenses more
consistent in appearance and information, and would require states to take
the same security measures before issuing them.
The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, which represents
the dozens of authorities that issue licenses, proposes building a system
that would use bar codes and biometrics — identifying individuals based on
unique physical characteristics like fingerprints — and linked databases
that would allow states to share information.
The new requirements would also dictate minimum standards for proving
residency, legal status and identity. The organization is also proposing
that state motor vehicle departments share some information with the
Social Security Administration, the Immigration and Naturalization Service
and law enforcement agencies.
The changes, which significantly expand the organization's role and would
take several years to put into effect, are broad enough to require federal
and state legislative support and financing. Senator Richard J. Durbin,
Democrat of Illinois, is working with the organization on a bill to back
the proposal.
The state administrators say they are simply recognizing what the photo
driver's license has become: a passport to American society that is used
for activities like banking, renting apartments and boarding airplanes.
The organization says this is a cost-efficient and logical alternative to
creating a national ID system.
But critics say the proposed changes give state departments of motor
vehicles powers they were never meant to have, and they fear that states
are rushing to fill a vacuum created by limited federal action on the
identification issue, an idea that rose to prominence after the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks.
"The head of my department of motor vehicles is not the person who I would
want to address the need or implications of a national identification card
system," said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington
University who has testified on national ID's in Congress. "If there was
ever an issue that was designed for the national legislature, it is this
issue."
Civil liberties advocates raise concerns about whether the proposals would
discriminate against poor residents, because they are less likely to
drive, and illegal immigrants, who may fear applying for such a wide-
ranging ID.
More than 200 million valid motor vehicle licenses have been issued by
state agencies. In addition, departments of motor vehicles are responsible
for issuing state-identification cards for residents who do not drive.
With more than 50 motor vehicle agencies regularly changing their license
technology every four or five years, there are more than 200 valid license
and identification formats in the United States.

-- continued --

While states already share some information and a few states use some form
of biometrics, the uniformity and scope of the new system would add
importance to motor vehicle licenses, which are carried by more than 90
percent of American adults.
The states are looking at biometric technologies like facial recognition,
iris scanning and digital fingerprinting to serve as unique identifiers
for individuals.
Some say having power distributed among the states is preferable to a
national ID system administered by the federal government.
"As a general matter, we think it's better to keep it decentralized," said
Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
State departments of motor vehicles came under scrutiny after Sept. 11
because some of the hijackers were able to exploit lax regulations to
obtain driver's licenses in Florida, New Jersey and Virginia.
By linking databases, the proposal is trying to address the fractured
communication among law enforcement, state agencies and the Immigration
and Naturalization Service.
To address privacy concerns, Mr. Durbin has emphasized that Social
Security Administration and immigration records would be used only to
verify a person's name, date of birth, address, Social Security number,
passport number and legal status.
"It is not a carte blanche access to records that could contain many
confidential and sensitive and private information," the senator said.
Barry Goleman, who helped the motor vehicle administrators association
create a national commercial driver's licenses database, said, "The
concept of a unified system is not alien at all."
The commercial database system, which was authorized by Congress in 1986,
was put into place to prevent commercial drivers from hiding poor driving
records through multiple licenses.

Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

In GA, our DLs require both a SSN and a thumbprint! [pissed]

Oh well, they already had mine anyway, from my checkered past, and my carry permit.

Soon we are going to here all over "My I see your Papers please" Or in this matter " My I see your  National ID please"

Here is another article about this.  I am starting to get visions of a future where I swipe my ID card as I enter a movie theater and then swipe it again when I buy my popcorn and then swipe it again when I sit in my seat...

[url]http://www.msnbc.com/news/683953.asp[/url]

I don't for-see the need to swipe your card, as the embedded chip will eliminate that nuisance.  It will be like on TV show Star Trek-the Next Generation, the system can read the chip and tell exactly where you are. The system will open doors for you when you walk near, and so if you are a convicted felon, the door at the local gun store won't open for you.

My post is better.
Contains far less information !

[smoke]