Another Boneheaded Plan from the State of Iowa
February 2, 2009 4 Comments
Just what is it with the Iowa government lately? First they want to lease the lottery, now they want to send your new drivers license through the mail. According to an article in today’s Des Moines Register the Iowa Department of Transportation, in an effort to curb identity theft, will no longer issue your drivers license from the drivers license stations located across the state. Instead when you renew you license will be the recipient of simple piece of paper that will substitute for your license until you receive it in the mail approximately 11 days later. According to IDMV director Shirley Andres this move is an attempt to prevent the licensing procedure from lending itself to identity theft.
The Iowa Department of Motor Vehicles is asserting that sending drivers licenses through the mail is more secure than the current system. I would disagree with their assumptions. There is no way to make distance commerce such as this more secure than face to face commerce. There are just to many factors in using the mail to conduct this business that are just out of our control. One of the most important in regards to identity theft is that using the mail system forces an important identification document to be handled by numerous individuals. Then of course there is also the possibility that it could get lost in the mail. I know the mail system in Iowa, all too often I have had pieces of mail get lost in the system never to resurface.
If you can’t tell, I am opposed to this plan, it isn’t because I just want to be difficult. It is because I have some very legitimate concerns about the plan that they are attempting to implement. If you have some concerns as well, contact your local elected official to voice your opinion.
I used to live in Texas and this is the way we did it… it works fine and it’s much less hassle!
It sounds like a lot of extra steps and would cost more money.
Yes… and if plans proceed with 5 days of mail service, we will lack one more day to receive our license.
As to contacting a local official- the message has come thru loud and clear that “officials” do as they please not as we suggest.
This is yet another moronic move by the dimwits in Des Moines. They claim that sending peoples licenses through the mail will be perfectly safe and they claim that it will protect against identity theft. Somehow I am not comforted by their reassurances. I think that if anything it will make identity theft easier to get away with. In addition it is a common occurence for items to get lost in the mail. I honestly don’t think that they have thoroughly thought through this plan.