Your ID Please, Citizen

sci0902idcards_A.jpg Your ID Please, Citizen

September 11 was quickly followed by calls from some lawmakers and business leaders for a more robust national identification system: ID cards that possess sophisticated biometric data, making them harder to forge than today's driver's licenses. Privacy advocates are strongly opposed, arguing that such cards, while enabling the government to track individuals and access personal data, would do little to separate the innocent citizen from the walking security threat. For now, the Bush administration is cool to the idea, but it's not hard to envision the Department of Homeland Security re-examining the concept if further terrorist attacks occur. More than 30 countries, from Italy to Malaysia, have already introduced "smart" ID cards. If you're eventually issued a national card, it will likely incorporate several of the technologies shown here, combined to make the card readable by both high- and low-tech devices.

1. Your USID number


Most logically your Social Security number. Although the federal government has rejected using the SS card as an ID card, the number is already used by the IRS. If a card is introduced, it's a good guess the Department of Homeland Security would manage it, possibly issuing different classes of cards for citizens, green card holders, and others.


2. Optical Memory Strip


An optical memory data strip (like a small CD laminated onto the card) locks in 4MB of read-only data, which can be read

by an optical scanner. The strip can contain a digitized image of a fingerprint and a photo, along with essential personal data such as previous addresses, mother's maiden name, and, optionally, medical data such as allergies. Room remains for scanned documents, X rays, or digital signatures. LaserCard of

Mountain View, California, adds an embedded hologram.

3. Photograph


Standard printing technology, which lays down ink on the card material, easily succumbs to skilled forgers. One step up is laser engraving: Machines permanently etch

a photo into the card material, usually a polymer such as polycarbonate. It's virtually impossible to erase or alter a laser-engraved image without leaving telltale marks. But a trained person is still needed to examine the card for sophisticated tampering. Another step up: Integrate a radio frequency identification (RFID) device, which would automate the authentication process. An RFID chip and antenna would be placed beneath the photo. If the image is altered, the chip and antenna are disturbed, and a portable reader will register a problem.