From: Bill Stewart <bill.stewart@pobox.com>
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 1998 08:27:28 +0800
To: Information Security <cypherpunks@cyberpass.net>
Subject: Re: Fingerprinting in CA [was Whoa: British SmartCard rollout]
In-Reply-To: <199802040323.WAA16673@panix2.panix.com>
Message-ID: <3.0.5.32.19980206074009.0085b8c0@popd.ix.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



>>   How did you CA cypherpunks feel about being fingerprinted?

Well, if I'd been thinking about it, I'd have put some rubber cement and
whiteout on my thumb before getting the license :-)
More the issue at the time was that the politicians were
busy deciding that your ability to drive safely obviously depended
on whether your citizenship papers were in order (the month
I got it they'd temporarily stopped doing that.)
I recently renewed the license, and they didn't ask for papers
or thumbprints, but they still don't print the license at the 
remote DMV offices; they print them centrally because it simplifies
verifying your information with the INS thugs.

The citizenship papers issue has basically doubled the market
for counterfeit licenses; it's not just excessively bad drivers
who bribe DMV employees any more.

Back when I lived in New Jersey, the cops would set up traffic stops
not only to look for drunk drivers (at 9am?!), but also to check
if your papers were in order.  I haven't seen much of that in California,
but presumably the Southern part of the state does it more often
to catch Spanish speakers who are loose in the population.
				Thanks! 
					Bill
Bill Stewart, bill.stewart@pobox.com
PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF  3C85 B884 0ABE 4639