The driver’s licenses stored on our phones are not too far on the road.
Arizona and Georgia residents will soon be able to use their iPhone and Apple watches as digital driver’s licenses or ID cards. People living in Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma, Iowa, Utah and Connecticut will receive this feature. Meanwhile, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will designate lanes at designated airports to begin processing these new digital identification numbers to free people from traveling.
When residents add their state ID to their wallet, Apple explained in a press release Wednesday, they will have to send a photo of their card and a photo of their faces, and will also have to “complete a series of facial and head movements. during the setup process. “States then need to verify the identification number before people can use it. In practice, this system seems to be a new form of government-supported biometric identification that goes beyond the ordinary picture in a process that potentially provides new data to state governments. and Apple.
In the new TSA tapes, for example, Apple users will be able to touch their iPhone or Apple Watches to an identity reader. They will then be shown the information requested by TSA and will authorize their devices to send this data to TSA using Face ID or Touch ID. This, Apple says, “ensures that only the necessary information is shared and only the person who added a driver’s license or state ID to the device can provide it.” The company added: to present their identification number. “
Apple is not the only one to release digital driver’s licenses in the United States. New York State is working with IBM on the possibility of expanding its Excelsior Pass vaccine system to include driver’s licenses, according to a New York Times report. The federal government is also on board with the concept. In April, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it was seeking information on upcoming rules for mobile digital driver’s licenses.
But are digital identities a good thing? In terms of privacy and security, this is unclear – but they also seem inevitable.
The pandemic has helped some people feel more comfortable storing personal information on their phones, which may explain why countries and technology companies are making progress with the idea of digital driver’s licenses. These efforts are accompanied by an ongoing and highly polarizing debate over digital vaccine passports, which give people an easy way to prove they have been vaccinated so they can do things like board a plane or go to a concert. Several states, including Florida and Texas, have banned or restricted vaccine passports, suggesting that some Americans still do not feel comfortable storing certain very personal information on their phones.
Although the technology that feeds them is similar in many ways, digital driver’s licenses are not the same as vaccine passports, as health records are not required. Many of the plans and proposals under consideration – including Apple’s upcoming digital driver’s license system – simply require a secure and verifiable way to store all the information that is currently on your physical driver’s license on your phone. Proponents of these digital status identification systems say that this technology will make it easier to display your ID card and give people more control over their information. Proponents of privacy and civil liberties warn that normalizing the carrying of ID cards on our phones can have very bad consequences, including jeopardizing our digital privacy.
Despite apparent state and federal support, some have alerted to potential digital identity problems. In May, the American Civil Liberties Union released a detailed report raising questions about the state’s digital identification system, including concerns about police access to consumer phones, confidentiality and surveillance risks, and the possibility that people may one day be forced to withdraw from the government. applications. The Surveillance Technology Surveillance Project also received a contract that reveals that New York State has bigger plans for its Excelsior Pass than was originally announced, which could reveal the risks of such digital identification programs.
“It’s hard to believe officials’ claim that these apps will only do X or Y,” warned Albert Fox Kahn, a lawyer with the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, in June, citing the potential expansion of the Excelsior card. “We see this clear pattern of installing them for one purpose and then expanding for another.”
Fully digital wallets are just around the corner
The advent of digital ID numbers shows how technology companies increasingly want to be involved in all the things you do with your physical wallet. IPhone and Android users can now store credit cards, airline tickets and event tickets in digital wallets. Now, with the upcoming introduction of digital driver’s licenses, Apple is approaching to make your physical wallet completely obsolete.
“In order to be completely free of your physical ID, we need to import something else into the iPhone, and that’s your ID. So we carry ID cards at Apple Wallet, “said Apple Vice President Jennifer Bailey at the company’s developer conference on June 7.” It’s so easy! Your personal information is already in Wallet. “
The federal government seems to support the idea. While DHS is setting new standards for the technology that powers digital IDs, TSA is already working with Apple to adopt a version of the iPhone-based digital ID that can be used at airports. Several countries had previously laid the groundwork and introduced digital driver’s licenses that could work with Apple Wallet (states are usually responsible for issuing ID cards in the United States). In a statement Wednesday, Bailey said Apple was communicating with other countries and that the company was “working to offer this nationwide in the future.”
Apple is not the first or only major technology company to try to import digital ID numbers into smartphones. Google is also working on a digital driver’s license system, and last fall the company detailed new privacy and security standards for developers to process mobile IDs. IBM is also researching digital driver’s licenses and has expressed enthusiasm for how they could rely on blockchain technology.
A French security company called Idemia has already released digital identities in partnership with several US states, including Arizona and Oklahoma. The company claims that digital identities make it easier to quickly verify someone’s identity, while allowing a person to share less of their personal information. With an app, for example, consumers can choose to simply share their age with someone who checks to see if someone is old enough to buy alcohol, without also sharing their address. Idemia explains on its website.
The technology behind digital ID numbers inevitably does not differ from the technology behind vaccine passports. Opponents of vaccine passports, however, argue that requiring detailed health information to enter businesses and other public areas is detrimental to people’s privacy and freedom. However, some countries that have banned vaccine passports are loading up with digital driver’s licenses.
In Florida, where Gov. Ron Desantis has banned vaccine passports, DMV is expected to launch its mobile state identification system soon, and in Texas, whose state legislature has restricted the use of vaccine passports, lawmakers are considering a pilot program for digital driver cards. licenses. Iowa, which has also restricted the use of vaccine passports, also plans to launch a mobile identification system later this year. In Nevada, where vaccine passports remain a contentious issue, Gov. Steve Sisolak officially signed digital licenses in May, and the DMV says they can only arrive in a few years.
In any case, it is clear that residents of several states will soon be able to keep their driver’s license on their phone. What remains unclear is whether we are heading to a country where there are 50 different digital driver’s licenses and 50 different opportunities for problems and issues.
Update, September 1, 2021: This section has been updated with new information on how Apple’s digital ID will work, including which countries will use the system first.