I too am very nervous about the prospect of national ID cards. I have an idea for a possible compromise, but I have not made up my mind on it. I'm interested in hearing other people's opinions.
The idea is a federal standard for secure drivers' licenses. These would be cards containing a chip that stores an electronically signed and time stamped data file consisting of the driver's name, date of birth, height, address, photo, and scanned signature, as well as endorsements such as truck, school bus, motorcycle and hazmat operator licenses. All this information is contained in existing drivers' licenses, but in a way that is too easy to forge. The licenses would still be issued by the states so there would be no new bureaucracy. People who don't drive could get "proof of age" cards using the same technology. Many states now issue such cards in conventional formats for liquor purchase. There would be pressure to expand the use of these licenses to other uses. That has already happened for conventional DLs with liquor purchase and airline boarding. Some new uses might be acceptable, e.g. using the cards to contain pilot or boating licenses. Limitations on new uses could be included in the enabling legislation. The security model of the card would be privacy oriented, i.e. limiting who could access the cards to authorized users and the owner. The integrity of the information would come from the electronic signatures. As I understand it, much of the forgery of DLs that now takes place involves unauthorized use of the equipment that produces legitimate cards. The secure DL would cut down on this because the information on the card would be signed by by the operator of the equipment, making the forgery more traceable. The data would also be signed using a key that is only available at a central location and a copy of the signed info would be retained in the driver database (this information is already collected anyway). This would make it more difficult to change just the photo on the license, for example. The main difference between a secure driver's license and a national ID is that there would be no new requirement to obtain or carry the card. One can look at it as the nose in the camel's tent or as a way to deflect pressure for more Draconian solutions. Thoughts? Arnold Reinhold At 1:47 PM -0400 10/3/2001, R. A. Hettinga wrote: >--- begin forwarded text > > >Status: U >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >From: "National Review D.C." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: AGAINST ID CARDS >Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2001 13:58:40 +0000 >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >List-Help: <http://topica.com/lists/WashingtonBulletin/> >List-Subscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >List-Archive: <http://topica.com/lists/WashingtonBulletin/read> > >Washington Bulletin: National Review's Internet Update for >October 3, 2001 >http://www.nationalreview.com > >AGAINST ID CARDS >[The worse way to fight terrorism] > >Only a bare majority of Americans--51 percent--support the creation of a >national identity card, according to a new poll by Fabrizio, McLaughlin >& Associates. This is a substantial loss of support since the Pew >Research Center found 70 percent endorsing the concept in a survey it >conducted immediately after the September 11 attacks. > >Yet plenty of warning signs remain. Westerners are only demographic >group with a majority opposing ID cards (53 percent) and senior citizens >are the only segment with a plurality against it (47 percent). >Republicans and men are evenly split on the issue, with Democrats and >women likely to favor it. Most troubling, however, may be that the poll >shows overall support jumping to 61 percent when the ID card is >described as �a measure to combat terrorism and make the use of false >identities more difficult.� > >If ever the American public was primed to accept an ID card, the time is >now. A recent Washington Post survey reports that 64 percent of >Americans say they trust the federal government to do the right thing >�nearly always� or �most of the time�--the highest level of trust >recorded since 1966 and twice the level measured just a year ago. �This >is the most collective mood we�ve seen in America for a long time,� >Democratic pollster Celinda Lake told the New York Times. �And it�s >coming off one of the most individualistic eras in American history.� > >The Bush administration already has signaled through a spokesman that it >does not support the idea, though several members of Congress have >embraced it and House immigration subcommittee chairman George Gekas, a >Pennsylvania Republican, says ID cards will definitely receive >consideration. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has said his company, a leader >in databases, would donate the software to make it happen. > >Conservatives must oppose these internal passports with vigor. They may >be promoted now as tools for combating terrorism, but their potential >for abuse is enormous. How long before the federal government also >starts tracking gun sales through them? Or auditing income-tax returns? >And don�t forget the little prop President Clinton held up during his >health-care speech to Congress in 1993: a �health-security card� that >would have enabled the government�s takeover of a whole industry. > >Terrorism is obviously worth fighting, but ID cards aren�t the only way >to do it or even the best way. > >(Yesterday, NRO published a symposium on ID cards: ><http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-symposium100201.shtml>. >And one of your correspondents, in a previous life, co-authored an >assessment of ID cards for the Cato Institute: ><http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa237.html>.) > >==^================================================================ >EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?bUrCJX.bVgzw5 >Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! >http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register >==^================================================================ > >--- end forwarded text > > >-- >----------------- >R. A. Hettinga <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> >The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> >44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA >"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, >[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to >experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' > >For help on using this list (especially unsubscribing), send a message to >"[EMAIL PROTECTED]" with one line of text: "help". --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cryptography Mailing List Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
