DMV explores SmarTrip chips

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(Greg Whitesell/Examiner)
D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles is planning an initiative to embed SmarTrip computer chips inside every new D.C. driver’s license as the most efficient way to pay for transit service.

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Privacy advocates are alarmed by a D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles initiative to embed SmarTrip computer chips inside every new D.C. driver’s license, making it easier than ever to track D.C. residents on their travels through the transit system.

The DMV will spend $830,000 a year to install SmarTrip chips in all driver’s licenses and identification cards starting in October 2008. SmarTrip “is the most efficient way of paying for transit service,” according to DMV documents, and lodging the chips in about 440,000 licenses “will allow all District residents access to SmarTrip cards and encourage transit use.”

DMV spokeswoman Janis Hazel said there was no plan to increase the cost of a driver’s license to offset the costs of the chip.

SmarTrip does, however, provide Metro and the government with a system to follow users, though Hazel said the agency “has no intention to track [a] person’s movements on the Metro system.”

“If you’re paying your fare with it, they’re going to have the ability to know by name who entered each Metro station at what time and who exited a Metro station at what time,” said Paul Stephens, director of policy and advocacy with the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. “That can be used by the government to track your comings and goings. It’s an absolutely awful idea.”

Metro’s policy is to release Smar-Trip information to law enforcement purposes, or at a cardholder’s request. A Metro spokesman said the transit agency’s privacy rules are “very strict.”

The SmarTrip technology allows users to breeze through fare gates at Metrorail stations, to park at a Metro garage or to pay their fares on a Metrobus. SmarTrip cards usually cost $5 to buy.

Expanding SmarTrip into driver’s licenses offers “yet another opportunity to reduce vehicular traffic in the downtown area,” said D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray, whose government ID badge has a SmarTrip built in.

But Melissa Ngo with the D.C.-based Electronic Privacy Information Center said D.C. is “setting up an infrastructure where the government can track you all the time.” Combining a license, smart card, credit card and ID badge into one “leaves you open to identity theft on a variety of levels,” she said.

“It’s just not good security,” Ngo said.

The Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration has discussed a similar initiative, a spokesman said. It is unknown where Virginia stands.

mneibauer@dcexaminer.com

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