Editor's Note: In "Using Technology to Detect and Prevent Terrorism," Shane Ham and Robert D. Atkinson propose modernizing the ID system run by state motor vehicle departments by using "smart ID cards" with biometric identifiers. The following addresses some frequently asked questions about that proposal.
Is PPI proposing a "national" ID card?
No. A national ID card would be a card issued by the federal government. Smart ID cards would simply put inexpensive computer chips into existing driver's licenses or identification cards. There is no need to build an expensive new bureaucracy when state departments of motor vehicles (DMVs) are already in place to handle the ID system. The federal government should mandate standardized security features for all state-issued cards to make it easier to tell which cards are legitimate (including a biometric-capable chip and a standard hologram). States should also link their individual databases to prevent one person from getting multiple cards in different states. Aside from some slight standardization, there is nothing "national" about smart ID cards.
Will it be mandatory?
No. Like driver's licenses and DMV-issued ID cards, smart ID cards would continue to be voluntary.
Are there economic benefits to smart ID cards?
Yes. Smart cards can jump-start the digital economy by making it easier to perform a multitude of daily tasks, including digitally "signing" documents while online and being able to automate payment functions (like parking garages). But there is a chicken-or-egg problem: nobody carries smart cards because few applications let you use smart cards (or digital signatures) and there are few applications because nobody carries smart cards. Putting a smart card in everyone's wallet creates a network effect that will facilitate widespread adoption of smart card technology in the private sector. Once this happens, a host of productivity-enhancing effects will emerge, not the least of which will be the reduction in fraud that leads to the "hidden tax" we all pay through higher credit card interest rates.
Are there any privacy benefits to smart ID cards?
Yes. In addition to reducing identity theft, which many people consider a privacy issue, smart cards can also protect personal data by controlling access to different levels of information in databases. Passwords are frequently shared or lost, thumbprints are not. Smart cards also make it easier to create a digital paper trail on government employees who access your data. (This might deter, for instance, IRS agents from poking around in the tax returns of celebrities.) The fact is, the technology itself is privacy-neutral, and with the proper rules and regulations, any government or corporate database that requires biometric verification with a smart card could greatly reduce privacy violations.
How can smart ID cards reduce identity fraud and identity theft?
By allowing you to carry your credit cards and ATM cards on board your ID card chip, somebody may steal your card or your card number, but the numbers or cards will be worthless because they won't be able to steal your face or your other biometric scan needed to use these devices.
Will smart ID cards completely eliminate identity fraud?
No. It will still be possible to get the first smart ID card under a false identity with fake underlying documents, such as a forged birth certificate. But because biometric data such as a thumbprint will be captured, it will be impossible to switch identities once the first card has been issued. This may deter someone who doesn't want to give up the chance at ever having a "real" ID card, but those who don't care (such as illegal aliens seeking authority to work) will not be deterred. This is why standards for initial identity verification need to be improved, but that issue is entirely separate from smart cards.
Will smart ID cards turn us into a "show us your papers" country?
No more than is already the case. You need to show ID in order to buy beer, open a checking account, lease an apartment, rent a video, write a check, board an airplane, enter a courthouse, and to do many other things. Yet very few people think we've become like the Nazis in old movies. There are rules that govern the circumstances under which police or other government agents can request to see your identification, and adding a chip to the card will not change those rules.
Isn't it an invasion of privacy to put biometrics such as thumbprint scans onto ID cards?
Driver's licenses and ID cards already contain biometrics: your height, your weight, your eye color, your hair color, your age, and your photograph. Unlike thumb or eye scans on chips (which are encrypted), anyone who sees your card can see your biometrics. Adding encrypted data simply makes it harder to falsify your identity. Furthermore, additional information stored on smart cards (e.g., electronic cash functionality) could be read only when the owner of the card authorizes it.
Will smart ID cards lead to an increase in racial profiling?
ID cards have nothing to do with racial profiling. Profiling occurs when police decide who to question based on race alone. By the time a person shows their ID card, the profiling has already taken place. Smart ID cards will make it easier to catch criminals (by making it harder to lie about identity), and some people argue that easier crime-solving will make racial profiling more fruitful, and therefore make police more likely to use it. The answer to that is not to make it more difficult for police to catch criminals, but to strengthen laws against racial profiling, and punish those officers who rely on it. In some instances, smart ID cards may even reduce racial profiling. Airlines, for instance, could have expedited security procedures for frequent fliers that rely on smart ID cards; an individual who might otherwise be singled out for additional security screening due to race could avoid that with a smart ID card.
Will smart ID cards discriminate against illegal aliens?
No, but it will make it more difficult for them to live and work in the U.S. unnoticed. Congress has long been trying to improve the system to verify worker eligibility, and smart ID cards will make a quantum leap in the efficiency of that system, which will in turn make it harder for illegal aliens to get jobs with honest employers. Many people consider this to be an undesirable side effect of improving the ID system; after all, the vast majority of illegal immigrants are hardworking people trying to make better lives for their families. The solution, however, is to change the rules governing immigration, not to preserve the fraud in the ID system.
Won't smart ID cards require a massive database that will fill up with incorrect information?
Just the opposite. Using biometric scans in ID cards will eliminate faulty data not only from people who seek to get different cards under different fake identities, but also from innocent mistakes such as misspelled or transposed names.
Will the government use smart ID cards to track our movements?
Notwithstanding the fears of conspiracy theorists, smart cards do not work with satellites to track your movements. The best the government could do is maintain records of where and when it asked you to show your ID, something they can already do just by writing down your driver's license number. Showing your smart ID card to buy a beer would no more be able to be used to track a person than a driver's license is now. Smart ID cards will not change any of this.
Won't smart cards let grocery store clerks see your medical history, tax records, and driving record.
No. First of all, in most instances the cards themselves will not contain that sensitive information. Even if they did, the chips have extensive security firewalls and encryption built into them. You're not going to reveal that you ran a red light last week the next time you rent a car.
Will smart ID cards eliminate terrorism?
Of course not. Despite complaints by some that smart ID cards will create a "false sense of security," most people realize that smart ID cards are only one piece of the puzzle, not a panacea. But smart ID cards and their counterparts, smart passports and visas, can make it much more difficult for terrorist cells to operate in the U.S. This will reduce, but not eliminate, the risk of terrorist attacks on our soil. Our embassies and facilities abroad, previous favorite targets of Osama bin Laden and other terrorists, will not be protected by smart ID cards.
Why not just use the "2-D bar codes" that are already on some driver's licenses?
These new bar codes hold more information than magnetic stripes, but they do not hold nearly as much as a computer chip. More importantly, 2-D bar codes are very easy to fake: you can simply photocopy them or print them on an inexpensive printer, then laminate them to a different card. This would be especially insecure over the Internet or in any other occasion where there is no human to compare the data in the bar code to what is written on the front of the card. Finally not using chip cards would fail to take advantage of the economic benefits to the nation that would result from the widespread use of smart cards.
Won't smart ID cards create a black market for fake ID cards?
There is already a huge black market for fake ID cards. Smart ID cards would actually reduce that black market, because it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to create a fake chip with biometric data matching the user of the card.
Are smart ID cards technologically feasible?
This is not Star Trek-level technology. Smart cards are not only feasible, but are widely used every day, by companies and government agencies, in a broad variety of applications.
Aren't smart cards too expensive?
The cards themselves are not particularly expensive, though they obviously cost more than cards that do not have chips imbedded in them. States could defray that cost, however, by collecting a royalty whenever a private entity places an applet on the portion of the chip not reserved for official use. Thus, if you want to put your credit card or your gas station speedpass on your smart driver's license, the issuing companies would pay a fee to the state, which they would gladly do because it's cheaper than creating their own smart card and/or key fob. Likewise, if you wanted to download a cash function to your card from your local bank that lets you pay for things like parking meters, vending machines, transit, and parking garages without using coins and paper money, the bank could pay a royalty to the state to be the bank on your card.
If smart ID cards are so great, why are civil libertarians and privacy advocates so upset?
Because they are absolutists who don't believe in risk-benefit analysis. Most of the arguments against smart ID cards are little more than paranoid fantasies about worst-case scenarios. Yes, there will be abuses of smart ID cards, but there are already abuses of dumb ID cards. Yes, smart ID cards can make it more efficient to carry out certain abuses, but they will also make it easier to catch certain abusers. Despite the overblown rhetoric you might hear, the addition of a computer chip to your driver's license will not magically transform every police officer or civil servant into a jackbooted thug drunk on the unchecked power to harass you and consumed with the desire to know what you're doing at all times.
Taken as a whole, the potential benefits of smart ID cards far outweigh the potential risks. The vast majority of Americans understand that privacy is a tradeoff rather than an absolute, and will accept the risks in exchange for the benefits -- in convenience, savings, and, not the least, security.
