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[Anonymous <nobody@replay.com>]

               Secret Service aided
               license photo database 

               February 18, 1999
               Web posted at: 2:29 p.m. EST (1929 GMT) 


               In this story:

               Anti-terrorism technology 

               'Why were state officials not
               told?' 

               RELATED STORIES, SITES  




               WASHINGTON (CNN) -- While
               a plan to build a national database
               of driver's license photographs is
               being opposed in some states on
               privacy grounds, the U.S. Secret Service provided money
               and technical assistance to help the New Hampshire
               company at the center of the controversy. 

               Nashua-based Image Data LLC, which has bought millions
               of driver's license photos, confirmed a story that appeared
               Thursday in the Washington Post. 

               The company said nearly all of the $1.46 million in federal
               aid it received was used for its database project and a
               small portion was used by the Secret Service to pay travel
               and other expenses. 

               Image Data is trying to build an anti- fraud database to help
               prevent check and credit card fraud that costs retailers an
               estimated $25 billion a year. 

               Anti-terrorism technology

               But congressional leaders who helped arrange federal
               assistance for the project also envisioned using the photo
               file to combat terrorism, immigration abuses and other
               identity crimes, according to the Post. 

               The newspaper quotes a letter from eight members of
               Congress in September 1997 thanking Sen. Ben Nighthorse
               Campbell, R-Colorado, "for including $1.46 million for a
               pilot program to combat identity-based crimes." 

               The money, part of the fiscal 1998 federal budget, went to
               Image Data LLC, which has been testing its "TrueID"
               system to confirm a customer's identity with a driver's
               license photograph when a credit card or personal check is
               used. 

               The letter said Image Data's "TrueID technology has
               widespread potential to reduce crime in the credit and
               checking fields, in airports to reduce the chances of
               terrorism and in immigration and naturalization to verify
               proper identity." 

               It also said "the Secret
               Service can provide technical
               assistance and assess the
               effectiveness of this
               technology." Among the
               lawmakers signing the letter
               were two New Hampshire
               Republicans, Sen. Judd Gregg
               and Rep. Charles Bass, and
               Sen. Ernest Hollings, D-South
               Carolina. 

               Secret Service agent Cary Rosoff told the Post that while
               the agency did not seek to be included in the project, it saw
               a chance to help Image Data improve its technology. 

               'Why were state officials not told?'

               Public outrage mounted in at least three states after it was
               revealed that Image Data had contracted to buy drivers'
               photo images in South Carolina, Florida and Colorado. 

               Last week, a South Carolina judge rejected that state's
               attempt to have the pictures returned. A Florida judge
               blocked a similar Image Data deal there, and Colorado's
               governor wants to do the same. 

               In South Carolina, where the state legislature originally
               approved the deal, 3.5 million driver's license photos were
               sold to Image Data for $5,000 to test "TrueID." 

               The state, citing privacy concerns raised by the public, then
               sued the company to get out of the contract. 

               South Carolina Attorney General Charles Condon said
               Thursday that states should have been told that the Secret
               Service had a hand in the project and was considering law
               enforcement uses for the technology. 

               He called for an investigation into why Image Data didn't
               tell state officials about the federal interest in the database.

               "We now find out that this out-of-state operation was really
               busy getting nearly a million-and-a-half-dollar grant from
               the Secret Service to develop technology for anti-terrorist
               techniques and to discover immigration violations,"
               Condon said in a statement. "Why were state officials not
               told?" 

               Image Data on Thursday denied that it misled states about
               how it intended to use the photographs. 

               "The facts are that Image Data use of information is
               governed by both law and by contract," said a company
               statement. "We sign contracts with states to limit our use of
               the information only for fraud prevention." 

http://www.cnn.com/US/9902/18/license.photos/