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National ID card hinted
Privacy concerns raised by some
By LANCE GAY, Scripps Howard News Service
WASHINGTON -- Privacy advocates worry that provisions buried in the
intelligence bill President Bush is to sign today will lead to a
national identification card.
Little-noted
measures included in the legislation that reshuffles intelligence
agencies order states to begin issuing new fraud-proof birth
certificates, and new driver's licenses with standardized data encoded
on them are set for 2006.
The legislation also orders states to stop putting Social Security numbers on licenses.
What
data will be included on licenses and how it will be used in federal
databanks is not yet clear. The legislation only requires the data to
be "machine readable," leaving the issue of what data to collect to the
Department of Transportation and the Department of Homeland Security.
Regulations concerning fraud-proofing birth certificates are to be
drafted by the Department of Heath and Human Services.
"There's
a problem," said Marc Rotenberg, a Georgetown University law professor
who serves as executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information
Center, a Washington think tank.
"There
are two directions they can go here. One is to reduce the likelihood of
fraud and counterfeiting of driver's licenses, which we all would
applaud. Or they could link this all together in a new national
database, which is what they should not do."
Rotenberg
called the measure "not quite half a step towards a national
identification card" because its full impact has not yet been
determined.
The
bill, which Congress adopted earlier this month after stripping out
controversial immigration provisions, carries out key recommendations
of the 9/11 Commission, including establishing standards for birth
certificates and driver's licenses.
But
James Plummer of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse noted that all but
one of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 had valid American identification --
including driver's licenses -- and that the changes Congress has
ordered wouldn't prevent terrorists from obtaining the new and more
secure documents.
"This is a bunch of troubling language," said Plummer. "I don't think this solves the issue at all."
Plummer
said he's concerned that the measure, for the first time, sets federal
standards on documents like birth certificates and driver's licenses
that traditionally have been matters for states to decide.
The
legislation states that within two years, U.S. government employees
won't accept any driver's licenses or birth certificates issued by the
states that don't comply with the new fraud-proof requirements. That
means drivers from states that don't comply with the new requirements
will be unable to use their state licenses as identification to get
past federal airport screeners and board an aircraft.
"It's
definitely crossing over into a national ID system, something this
country hasn't seen before and something that was more a feature of
Eastern European systems during the Cold War," he said.
Plummer
said it raises privacy concerns because driver's licenses are used
today in determining eligibility to conduct many routine activities. It
is a basic document used by Americans to vote, buy guns, open bank
accounts, cash checks and check into hotels.
Organizations
ranging from the American Civil Liberties Union to the American
Conservative Union to the Gun Owners of America oppose the measure,
saying it would give too much power to federal bureaucrats to decide
who could get a valid license.
This story appeared on Page A2 of The Standard-Times on December 17, 2004.
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