Wednesday, August 5, 2015
HOT TOPICS:
§ California DMV's new system helps with rush of driver’s license applicants
§ New York DMV change upsets some county clerks
§ Appeals court: Oklahoma license plate does not depict a religious message
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California DMV's new system helps with rush of driver’s license applicants
Government Technology
California DMV's New System Helps with Rush of Driver’s License Applicants
The new document verification system enhances DMV workers’ ability to verify documents.
BY ROBIN EPLEY / AUGUST 4, 2015
A new document verification program at the California DMV is helping put a stop to fraudulent identification cards and drivers’ licenses.
The Coesys Document Verification System from international security company Gemalto enhances California DMV workers’ ability to verify documents, said Neville Pattinson, the company’s senior vice president of government programs in North America.
“The existing process of applying for a driver’s license in California required the human DMV employee to do a manual verification,” Pattinson explained. Although the workers went though a lot of training to make that those verification determinations, Pattinson said the “technology is giving them an extra tool they can use equally to perform a much more forensic evaluation of the documents.”
The DMV confirmed the new solution was rolled out earlier this year.
“In March 2015, the DMV started using a Document Authentification Device (DAD) to electronically authenticate some source/identity documents,” wrote Jessica Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for the California DMV, in an email. “The DAD is a tool to assist DMV in enhancing the security of the DL/ID [driver’s license and identification] card application process by matching the document to a template in the DAD software library.”
Gonzalez further explained that the new DAD process doesn’t entirely replace the current process that’s in place at all DMV offices, and that primary and secondary document verification is still required.
“This enhanced application review process provides greater security and enhances the primary and/or secondary verification process for fraud protection,” she wrote.
Pattinson said the project stemmed from AB 60, new legislation that allows undocumented applicants to obtain a driver’s license. “Obviously the state provides training, but they can only go so far. We provide the extra security,” Pattinson added.
The sheer number of document types the DMV workers were required to be trained on — and expected to spot a fake in — numbered in the hundreds, Pattinson explained.
With the new computer program, the full extent of DMV offices and stations, which total more than 500, can be upgraded simultaneously and overnight to identify legitimate state documents. All of the terminals look and work exactly the same, Pattinson said, so that a DMV employee from Southern California would be able to work on a sister machine in Northern California.
The project’s duration — from bidding to installation — took only a few months, he said. Gemalto provided the programming; the state of California provided the computers and hardware.
Pattinson stressed the importance of the system being “highly applicable” to more entities than just the California DMV, and he suggested it could be used at places like airport security checkpoints and banks — anywhere a citizen might have an important interaction with necessary legal documents.
“It takes away the need for the documentarian to become a document expert,” Pattinson said.
This story originally appeared on TechWire.
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New York DMV change upsets some county clerks
WWNY TV 7
Feedback: DMV Change Upsets Some County Clerks
Story Published: Aug 4, 2015 at 2:04 PM EDT
(Story Updated: Aug 4, 2015 at 6:24 PM EDT)
The idea is to go online instead of standing in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles to get your temporary driver's license.
"As county clerks, we're concerned about the integrity of that," said Lewis County Clerk Doug Hanno.
The north country's county clerks are concerned about internet fraud, a concern shared by some customers.
"It's very easy to do identity theft these days, so somebody could take out a temporary license in your name. But, it will cut down with lines at the DMV and it's easier and I could do it even when I was overseas," said Shauna Chavoustie, a customer.
Shorter lines at the DMV also mean a loss of revenue to the counties, as the money you pay online will go only to the state.
"I think it's crazy. I think the counties need to keep the revenue here," said customer Jess Burke.
The county clerks want the state to give them a bigger share of the customers they do have.
"So when they come in for a driver's license renewal or a registration renewal, we are hoping to obtain and retain 25 percent," said Jefferson County Clerk Gizelle Meeks.
The Jefferson and Lewis county clerks say the governor's recent move to make New Yorkers' DMV experience more convenient came without communicating first with county clerks.
In turn, they say, they'll be communicating to the governor the need for more security and an increased percentage of the sales.
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Appeals court: Oklahoma license plate does not depict a religious message
KOCO Oklahoma City
Appeals court: Oklahoma license plate does not depict a religious message
Published 7:15 AM CDT Aug 05, 2015
TULSA, Okla. — Oklahoma's standard license plates, which show an Apache warrior shooting an arrow into the sky, do not contain a religious message, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday, rejecting the claim of a pastor who claimed the plates were an affront to his Christian beliefs.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver upheld an Oklahoma federal judge who had tossed out Bethany pastor Keith Cressman's lawsuit against the state.
An attorney for the pastor said he was disappointed by the ruling and is considering an appeal. A spokesman for the Oklahoma attorney general's office, which represented the state, declined to comment on the ruling.
"Mr. Cressman's claim fails because he cannot demonstrate that the Native American image is, in fact, speech to which he objects," the court found.
The plate was inspired by Allan Houser's "Sacred Rain Arrow" sculpture, but the 10th Circuit noted a state task force in 2007 wanted a new plate to market Oklahoma to potential tourists and ruled that a "reasonable observer" wouldn't view the plates and conclude that the image communicates the legend in which a warrior shot an arrow skyward in an effort to bring rain.
Cressman had said the image conveyed a message that there are multiple gods and that the arrow was an "intermediary for prayer." The court disagreed.
"At least in the context of its mass reproduction on Oklahoma's standard vehicle license plate, the Native American image is not an exercise of self-expression entitled to pure-speech protection," the court ruled.
Nate Kellum, chief counsel for the Tennessee-based Center for Religious Expression, which represented Cressman, called the ruling a disappointment.
"We believe the decision begs for further consideration," he said.
Houser is recognized as one of the foremost sculptors of the 20th century, and the statue was displayed at the Olympic Village during the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.