ACLU-WA Urges Dept. of Licensing to Protect Drivers' Privacy

The ACLU-WA is urging Washington state to better protect the privacy of drivers who apply for a new border-crossing license.

Christina Drummond, director of the ACLU's Technology and Liberty Project, presented a set of recommendations at the Sept. 25 hearing of the Department of Licensing, which is drafting procedures for implementing the state's new Enhanced Driver's License.

"Washington citizens should not have to trade their privacy or the safety of their personal information to make it easier to travel abroad," Drummond said.

This January, Washington will become the first state to offer an Enhanced Driver's License as an alternative to getting a passport. Applicants must provide documentation of citizenship which will be copied and kept on file at the DOL. The enhanced license will display citizenship status and will enable the holder to cross into and return from Canada. Created by the Legislature in March, the program is voluntary. Traditional "non-enhanced" driver's licenses will remain available.

However, the enhanced licenses use RFID, a technology that could expose users to tracking or monitoring. The RFID in the enhanced licenses will broadcast an individually unique number over a radio frequency to allow Customs and Border Protection to identify approaching drivers. The ACLU-WA is concerned that without technological safeguards, anyone, at any place, could read the personal identification number being broadcast, without the cardholder ever knowing or consenting. If the personal identification number becomes connected with the cardholder's name, the risk for tracking or monitoring away from the border by the government or anyone else increases.

RFID safeguards such as encryption (to encode the data) or shielding (to keep the number from being broadcast) would help. However, without such protections, cardholders could be tracked by number when not at the border. The ACLU is opposed to the use of RFID in identity documents, but is not challenging this program primarily because of its voluntary nature.

We would like the Department of Licensing to fully inform enhanced license applicants about the privacy risks raised by using RFID. In addition, the state should inform users about the consequences of disabling the RFID in the licenses. And the ACLU is urging that the Department fully describe the safeguards it is implementing to protect the privacy of users.

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