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Ticked About Tags For Drivers
by Chloe Albanesius
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Wednesday urged Virginia legislators not to require the inclusion of tracking devices known as radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags in state driver's licenses.
While several large retailers have incorporated RFID into their merchandise for inventory purposes, adopting the technology for state functions "brings the potential intrusion ... to a whole new level," Chris Calabrese, program counsel of the ACLU's Technology and Liberty project, told a panel of legislators.
Kent Willis, executive director of ACLU Virginia, argued that RFID tags in licenses would "allow people to be tracked." FBI agents, he speculated, could capture the identities of everyone at a political rally, protest march, gun show or Islamic prayer service.
Calabrese also said implementation "would be a costly proposition that involves significant technological hurdles and has little practical value."
Meanwhile, Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore on Friday joined Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., in urging Congress to approve anti-terrorism legislation that includes a provision for driver's license security. The bill would only allow licenses for people in the country legally and would tie the expiration of their licenses to the expiration of their visas.
"Unfortunately, many of the terrorists who carried out the September 11, [2001], attacks had obtained Virginia identification," Kilgore, a Republican, said in a statement. "We've closed that loophole in the commonwealth, but it is important to take that policy nationwide."
Virginia's Joint Commission on Technology and Science last week requested public comment on several privacy-related issues, including the secrecy of Social Security numbers and unique identifying numbers on public records.
In other news, Washington Gov. Gary Locke announced Wednesday that his state's residents will be able to renew their driver's licenses online by Nov. 1. The Democrat also unveiled the state's revamped Web site and proclaimed October as Cyber Security Awareness Month.
Groups To Protest Domestic-Violence Data Plans
Illinois-based advocates for preventing domestic violence plan to gather in Chicago on Thursday to encourage the Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) not to include identifying information about domestic violence victims in its national homeless database.
In final guidelines released this summer, HUD said that by Oct. 1, it would start integrating information from domestic-violence shelters into its Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) in an effort to get a better overview of the nation's homeless population. The decision differed from preliminary HUD guidelines that would have exempted data on victims of domestic violence. Under the final guidelines, those shelters that fail to comply risk losing federal funding.
Domestic-violence advocates say that providing identifying information about victims who have left their homes makes it easier for their abusers to find them.
The city of Urbana, Ill., recently notified a domestic-violence shelter that had not provided victim information that it would be losing its federal aid the next day, according to Cindy Southworth, technology director for the National Network to End Domestic Violence. After the Chicago Tribune ran a story Friday, HUD said that funding for the shelter, A Woman's Fund, would not be cut immediately but that the rules would be phased in over time, Southworth said.
"My sense ... is that we clearly have a grace period," she said. Unfortunately, people are "misinterpreting the standards" and HUD has not indicated how long the grace period will last.
HUD claims it is only interested in aggregate information about victims, but the department's guidelines include provisions that allow for the collection of victims' names and Social Security numbers.
Southworth and representatives from a number of domestic violence prevention groups such as the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Family Rescue and the Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women's Network will appear at Thursday's rally to call on HUD and President Bush to add an exemption to the HUD rules for domestic violence victims.
In other news, Virginia Attorney General Kilgore on Tuesday called on Virginia residents to donate their old cellular telephones to a Verizon Wireless program that gives the used devices to domestic-violence victims so they have a means of communication.
"The truth is, many women have to leave their homes to escape the violence," Kilgore said in a press release. "Having a cell phone means they will have in their hands a way to contact somebody who can help. It means they will not be alone."
Collected phones are distributed by the advocacy group Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance. Verizon Wireless provides some phones that are accompanied by free air time. Other phones are sold, with the proceeds going to groups that combat domestic violence.
Vermont Launches Online Sex-Offender Registry
Vermont on Friday launched an online registry for convicted sex offenders after their release from prison.
The legislature authorized the registry in June, and Gov. Jim Douglas, a Democrat, requested that lawmakers include a provision allowing for Internet posting of data about specific offenders.
Implementation will occur in two phases. On Oct. 1, the registry started including identifying information about those convicted of aggravated sexual assault, kidnapping and assault of a child, and lewd and lascivious behavior with a child. The original data also will contain details on repeat offenders, sex offenders who failed to register with the state, and anyone designated by the court as a sexual predator.
By March 1, 2005, the database will include information on those people deemed non-compliant with treatment sex offenses and high-risk offenders.
In other security news, the governor of New Hampshire last month signed an agreement with Jean Charest, the premier of Quebec, calling on the two governments to share security-related information. The agreement is part of a larger security project intended to develop and test technological equipment that can detect hazardous materials crossing the borders.
Ohio Explores Taiwanese Research Partnership
Ohio Gov. Bob Taft on Friday met with Taiwanese officials in Taipei to discuss research and development opportunities. The Republican governor spoke with the Industrial Technology Research Institute and the Development Center for Biotechnology about "bringing the brightest minds from both regions of the world together to advance scientific discovery and create jobs," Taft said in a press release.
In other news, New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey, a Democrat, last week dedicated the new Camden Technology Center at Camden County College.
State Information Gets Tech Upgrade
Several states governments are turning to the Internet to post information pertinent to residents.
In Alaska, Gov. Frank Murkowski, a Republican, announced Monday that information on oil and gas wells will be available on the Internet as part of an e-commerce initiative sponsored by the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Web surfers can access information such as location, depth, production and injection volumes and rates for the wells -- data previously only available to those who traveled to the commission's offices.
North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley, a Democrat, unveiled a Web site Tuesday dedicated to motor sports, an industry that contributes more than $5 billion annually to the state's economy.
In New Jersey, McGreevey last week launched a Web site that allows residents to submit comments about convening a constitutional convention to fix the state's property-tax system.
And in Texas, Dallascityhall.com was recognized as one of the nation's most innovative Web portals by the Center for Digital Government's 2004 "Best of the Web" contest.
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