Computerworld - WASHINGTON -- There were more than 190 million holders of driver's licenses in the U.S. last year, and those state-issued documents are as close to national identity cards as one can get. But improving this system with safeguards and cards containing personal identifiers faces enormous obstacles.
"Implementing a biometric measure on a driver's license is going to be a big problem, and it has to do with legislative, political and technological constraints," said Jim Wayman, who leads the Biometric Test Center at San Jose State University.
Historically, U.S. citizens have balked at the idea of instituting a national ID card or including more personal data on licenses. For instance, under Michigan law, it's illegal to put fingerprints on a driver's license, and legislation to make fingerprint identification illegal is pending in Washington state and Alabama.
There are also technological problems, said Wayman, including the fact that there's no standard readable format for fingerprints.
Businesses would like access to machine-readable data on driver's license cards and may relish the prospect of capturing a lot of information about a customer with one swipe. But privacy groups are already on the offensive, and even some IT managers are uncomfortable with the idea of companies storing such data.
"I question the value of putting that much information in the hands of merchants," said Phil White, IS manager at the Hacienda Hotel in El Segundo, Calif. "Do I want them to be able to zero in on me? No, I don't think so."
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