SmartCard Alliance escalates criticism of long-range RFID for WHTI

The Smart Card Alliance is unhappy with DHS’s recommendations to pilot long-range, vicinity-read RFID-based state driver’s licenses which would double as border-crossing cards. The alliance says that DHS emphasizes the conveinece — rather than the privacy and security — of U.S. citizens.

The Alliance recommends that states working on enhanced driver’s license pilot programs with DHS retain their right to contribute to the technology specification and consider using more secure contactless smart card technology. This, by the way, is the same technology used in new, government issued e-passports. “The Smart Card Alliance… supports efforts by border states to boost security at borders while facilitating trade and tourism,” said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance. “However, we also believe that states should not lose sight of the concerns raised by numerous privacy and security groups about the DHS stated intent to put the same RFID tracking technology used for packages and pallets into driver’s licenses.”

As a result of the new Western Hemisphere Traveler Initiative (WHTI), DHS and the Department of State are set to create a new type of border crossing card for U.S. citizens as a lower cost alternative to passports. The program has been mired in controversy and raised privacy, security, and operational issues, however, when DHS recommended using long-range RFID technology in a notice last year of proposed rule making.

The alliance notes that long-range RFID technology has been found to have quite a few performance problems. For example, a government report reviewed DHS use of the technology in the US-VISIT program, and concluded that “initial testing and analysis of this has identified numerous performance and reliability problems, such as the failure of RFID readers to detect a majority of travelers’ tags during testing.” Successful read rates were low at four of the five test sites, and in one instance as low as 27 percent.

“The only broadly deployed, proven technology existing today that meets the objectives of increased border security, citizen privacy and efficient border crossing is contactless smart card technology — the technology that is being used by the United States and more than 26 other countries for e-passport,” the alliance implores. “The same smart card technology is specified for all new federal employee ID cards beginning this year and is being widely used in identity management applications worldwide.”