"For the children": DMV high-tech database and ID card for kids

[Faustine]

How's this for a telling quote:

"I think it ought to be mandatory," Lopez said. "I just think it ought to 
go nationally. . . . That database could be used for many things."

D.C. Plans ID Card for Students
Aim of DMV Database Is Missing Children 
    
 The ID cards, issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles, could be used to 
track everything from children's welfare benefits to attendance at school 
functions. (D.C. Motor Vehicle Administration) 
 
 
By Robert O'Harrow Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 15, 2001; Page A01 

District officials plan to begin taking digital photographs and 
fingerprints of schoolchildren this fall as part of a high-tech 
identification initiative designed to improve the search for missing 
children.

Under a plan initiated by the administration of Mayor Anthony A. Williams 
(D), the information about the children would be collected at schools using 
laptop computers. It would be fed into a centralized computer system, and 
the children then would receive ID cards containing bar codes that can be 
scanned by authorities, officials said.

Children from 2 to 14 initially would be eligible for the new IDs, and 
parents would have to give their approval before their children can 
participate. The IDs are to cost $5, although the city may subsidize the 
fee for low-income residents. The IDs would need to be renewed every two 
years.

Several officials said they hope the program could be expanded to improve 
social services by closely tracking youths' involvement in schools and 
government benefit programs.

Although local law enforcement agencies and private organizations have long 
snapped photos and taken fingerprints for parents to use in the event of a 
child's disappearance, the District's initiative is fundamentally different 
because the government is to maintain the information.

"We want to take advantage of the latest digital technology to implement a 
process that will enable us to protect and assist the parents and children 
of the District of Columbia," Sherryl Hobbs Newman, director of the 
Department of Motor Vehicles, who is overseeing the plan, said in an 
interview. "We should use the technology we're developing to get that 
information to whomever needs it."

It is not clear how much of a problem missing children are in the District. 
The mayor's office said police list 86 open cases of juveniles reported 
missing in the 17 months from January 2000 to the end of May. Nationally, 
more than 5,000 children are listed as missing at any one time, said a 
spokesman for a group that tracks the issue. Those numbers include runaways 
and children taken by estranged parents.

Businesses, governments and military agencies everywhere are linking 
computers, digital photographs and biometric identifiers -- such as 
fingerprints and facial scans -- to improve security and better 
authenticate the identities of individuals. Many law enforcement agencies 
use such technology to electronically book prisoners.

But the coupling of technology and biometric information has drawn intense 
criticism from privacy advocates. And some activists and officials 
expressed concern about the District's plan, saying the identifying 
information could be misused by authorities and hacked by outsiders.

"I find it kind of scary," said Mary M. Levy, analyst and counsel for 
Parents United for the D.C. Public Schools, an advocacy group. She said 
many parentsmight not want police using the data for investigations.

D.C. Council member Kevin P. Chavous (D-Ward 7), chairman of the council's 
Education Committee, said he shares Levy's concerns, but he supports the 
program. "Generally, I think it's a good idea," he said. "I am a little 
concerned about the Big Brother aspect."

Council member Phil Mendelson (D), who is on the Education Committee, said 
he was unaware of the plan but is glad it is voluntary. He said the 
government nevertheless must act slowly because of the privacy issues 
involved. "We need to be very careful about . . . obtaining such detailed 
information," he said.

At the request of the mayor, council Chairman Linda W. Cropp (D) introduced 
a resolution July 6 that would amend local regulations to allow for the 
child ID cards. There was no debate at the time, and no hearings have been 
scheduled.

The resolution takes effect 45 working days after its introduction, unless 
the council votes against it, officials said.

Newman said she is sensitive to privacy concerns. Although the system would 
greatly ease the collection of information about individual children, she 
said, it would also be configured to limit how much information officials 
could get.

"I think people will eventually see the benefits," she said. "New things 
tend to scare people."

The District's initiative would be the most sophisticated in the nation to 
focus primarily on children, according to officials at Polaroid ID Systems, 
who have worked with the DMV to create the program.

The only similar program is in West Virginia, which began offering child 
IDs two years ago. The District plan differs from it in one key respect: 
District DMV officials intend to go into the schools with portable 
equipment to collect children's information.

Only about 5,000 children have been photographed or fingerprinted in West 
Virginia, in part because officials there require parents to bring their 
children to motor vehicle offices, according to Mary Jane Lopez, a 
spokeswoman for the DMV there.

District motor vehicle officials described the program as a chance to use 
their year-old digital driver-licensing system to help authorities find 
missing children by providing instant access, including over the Internet, 
to recent photos and other identifying details.

Officials have also begun planning ways to expand the program to improve 
the delivery of social services for eligible children, "from day one of 
their lives," said to Sandra Villeneuve, a regional account manager at 
Polaroid ID Systems who has attended planning meetings in the mayor's 
office.

Among other things, school officials might use the bar code on students' ID 
cards to monitor attendance in school and at events. Social services 
officials might use the card to track a child's benefits, officials said.

Newman said that if the program unfolds as planned, the use of an ID card 
may become obligatory for some young people who receive social services and 
already provide much of the information to city officials. "What we're 
doing is actually making it more convenient . . . condensing it in one 
card," she said.

Some parents expressed concern about how the DMV would control access to 
the system and limit uses of the data. Iris Toyer, the mother of a 9-year-
old at Stanton Elementary School, said: "I find it invasive. I do not know 
who will have access to it. I do not know how it will be used, regardless 
of what they say."

Privacy specialists also criticized the plan, saying the city's apparent 
aims for the program are too open-ended to justify the risks of gathering 
so much information about children in one place.

"There are always benefits. There are also risks that tend to be 
understated," said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic 
Privacy Information Center. "Now you're talking about kids."

An official from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Childen also 
questioned the wisdom of the District's plan. Spokesman David Shapiro said 
there's no question that investigators searching for missing children need 
access to a current photo as quickly as possible. 

But, Shapiro said, authorities can usually get the information they need 
from parents. Oftentimes that includes a child's fingerprints. During the 
last decade, through community- and business-sponsored programs, the center 
has helped create 12 million children's "passports" containing photographs 
and information about individual children. Police agencies and other groups 
have done the same thing.

"It's the national center's view that only parents should maintain this 
information," Shapiro said, adding that a major concern is that outsiders 
or officials might misuse information collected in a database. "There's 
always that potential. . . . Security is a major issue."

As in the District, West Virginia officials envision a major expansion of 
the program in the coming years. Lopez said officials there are considering 
using the ID cards to improve security and track attendance at schools. 
They may also want to create IDs for children in foster care programs to 
ensure they get proper services, she said.

"I think it ought to be mandatory," Lopez said. "I just think it ought to 
go nationally. . . . That database could be used for many things."

Staff writer Sewell Chan contributed to this report.