Oklahoma’s governor vetoes a bill that would ban RFID tags
Oklahoma governor Brad Henry has upset some state lawmakers by rejecting a bill that would have prevented the use of radio frequency identification tags in driver’s licenses and state IDs.
The bill would have banned the Department of Public Safety from "imbedding, affixing, adhering or assigning any radio frequency identification (RFID) tag to any driver license or identification card."
Henry told the Tulsa World that because of the rapidly changing technology, is wasn’t a proper step to "ban the use of a specific technology that could provide benefits in the future."
The Associated Press reports that Oklahoma doesn’t currently use the RFID technology, which would potentially allow medical information or emergency contacts to be accessed by scanning the tags.
State senator Dan Newberry, who sponsored the bill, told the Tulsa World that it was a pre-emptive measure, to protect privacy.
He added that lawmakers would try and override the governor’s veto.
The bill originally easily passed through both houses of the legislature.
The AP says the RFID bill is the eighth which has been passed by a Republican legislature, but that Henry, a Democrat, has vetoed.
Henry has also rejected bills on abortion and gun control, The AP reported.
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