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Widespread misinformation about radio-frequency identification technology and high-tech identification cards has subverted federal and state legislation to modernize America's ID systems, a panel of industry officials and experts said Wednesday.

At the Smart Cards in Government Conference, advocates for RFID and tech-based "smart cards" said mandates to use modern technologies would dramatically improve the nation's security infrastructure. But resistance to such measures and technologies is swelling, they said.

Marc-Anthony Signorino, the director of technology policy at the tech group AeA, said that a fundamental misunderstanding of RFID spurred a series of poorly written bills in California, Illinois, New Hampshire and New Mexico to limit its use.

He said lawmakers have complicated measures to limit RFID usage because they have tried to make too many exemptions for uses they enjoy, such as smart cards for accessing highway toll lanes. "The legislation ends up looking like Swiss cheese," Signorino said.

Signorino said the political climate in New Hampshire has made it especially difficult for the industry to make a case for itself. The Granite State has been particularly active on the ID front. House lawmakers there last month passed a bill to reject a 2005 federal mandate for standard driver's licenses.

"We're scared to go to New Hampshire," he said. "They have gun racks on their motorcycles. They don't want anyone telling them what to do."

Robert Atkinson, the president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, said RFID and smart-card advocates are facing an uphill battle because their opponents already have shaped the debate. "The ground has been so poisoned by the other side that I think it's going to be tough to move forward," Atkinson said.

The movement against RFID and federal driver's licensing standards has garnered support from all areas of the political spectrum, according to Atkinson.

He said an "unholy alliance" of groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Eagle Forum, which is led by conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly, has choked the ability of the technology industry to gather political support. "This isn't a group of fringe players," he said.

Atkinson said he does not expect the Homeland Security Department to require embedded computer chips driver's licenses because detractors of the mandate have convinced enough people that such chips will do little to improve national security. "I just don't think it's going to happen," he said.

Richard Varn, the president of RJV Consulting and a former chief technology officer, said smart-card advocates should focus on convincing lawmakers to punish bad behavior instead of banning technology. He said lawmakers throughout the country need to "beef up" cyber-crime efforts.

"They are not investing sufficient money compared to the size of the crime to efficiently combat it," he said.

COMMENTS

• ID cards are meant to identify the bearer. When technology by those seeking to defraud surpasses the ability of the cards to do fulfill their purpose then the cards must change or become irrelevant. RFID can be subject to viruses and may not be quite ready for prime time, but critics should address the larger problem of ID obsolescence and come up with viable alternatives instead of just saying "No." Richard Barr Posted April 21, 2006 9:50 AM
• So the RFID industry is "... scared to go to New Hampshire." Perhaps they should be if they insist upon portraying free, law abiding American citizens as freaks with comments such as; "They [citizens of New Hampshire] have gun racks on their motorcycles." How dare they (residents of New Hampshire, New Mexico, California, and Illinois) pass laws that crimp the RFID industries efforts to turn a buck on the backs of free citizens! I wonder why that "Unholy alliance ...that isn't a group of fringe players" objects to being told what to do by the likes of the "gentlemen" quoted in this article? Those guys are poster children for why the whole RFID industry should be outlawed in the United States - the very concept of making free citizens register so they will be able to be tracked like so many cattle is the very antithesis of freedom and liberty. Those who would trade freedom for safety deserve, and will have, neither. Cracked & Wired Posted April 21, 2006 10:12 AM
• People should be wary of these smart cards. The chips contain a lot of information about the individual, including medical, and not everyone has the right or the need to have access to that data. One of the many proposed uses for the card is gate access to secure areas, such as a military base. Not only will this back traffic up for miles as the reader verifies the data and swings an arm up to let the vehicle through, but there's no way to account for passengers in the vehicle. The idea behind the card, cloaked in the usual paranoia of security, is to steadily erode the number of personnel employed by the federal government, both uniformed and civilian. The move is to run everything electronically and not have to pay salaries, insurance, retirement, medical, or educational benefits. GovExec.com reader Posted April 21, 2006 3:34 PM