Chertoff: Security and privacy not at odds. Calling privacy groups "Luddites," DHS head Michael Chertoff defends the Real I.D. Act. He claims that the data-chipped drivers licenses, which will be linked to a numbers of databases around the country, will actually protect privacy Editor:And down is up, black is white, and I have a bridge I'd like to sell you.
[...]
The head of the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday
downplayed privacy concerns raised by the government's efforts to
create standardized, data-chipped drivers licenses across the country.
The same technology that makes information on identification
cards more reliable can also protect privacy, DHS Secretary Michael
Chertoff said during a speech to the Northern Virginia Technology
Council. "It's my contention that properly used technology ... actually
protects privacy," he said. "We should not allow folks to be captivated
by the argument that every time we do something with a computer, it
invades privacy."
Chertoff was referring to privacy concerns surrounding the Real ID
Act, a law passed by Congress in 2005 that would require states to
create machine-readable ID cards containing the name of the holder, the
data of birth, a digital photograph and other information.
Privacy groups, including the Electronic Privacy Information Center
(EPIC), have said that the DHS hasn't come up with rules on how the
information on the cards should be protected. DHS has made only "vague"
plans for card security and for restricting which state motor vehicle
agency employees would have access to the information, EPIC says.
"On security and privacy standards for the card, state motor vehicle
facilities, and the personal data and documents collected in state
motor vehicle databases, DHS shows little interest," EPIC says on its
Web site.
But Chertoff said those raising privacy concerns about the use of IT
in the U.S. government's domestic security efforts create a false
tension between security and privacy. "This kind of Luddite attitude
... is exactly wrong," he said. "Security and privacy are very much the
same type of value. I don't think they're mutually exclusive, they're
mutually reinforced."
Chertoff also talked about how DHS is using IT. Technology plays a
part in nearly all the agency's efforts, including machines that read
fingerprints at border crossings, databases that link law enforcement
investigations and scanning technologies for containers coming into the
U.S. [Computerworld Privacy News]
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