Mandatory National ID Card Coming - Prepare to be Searched

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Experts See A High-Security America Of Surveillance &
Seizures

By William Glaberson, New York Times Service
http://www.iht.com/articles/32991.htm
Sept. 19, 2001

NEW YORK Security experts in the United States are
describing a new kind of country that could emerge,
where electronic identification might become the norm,
immigrants might be tracked far more closely and the
airspace over cities like New York and Washington might
be off-limits to all civilian aircraft.

Attorney General John Ashcroft outlined several
proposals Monday, saying, "We should strengthen our
laws to increase the ability of the Department of
Justice and its component agencies to identify, prevent
and punish terrorism."

The proposals he described included measures that would
give law enforcement officials expanded electronic
surveillance powers and new powers to seize the assets
of suspected terrorists. Since the attacks, Congress
has been acting on proposals to make wiretapping of
computers easier, and a flood of measures is expected
that will loosen restrictions on what effectively is
domestic spying. Legal experts say that the courts are
unlikely to impose many restrictions on Congress's
security decisions. As a result, they say, the country
can adopt security measures as stringent as its people
will tolerate politically or will support financially.

Experts say that technology has presented almost
limitless possibilities. "Each American could be given
a 'smart card,' so, as they go into an airport or
anywhere, we know exactly who they are," said Michael
Cherkasky, president of Kroll Inc. consultants.

"The technology is here," Mr. Cherkasky said, noting
that it can be readily expanded.

Such cards, with computer chips, would have detailed
information about their owners and leave a computer
record when they are used. The cards could be
coordinated with fingerprints or, in a few years,
facial characteristics, and be programmed to permit or
to limit access to areas or entire buildings. They
could track someone's location, financial transactions,
criminal history and even driving speed on a particular
highway on a given night.

Critics said that electronic identification cards,
combined with other measures, could usher in an era of
surveillance and suspicion. And civil libertarians note
that an anxious public may be willing to trade freedoms
for greater safety in the aftermath of the attacks last
week.

It is not clear, said Bruce Ackerman, a law professor
at Yale University, whether that acceptance will
continue if people are discomforted. "It is a profound
affront to be metered and measured," he said. "And that
is, I think, the debate of the future."

Legal experts said the civil libertarians will find
little sympathy in the courts. In World War II, they
noted, the Supreme Court approved the internment of
Japanese-Americans, a decision that constitutional
scholars now widely consider to have been wrong.

"If history suggests anything," said David Strauss, a
law professor at the University of Chicago, "it
suggests the courts will allow the government to get
away with a lot. "Not quite everything, but a lot more
than you would expect."

In interviews, experts on security and terrorism
outlined some choices. Immigration could be more
sharply controlled, with some immigrants required to
report periodically on their activities. Video
surveillance, already growing, could be sharply
increased in stores, offices and public places and at
public events. Law enforcement officials could expand
the use of personality profiles, possibly including
racial descriptions, to identify potential terrorists.

Terry F. Lenzner, chairman of Investigative Group
International, a corporate security concern, said that,
if the flow of money was being monitored before the
attacks last week, authorities might have realized that
people were receiving money from Osama bin Laden or
other terrorists.

Airport security is likely to be just one area for
debate. Armed sky marshals, stronger cockpit doors and
new technology for luggage searches are likely to be
accepted widely. But some experts suggested that the
country could also adopt a system like Israel's, where
security people often interrogate passengers about
their travel plans and rifle through their baggage.
John Horn, vice president of IPSA International, a
security consulting concern, said he favored declaring
the airspace over some cities off limits to commercial
flights. But he and other experts said that the public,
which already generally balks at the prospect of
airport construction, might balk at the cost and
inconvenience of building new runways or airports to
avoid cities. Partly because of limits of normal
security systems, some experts said, computer
technology will be harnessed to make the country safer.

Even if opposition makes a national identity card
unrealistic, experts say the attacks will sharply
increase adoption of security technology. "Over a
period of time, these technologies will slowly be
becoming part of our life," said Martin Pollner, a New
York lawyer at Loeb Loeb, who was director of law
enforcement at the Treasury Department in the 1970s.
"You will no longer be able to just come and go."

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Face-ID technology gains new support

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,53%257E151641,
00.html

By Julia C. Martinez
Denver Post Capitol Bureau

Wednesday, September 19, 2001 - The face-recognition
technology that had lawmakers and civil libertarians so
worried a few weeks ago is gaining new support after
last week's terrorist attacks.

State lawmakers planning to sponsor legislation
restricting its use now say they are reassessing their
plans. And the New York company that developed the
computer technology that maps facial characteristics
has been deluged with phone calls and e-mails from
governments and companies around the world - even the
Olympics - seeking greater security.

"September 11 is causing a lot of people to reconsider
a lot of things," said Rep. Shawn Mitchell, a
Broomfield Republican who had planned legislation.
"Now, I have to think of other benefits that go beyond
stopping financial crime."

The company, Visionics, had to upgrade its
phone-messaging system to handle all the calls, its
chairman, Joseph Atick, said. Its stock, which trades
on the Nasdaq market, soared 93 percent Monday. On an
average day, the company trades about 50,000 shares,
Atick said. It is currently trading more than 3
million.

"This is an international campaign that these
terrorists have kicked off," he said. "We've had
inquiries from just about every government agency in
Washington. Everyone from national intelligence to
airport security and law enforcement in this country
and security agencies and embassies in countries as far
away as Thailand and Malaysia have contacted us."

About 70 or 80 airports have called, most in the United
States, Atick said. He didn't know if Denver
International Airport was among them, and DIA officials
did not return phone calls seeking comment. Sports
arenas and even Olympic officials who previously said
they wouldn't use face recognition are making
inquiries, he said.

But civil libertarians fear a further erosion of
personal liberties.

"I have concern that in the rush we will make some bad
decisions about privacy," said Richard Smith, of the
University of Denver's Privacy Foundation. "There's
already a big rush to loosen up the wiretap laws. I'm
concerned about that. And there's a lot of talk about
the face-recognition stuff."

Colorado passed a law earlier this year that allows the
Department of Motor Vehicles to buy a system to map
every driver's facial characteristics like a
three-dimensional land chart when a driver's license is
obtained. The system, which was to be in place by next
July, is an effort to prevent identity theft and
driver's-license fraud by comparing photographs with
pictures already in the system.

Atick said the system could prevent terrorists from
obtaining false driver's licenses and using them to
travel around the country. "We all agree now that
terror is not faceless. It has a face. It has an
identity," he said.

Rutt Bridges, founder and chief executive of the
Bighorn Institute research group in Colorado, said more
people are now willing to compromise some civil
liberties for security.

"The real question is where is that line going to be
drawn," Bridges said. He predicts a national debate on
privacy in the year ahead. He also predicts an expanded
use of face scanning.

DU's Smith said that in order to use face recognition
to catch terrorists, the government needs pictures.

"I don't see that there are that many terrorists that
we know about," he said.

But Atick said security companies need to work with
government intelligence to start putting together the
photographs and video images into a database.

Face-recognition systems were deployed at this year's
Super Bowl in Florida in an attempt to catch
terrorists. But a national public outcry ensued after
only petty criminals and a ticket scalper were caught
at the game.

Tampa officials also later allowed police to use the
technology on the streets of a renovated entertainment
district to scan faces in the crowd. The public
objected to the camera-lined streets as a serious
invasion of privacy.

State Sen. Ken Gordon, D-Denver, chairman of the Senate
Judicial Committee, said the mood in the country has
changed dramatically in just seven days.

"Until last week we were trying to expand people's
privacy against incursions from the government," Gordon
said. "Now we might have to fight for what we already
have."