Date: Sun, 1 Mar 1998 20:21:09 -0800 (PST)
From: bb074@scn.org (SCN User)
To: local-computer-activists@scn.org
Subject: ESHB 2730 Driver License Bill testimony
Cc: bb074@scn.org
Reply-To: bb074@scn.org
Sender: owner-local-computer-activists@scn.org

This testimony was given in the Washington State Senate Transportation
Committee last week.  Committee members are expected to decide Monday
(3/2/98) whether to amend the bill and whether to pass it on to the Rules
Committee (which schedules it for a floor vote.) Most of the people who
testified at the hearing opposed the bill; however, the Department of
Licensing and the law enforcement community still want it. 

ESHB 2730 -- Driver License Bill
Senate Transportation Committee
February 25, 1998

My name is Janeane Dubuar and I represent the Seattle Chapter of
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, a national
alliance of computer professionals interested in the impact of
computer technology on society.
 
Our members espouse the benefits of computer technology and are
not opposed, in principle, to a new state driver license. 
However we are opposed to the bill before you for four reasons: 

1.  The bill calls for computerized photos and signatures of
every driver and identicard holder in the state.  These photos
can be released, under RCW 46.20.118, to "official governmental
enforcement agencies".  Current law does not specify that these
be law enforcement agencies, or even that they be in the U.S.

2.  Photos are allegedly released "to assist in the investigation
by the agencies of suspected criminal activity".  Criminal
activity by whom?  The entire photo file can be released.  There
is no legal requirement that an individual must first be under
investigation for serious wrongdoing before his or her photo is
released.

Are we simply dissatisfied with current practice?  No.  Digital
photos are different from traditional photos because they can be
infinitely reproduced without a loss of quality and immediately
sent anywhere in the country or the world.  Each photo is
converted, via an algorithm, into what vendors of the system call
"a unique 'facial fingerprint'".  As a practical matter, the
Department of Licensing can neither monitor nor control how the
photo file is used by other agencies once it is released.

3.  Section 8 of the bill does not prohibit the Department of
Licensing from maintaining the Social Security number in an
individual's file.  If the license is not intended as national
identification, we should not use a national identification
number in connection with the license.  

The Department of Licensing has testified in the past that state
driver license numbers are more unique than Social Security
numbers.  Although some would like to see Social Security numbers
used to collect child support, this should not be used as an
excuse to link all drivers with the number which frequently
identifies their financial, medical and other records.

4.  The storage and release of computerized signatures in
Sections 3 and 6 may actually increase fraud, rather than reduce
it, if the signatures are accessed and misused by hackers or
other unauthorized users.