Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

ID Cards Get Smarter

Aired September 06, 2002 - 12:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Remember when the only people with fake ID's were teenagers who wanted to buy beer? That still happens, of course, but there are much more sinister motives out there and, consequently, much more sophisticated ID technology.
Nobody knows technology than CNN's Daniel Sieberg, at least in this shop here. Maybe we get an ID to tell us that we're younger, what do you think, Daniel?

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: I think that's a great idea. I'm all in favor of that.

PHILLIPS: All right. Tell us how this works.

SIEBERG: Kyra, it seems not too long ago that the highest tech device that a bouncer may have had was a flashlight in checking out a drivers license, but these days, more and more bars and night clubs, convenience stores and liquor stores are using high-tech ID scanners in order to look at the information that's actually part of many drivers licenses. The idea behind it is to compare the information that's on the front of the license that could actually be faked or forged with the information that is embedded or encoded in the license itself. And the idea behind that again is, of course, for security reasons, but also law enforcement, and checking for underage drinkers or smokers.

PHILLIPS: Not every state has the same standard for licenses, right?.

SIEBERG: That's right. And that is certainly one of hurdles that we should mention in terms of this technology being adopted across the country, that more and more bars are using it. But it's not -- there is no nationwide standard as yet for driver's licenses in terms of how the information is encoded, the different types of information that's encoded in the license itself, and the ways in which it can be read by these different ID scanners, which we have here today.

PHILLIPS: All right, give us -- show us how it works. Give us a little a demo here.

SIEBERG: Sure, we've got a couple of different ones here. They range in price from 500 dollars to 2500 dollars. The one we've got here is from a company called InteleCheck, and I've got an ID here in my hand here. This is an actual driver's license from Alabama. It's not an actual person. I'm going to slide it into the UPC. It's the bar code reader, right here. As it reads it, the information is transferred to this laptop that we've got. You know, you don't need to have the laptop if you're a store owner. It does come up on this machine, but we've hooked it up so you can see it better. And you see here is that alcohol is not permitted for this person, but tobacco is, based on the age. Now you also see that there is information about where the person lives, who they are. It's all the information that would be encoded in the license itself.

If it was somebody who was a little more sinister, and we are going to do another example here. Again, it is a legitimate license that's been encoded, and we're just going to update the machine here, put this one in. The difference with this one -- as its processing it, we're going to see something else come up. You'll see that there's an alert symbol up here. The license could encode other information that there is an alert put out on this particular person, so there are security purposes for this as well.

We are going to move from the InteleCheck machine, which we had here, over to another one, which is a little bit more portable in nature, from a company called Logix. This machine is called ID Logix, and we've got another license here. This one is actually powered by Linux. I'm going to swipe the license through it. Instead, in this case, it's reading the magnetic stripe on the license rather than bar code.

As I swipe it through, if I could get a close-up on the screen. It's actually telling me I didn't swipe it properly. That is the key point I should mention, Kyra, in terms of this being adapted more widely.

Some bar owners may find it inconvenient or tough to use. The machines are meant to be rather intuitive in nature. I will slide it over one more time just to see if we can get them to come up. Try it one more time. This is live TV, Kyra, as you know.

PHILLIPS: That's OK.

SIEBERG: That was my fault. I had turned the direction, so that's an important point as it slides through. Now we can see that it has a valid ID, and that whoever had this ID and was using it, it can be used to purchase tobacco or alcohol.

PHILLIPS: What about privacy issues, Daniel?

SIEBERG: Yes, privacy issues are a big concern with these different ID scanners, particularly because these machines are capable of storing the information that is read.

Now the companies that make them, both InteleCheck and Logix, say that their are restrictions in place for whether or not the bar owners or store owners can actually read this information. They can be set so that only bits of information come up, not everything that's on the license.

As well, there are different laws based on different states of what can actually be used, or encoded or read. The privacy advocates are concerned, for example, about marketing. If you're information is kept track of and they start sending you different players and so on, based on the events you go to. But again, these companies say that there are restrictions or parameters in place that will limit that to a certain perspective.

PHILLIPS: I wonder if these could be used in the war against terrorism. I mean, could they be put into airports and used as a security screening device?

SIEBERG: Yes, absolutely, Kyra. That is where they see this going potentially. I wouldn't say it's that all that nationwide as yet. But there are potential for this to be used as airport security, for example, to verify the authenticity of the license, whether it's been faked or not.

Of course if you just change the picture on a license, it may be a little easier to fake it, but there are holograms these days and technology that makes it more difficult. Also at a second location, a secure where it could potentially be used. Even at an apartment, if somebody is trying to get in and going in and out, these could be placed somewhere where the person could check the ID and make sure whether the person is coming in or not.

I wanted to hit on the point, again, that it's not across the country, yet there are at least eight or nine states that still have not actually adopted the idea of encoding information on the back of a license. You can probably look at your own license if you're at home right now, and see if you see this magnetic strip or a bar code, or sometimes even both, but there are, as I say, about eight or nine states that are not doing this as of yet, but could potentially be doing it in the future.

PHILLIPS: Interesting stuff. Daniel Sieberg, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com