License Authenticity Takes A New Turn
Five States–Nebraska, New Jersey, Vermont, Kansas, and Michigan–plan to use digital watermarks to validate drivers licenses and state-issued identifications.
The watermarks hide computer-readable data in an image, and their invisibility to the eye makes them difficult to efface or change. The process can only be used with digital licenses printed from electronic files.
Oregon-based Digimarc has been commissioned by at least two of the States, Nebraska and Florida, to complete the process.
Law enforcement and Department of Motor Vehicles staffers will be able to access digital photos through a central image server in the states of Kansas and Nebraska. That way, they can confirm identities and correlate images of new applicants with an existing image databank.
Minors’ licenses in Nebraska will boast a vertical format, while older drivers licenses will be horizontal. In addition, licenses will feature a holographic ghost image of the driver’s photograph and a laminate that shifts color in different viewing angles.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from Government Computer News Online (10/13/03); Jackson, William.