ID card and computer chip makers announce Secure ID Coalition
Group will promote contact-less smart cards in state legislatures; effort comes in response to attempts to ban tracking tags and other technologies
Strength in numbers. More and more government agencies on the federal and state level contemplate, or even mandate, the incorporation of RFID technology into various IDs and documents. Privacy adovocates are trying to push back, arguing that the new technology poses a threat to privacy. It is thus a good time for a group of identification card and computer chip manufacturers to form a new industry coalition dedicated to educating lawmakers about secure card technologies. The Secure ID Coalition will promote contact-less smart cards instead of those relying on radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips, and will focus on state-level issues. One major goal is to prevent state lawmakers from prohibiting technologies sold or relied on by coalition members. Pending bills in California, for instance, would outlaw the use or RFIDs in driver’s licenses and school ID cards.
Coalition members include Gemalto, Ifineon Technologies, Oberthur Card Systems, Royal Phillips Electronics, and Texas Instruments.
-read more in the Government Executive report
