Reader Dan Combs, Director of Digital Government, State of Iowa emailed me to say he thinks our comments about an article on the role of driver's licenses weren't strong enough. He says:
I would state it a little differently: When the author states, "Identity verification, though currently a large hole in our nation's security net, is easy and inexpensive to fix", he is out of his(or her) mind.
Actually, that's pretty much what I thought too, I just didn't feel I should be quite so loud in print with my opinion. I will do better next time.
Mr. Combs continues...
The identity problem is monstrously complex and expensive to fix. Most of that cost and complexity will be due to human factors and not technology.The AAMVA (the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators) as recently as 13 months ago had drafted legislation to restrict the use of driver's licenses to verification of right to drive. Since the events of 9/11 - and other entities' influences - that organization has reversed course and admirably accepted the role of providing an important identity indicator for the country.
Phil Windley is correct that the driver's license is destined to be a battleground as competitions arise around the technologies, uses and standards for that card.
The State of Iowa (and many other governmental organizations) and AAMVA (and related transportation departments amongst other government departments) are very aware that we are in the identity business. For a lot of us it is daily work. However, a great proportion of the individuals involved in that work do not understand how prevalent are the faulty underlying assumptions, how pernicious is the associated ignorance of the issues and how pervasive are the changes wrought by electronic interaction.
(Wow, that is one heck of a phrase whether or not it actually means anything :-).)
Understanding of the fact that "identity is center" comes hard to many people, but in the last 6 months there has been a sea change and folks seem much more prepared to hear the message.
I do like how Dan says "they don't have a clue" though...
Posted by pbecker at September 26, 2002 03:47 PM