California bill would ban tracking chips in IDs

California lawmakers are joining the national debate on the merit of incorporating electronic identification devices in driver's licenses, student IDs and passports.

A bill that would put strict limits on California's use of such devices in all state-issued identity documents is making its way through the state's legislature and was approved this week in a 6-to-1 vote by a senate judiciary committee. It's the first bill of its kind in the nation, said its author, state Sen. Joe Simitian.

		Special report Under-the-skin RFID tags The benefits sound good, but what about the privacy trade-offs (not to mention the "ick" factor)?

Supporters of the bill, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, say unchecked use of the technology, known as radio frequency identification, or RFID, could trample people's privacy and aid identity thieves.

"I have real concerns about the suitability of RFID technology for government identification documents," said Simitian, D-Palo Alto. "I thought that it probably made sense to try to develop some kind of boundaries."

Simitian introduced the Identity Information Protection Act of 2005 in February after a rural elementary school just 40 miles north of the state capital ditched plans to outfit students with electronic IDs amid protest from parents and students. The case, which involved Brittan Elementary School in Sutter, Calif., got national media attention.

"The issue of RFID in identification documents really hit home with what happened in Sutter," said Nicole Ozer, technology and civil liberties policy director of the ACLU of Northern California.

Brittan Elementary had issued the electronic badges to seventh- and eighth-graders in an effort to attain better class attendance records and tighten campus security. Critics said the technology, which is also used to track livestock, was dehumanizing.

Consumer advocates also worry about the ability of data thieves to intercept RFID signals or break into databases storing the information collected by such systems. The RFID chips are designed to broadcast personal data, such as name, address and date of birth, to special receivers at close range.

The California bill also puts the state at the forefront of a national debate. The U.S. State Department plans to issue passports containing RFID chips soon, and schools and libraries across the country are experimenting with them, too. A Republican-backed federal measure that has passed a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives proposes implanting RFID chips in driver's licenses. Businesses are also ratcheting up their use of the technology.

"My hope is that it will underscore the importance of these issues and prompt a wider and more thoughtful debate at a national level," Simitian said.

Simitian's bill would prohibit identity documents created or issued by the state containing computer chips that can be read remotely. Identity documents include driver's licenses, ID cards, student ID cards, health insurance or benefits cards, professional licenses and library cards.

It allows for some exceptions, though, including the use of electronic IDs for prisoners and for newborn babies in hospitals. It would also permit government workers to use them to access secured areas. The bill would make any surreptitious gleaning of data from RFID chips, government-issued or otherwise, a misdemeanor punishable by up a year in jail and a $5,000 fine.

A number of lawmakers in other states, including Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, South Dakota, Utah and Virginia, have proposed RFID regulations, but few states have actually passed laws. Even California has proved resistant to such efforts. A bill introduced there last year to regulate commercial use of the technology was killed by the state assembly after facing opposition from numerous business groups.

[jluchford]

School Kids need to be educated in privacy

School ID's -even college -with RFID makes sense, BUT there should be a place for them to keep them AT school. With a RFID system in the school, they can immediately find the ID. If it's not in the school -that's one mistake that should be flagged.
Other than that, the computer tracking system should go any further. Of course, any kid who brings it to the Mall during school hours needs to REALLY be educated.

[jluchford]

Oops -should read Tracking should NOT

...sorry, I meant that tracking should NOT go any further than the school.

[Michael Grogan]

RFID on any ID's anywhere are bad...

...and should never be acepted! Go California!

[truegenius]

RFID a bad idea for people

As if there weren't enough things to dehumanize us, now there's RFID. Nevermind that the process is technicallly flawed (what happens if a student leaves his/her ID at home?), it sends a message that each person is little other than a cog in the machine - something to be watched like a rat in a maze and then "disciplined" if they step out of line.

There's going to have to be a concession, at some point, that in order for there to be real freedom, there's going to be a very small percentage of the time that individuals misuse it. Otherwise what we wind up is the classic police state where the masses wind up the target of an overvigilant state, for the foul-ups of a few.

[Steve Jordan]

What price freedom?

Are you saying it's okay to have an occasional Columbine tragedy, as the price to pay for freedom? How many of your children were at that school?

[Steve Jordan]

Dehumanizing? Get a grip.

They say the RFID IDs are dehumanizing. How dehumanizing is being a corpse? They are concerned about what happened in Sutter, but they're not thinking about what happened in Columbine.

If kids weren't sneaking out of school and getting snatched by predators, or sneaking into school and shooting up their classmates, there wouldn't be a need for the RFIDs. But since they ARE, maybe the students and parents should get a grip. ID data can be properly encrypted so as not to be readable to anyone but the proper authorities... it's not that hard, it just takes a modicum of discipline. (Apparently more discipline than many parents have over their own kids, or their own fears.) Trust me, getting personal info off of their cellphones is far easier for a crook to manage, and even more profitable.

Wake up and smell the coffee: Those kids, YOUR kids, are being protected by RFIDs. Going all paranoid and banning RFIDs is only going to endanger kids more than they are already.

[Sboston]

Don't see it.

I still don't see how an RFID tag on a child is going to determine if they are carrying a weapon.

You other points I can see.

[Noreast]

get a grip

" (ID data can be properly encrypted so as not to be readable to anyone but the proper authorities... "
... and as they grow up their ID will follow them from authorities to authorities. Your government has the grip and you can't shake them off.

upnorth

[pcLoadLetter]

Solves nothing

A chip will not stop a kid from skipping school, nor will it keep them out of the hands of predators.

Succumbing to fear is not only cowardly, it solves nothing.