02/ 8/2004

Does Driver's License will Leak out our Privacy

Post @ 03:13 in American Culture - Owen's Diary

"Great Taste, Less Privacy" An article from Wired.com is talking about scanning ID will leak our private information.

In United States, everyone has their own Driver's License (ID) card; it's the same like an identification card in China. But the difference is US ID contained a magnetic strips and bar code on the back which can be scanned/swiped by scanning machine. On the magnetic strips, some can store up to 2000 bytes information on it. Which mean most of our personal information will be stored inside, not only those information shows on the ID card's surface, but also some kinds of private info like: Salary, working status, telephone number etc, even our social security number (SSN). Normally that would be fine for police or other security related issue to identify our identities, or identify a fake ID. But if those information were scanned by commercial companies like bar, restaurant, museum, hotel etc. That would have a potential risk to be leaked out or be collected. We never know how much information was contained in our ID card and how much private information was collected by commercial bloc!

The toll tag operation suddenly brought to my mind. Toll tag is high way auto-payment device, it's a pocket-size card which I can apply online. Once I applied one and put it on my car, every time I pass through the booths on have-to-pay high-way. It will be automatically scanned and charged by Distance scanner. This new technology was used on Toll way system in TEXAS which called E-ZPass toll system. Think about if our ID card embeds this technology in the future, with distance scan, we will never know how and when our personal information was being scanned?!

Absolutely magnetic strips, bar codes and ID card scanner system prevent fake ID and underage drinking; also it's very convenience to use and fast to pass. But it's easy to lose our privacy too. What should we choose?

Refference:
North Texas Toll-way System.
Swipe: Decipher the bar codes on IDs