WASHINGTON - At least two state motor vehicle registries in the United States have begun scanning new license photos against databases of pictures, to guard against issuing fraudulent IDs. The measure is one of many new security checks being applied to licenses and ID cards across the country.
Prompted in part by the false IDs discovered in the cases of the 9/11 hijackers and the District of Columbia-area snipers, states have begun raising security for IDs in an attempt to limit the ease with which they can be faked.
For instance, the Colorado Department of Revenue Motor Vehicle Business Group randomly selects for such checks a sample of people who are renewing their licenses, according to a spokesperson for Digimarc, a company in the forefront of the new technologies. Digimarc supplies secure driver's license issuance systems that produce two-thirds of all U.S. driver's licenses.
For the security checks, Colorado randomly selects between 100 and 125 people a day from those who are renewing their licenses. A new digital photo of each of those selected is scanned and checked against a database containing over 10 million driver's license photos. This is done to ensure the identity of the person renewing or obtaining the license, according to Digimarc spokesperson Leslie Constans.
Other Security Checks
The photo-checking technology isn't the only security feature being deployed. At a panel here Friday, sponsored by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a nationwide association of state legislators, Reed Stager, a Digimarc vice president, outlined some other practices being used.
According to Stager, Massachusetts recently unveiled a new driver's license that employs watermarks, encoded serial numbers imperceptible to the naked eye. Kansas employs a photo identification system similar to Colorado's, checking new pictures against a database of 5.6 million license photos--about twice Kansas' population.
Stager says these enhanced security features are a trend that should continue to grow. He told the panel that a combination of visible attributes like holograms and covert ones like watermarks should be used.
"In an ideal world, we'll have 12 to 20 security features in a card," Stager says.
Although each state can decide which features it wants to apply to its licenses and ID cards, Stager says the features are universally recognizable.
"If you're in Kansas and have a digital watermark license...and you go to Massachusetts...they can quite easily scan it."
Since Digimarc's clients include the United Kingdom, Mexico, Russia, and Puerto Rico, Stager says IDs will increasingly be verified internationally as well.
Does it Stop Crime?
Ari Schwartz, associate director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, doubts that the enhanced security features will significantly deter fake IDs. He cites a recent study by the center, which showed that a significant number of identity frauds originate from insiders who work or have connections with motor vehicle registries, as proof that preventing outsiders from obtaining fraudulent IDs is only half the battle.
Schwartz also notes the potential for the Digimarc technology to indirectly create national standards of identification. By having state licenses that apply the same security standards and that check against similar photo databases, the technology may actually create a national ID by accident.
Although Schwartz says he has few objections to the current technology, he adds that it could pose threats for the future--specifically its potential to create a national database of information. "A linked-up database, that's where it becomes a national issue," Schwartz says.
Digimarc's Stager concedes Schwartz's point that the technology wouldn't stop counterfeiting, but he adds, "It significantly raises the bar (for criminals)."
