07 April, 2004
category: Biometrics, Corporate, Government, RFID, Transit
The Practical Nomad blog: Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC)
Edward Hasbrouck voices his concerns on the next round of trials of the Transport Worker Identification Credential.
“The general idea behind the TWIC is that all transportation workers throughout the USA, including workers at air and sea ports and public transit facilities, highway and pipeline workers, truckers, and operators of any vehicle carrying passengers for hire, would have their biometric data recorded in a central database and be issued a single machine-readable card which would be used to control access to all transport factilities and vehicles. Presumably the “biometric” data would consist of digital photographs and fingerprints, although that hasn’t been spelled out, most likely becuase the TSA hasn’t wanted to face the backlash from announcing that it wants to fingerprint all taxi, truck, and bus drivers, road and longshore workers, etc.
Regardless of any use or effectiveness for access control, the TWIC program seems to have been designed to maximize its potential for surveillance and monitoring of workers movements, in keeping with its development by an industry/government partnership (not, as it might have been and as was suggested by workers’ organizations, by an industry/government/worker partnership).”