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Testing New Identity Technology  Reprint permission
Beaverton, Oregon-based Digimarc signed an agreement with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for a pilot program that will enable law enforcement to inspect and authenticate driver licenses secured with covert digital watermarking-based security features. The program, valued at approximately $1 million, will begin immediately and should be completed late in 2005. Digital watermarking provides a covert, machine-readable layer of security that offers issuers of secure IDs a new weapon in the fight against digital counterfeiting, identity theft, fraud and related activities. These new security features also have national security implications as they can be used to address many of the ID-related Homeland Security issues highlighted by the 9/11 Commission Report. "Watermarking can be used across printed, photographic, and magnetic stripe media. It is imperceptible to the naked eye and could be used to help insure the integrity of Transport Worker Identification Cards," said Reed Stager, Vice President, Corporate Licensing, Marketing and Public Policy for Digimarc. Under the pilot, Digimarc will invite state DMVs to apply to participate in the pilot and help drive the requirements for testing operational aspects of inspecting digitally watermarked driver licenses in the field. Today, 10 states representing more than 20 percent of all yearly driver licenses issued in the U.S. have incorporated digital watermarking as an innovative, new layer of driver license security. "In the battle against identity theft and fraud, digital watermarking adds a unique, new layer of machine-readable protection and authentication to the state-issued driver license, helping thwart would-be counterfeiters within and across state lines," said J. Scott Carr, president, Digimarc Watermarking Solutions.
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