Date: Thu, 10 Dec 1992 18:00:14 GMT
From: Mike Brokowski <brokow@casbah.acns.nwu.edu>
Newsgroups: comp.society.privacy
Subject: Re: Digital Licenses in NY State
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston Illinois.
X-Submissions-To: comp-privacy@pica.army.mil
X-Administrivia-To: comp-privacy-request@pica.army.mil
X-Computer-Privacy-Digest: Volume 1, Issue 113, Message 3 of 9

In article <comp-privacy1.109.2@pica.army.mil> Mike McNally <mcnally@quip.eecs.umich.edu> writes:
>In article <comp-privacy1.106.10@pica.army.mil> Mike Johnston <shearson!jenny!mjohnsto@uunet.uu.net> writes:
>>
>>Today's (12/3/92) New York Times carried a small article in the Metro
>>section describing NY's new licenses. In a nutshell, drivers will
>>have *both* their pictures and signatures digitally stored on the
>>state's computers. This makes me nervous.
>
>[...]
>
>>My biggest problem is this: I don't want my picture and signature
>>digitally stored on NY's computers, where it can easily be transmitted
>>to anyone the state deem's fit to receive it. This could include
>>the Federal Government, other State's and various agencies within
>>our own state. I won't even get into the ramifications of having
>>my SIGNATURE stored where someone can replicate it, perfectly, every
>>time they need to.
>>
>>It seems the privacy issues here have either been ignored or swept
>>under the carpet. 
>
>It seems to me that elementary logic has either been ignored or swept
>under the carpet..  The very interesting thing about this post is that
>while I'm sure the author earnestly believes this is a privacy issue,
>his privacy is not in any significantly greater jeopardy because the 
>stroage media employed by the NY state DMV has changed.  The real issue
>is paranoia towards digital technology and its applications.  Unless 
>the author earnestly believes that photocopies and fascimiles of his
>motor vehicle permit cannot now be easily transmitted to "the Federal
>Government, other State's and various agencies within [his] own state," I
>I fail to see how digital storage of information that is already kept
>throws his personal privacy into serious danger.

Perhaps a re-read of MJ's post is in order then.  Nobody argues that
without digitized signatures fraud would be impossible.  The major,
IMO, distinction due to the "storage media" is that the fraud has
been transformed from a somewhat difficult to automate, effortsome
process to an easily automated one.  

There will always be some way to get a clerk at the DMV to release
information which ought likely not be released, but now it can be
done precisely and potentially with even more anonymity than before.

On top of this lies the beaurocratic tendency to send as much 
information as conveiniently possible whenever any information is
requested.  One's signature could be transferred along with some
driving record information to anyone who cares to call himself an
insurance company.  Even if the request is legitimate, people tend
to store all of the information sent to them, so the signature will
be sitting in the same file as everything else even if it was never
wanted.

Frankly, since the digitized version would be both easier to get
and more accurate (no losses from multiple photocopying) than both
photocopies or facsimiles, I cannot see how anyone could doubt that 
such a move poses a threat to privacy.