Feds Fund Secure Id Project
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration made a $1 million deal with Digimarc to collaboratively study hacker-resistant digital authentication for use on state driver’s licenses.
The pilot program will consider the use of embedded digital watermarks that could be read by machines operated by police officers, retailers, and others.
“Part of the value is that this shows good cooperation between federal and state governments, a number of which are already deploying the technology,” notes Digimarc vice president Reed Stager.
Not only will the new ID technology improve public safety, but will help fight ID theft and fraud.
The federal government wants to make such state-issued identification more secure, and while many licenses already have magnetic strips, Digimarc contends that its “covert watermarking” technology would be harder to counterfeit. The program is scheduled for completion late next year.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from CNet (09/30/04); Borland, John .