Quoted Text

CAPITAL REGION
License change drops detail Enhanced IDs lack age barcode
BY R.J. KELLY Gazette Reporter

    There’s a lot of new information embedded on upgraded driver’s licenses issued since Sept. 16, but scanners used by many lottery, alcohol and tobacco retailers can’t read the license holder’s age anymore.
    At issue is the removal of one of two barcodes on the back of the new driver’s licenses in favor of one enhanced barcode.
    “Without the one-dimensional barcode on the newly issued licenses, permits and ID cards, the scanners now in use at beverage centers, bars, restaurants, convenience stores and other establishments cannot verify age, rendering those machines obsolete,” according to Schoharie County Clerk M. Indica “Indy” Jaycox.
    The license holder’s birth date can still be read by a clerk; it’s the automatic scanners that can’t read the date.
    Officials of the state Department of Motor Vehicles and Lottery Division had thought the problem would soon be solved with a simple software upgrade, but they’ve now discovered that it’s not likely to be fixed until all 16,000 Lottery machines are replaced in a year or so, Lottery spokesman John Charlson said.
    “It would cost several million dollars to replace the current barcode readers with new readers. In the current recession, we believe such an expenditure for the sole purpose of reading the next generation of driver’s licenses would not be in the best interest of the public,” Charlson said.
    The Lottery machines were already scheduled to be replaced in the 2010 budget as part of a regular 10-year cycle, according to Charlson.
    Before Sept. 16, the backs of all licenses included both a simple barcode at the top and the larger so-called two-dimensional enhanced code that looks like a mass of speckles and lines.
    Now, on the newer style of license, the simpler ID bar is gone. In addition, any of the DMV’s new “enhanced documents” also include a machine-readable zone on the bottom that includes numbers and letters, according to Lawrence Caza, executive deputy clerk in Schoharie County.
    The recently issued enhanced licenses, an alternative to basic driver’s licenses, are designed to ease North American border crossings in lieu of more expensive passports.
    Rensselaer County Clerk Frank Merola thinks poor communication from state DMV officials to retailers and county clerks overseeing local DMV offices is at the root of the compatibility problem.
    The former barcode, a strip with vertical bars typical of markings on virtually every other retail product, simply revealed the license holder’s age when scanned, Merola said.
    “It was a very simple readout for the person selling age-sensitive products,” he said. “[But] they took that off ... and the bad part is they did it without notification.” Merola said Wednesday. Merola said retailers liked the simple barcode because the scanners help merchants verify ages even on licenses where the printed ages had been altered. But the old code is unlikely to be restored.
    “We needed the room [on the license] to expand the two-dimensional barcode,” said DMV’s Jackie McGinnis. It’s becoming the standard nationwide, and “45 of the 50 states have done away with the single barcode,” she said.
    McGinnis said state DMV offi cials “knew for months” in advance of the code change.
    Charlson said Lottery officials had discussed compatibility issues before the DMV changed the licenses, “but it was no reason to delay introduction of the [new] license.”
    The new barcodes are only on enhanced licenses issued since Sept. 16, 2008, “a tiny fraction of the millions of licenses in circulation,” state DMV Commissioner David J. Swarts wrote in a letter to the editor published Nov. 10 in The Daily Gazette.
    “When we were talking about the new license [in late 2007] ... we didn’t have the state deficit we have now.” That could now play a role in how quickly machines are replaced, Charlson said.
    Charlson and McGinnis both noted that security issues, and not age verification, were the reason for changing the barcodes. “Retailers can also just look at the other license information [to check age],” Charlson said.
    A person must be at least 18 to legally purchase a New York Lottery ticket and 21 to purchase alcohol.
    Charlson said the Lottery will be........................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00903