High-tech ID card rolls out in Washington

• A new smartcard, the type privacy advocates fear because it combines biometric data with radio tags, will soon be one of the most common ID cards in Washington.
• Department of Homeland Security workers in May will begin using the new ID card, called the DAC, to gain access to secure areas, log on to government computers and even pay their Metro subway fares.
• The DAC, which stands for Department of Homeland Security Access Card, will carry a digital copy of its bearer's fingerprint and other personally identifiable information.
• It will use radio-frequency identification and Bluetooth technologies to communicate with reader devices at the department's offices.
• "The card provides one type of authentication for all forms of access (physical, wired and wireless)," said DHS Director of Authentication Technologies Joseph Broghamer, who participated in a wireless technology conference in Washington, D.C., last week.
• The DAC will feature a high-resolution image of its bearer and a hard-to-duplicate holographic image.
• For example, rather than entering a user name and password, DHS workers will log on to their computers by sliding their DAC into a special keyboard and pressing their finger on the keyboard's fingerprint-reader pad.
• The DAC's use of fingerprint records makes it more secure than previous ID card technologies, because it authenticates both the card and its bearer, said Broghamer, and its use of wireless communication makes it more convenient for DHS employees.
• DAC's RFID and Bluetooth capabilities (some DAC holders will be testing Bluetooth-enabled cardholders in May) will show "how wireless can get around the form factors," said Broghamer, referring to incompatibilities among devices that read ID cards by making physical contact with them.