Big brother coming one step closer, or viable license that citizens want?
Residents in New York now have the chance to carry a new type of drivers license that is embedded with a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip.
People wanting the new license will need to pay an additional $30 processing fee -- raising the price for a new license to $80 -- and bring a pile of government-issued documents with them to the DMV. An old license, Social Security card, birth certificate or other proof of U.S. citizenship and two documents to prove residency in New York are required.
Even though it will add another 10 to 20 minutes at the local DMV, the license can be used for border crossings between the United States, Mexico, Canada, Bermuda and the Carribean. The new land and sea requirements will go into effect on June 1, 2009, but is not eligible for international air travel, which will still require a valid passport.
No personal information is stored on the RFID tag and the identifying information can only be used to verify that it has been issued to a person, the state of New York said. New York residents worried about privacy concerns will not be required to get a new drivers license.
Each license will be shipped with a protective storage sleeve designed to help stop anyone who is trying to use an RFID reader to pull a person's name off the ID.
RFID chips have already been implemented into passports and credit cards, but New York is the first state to put them into drivers licenses. Depending on how effective the licenses are in New York, other states have shown interest in launching RFID-enabled licenses.
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