A Driver’s License as a Convenience for Whom?

Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared in January 2022 as an NMA Weekly Newsletter #677. If you would like to receive the one-topic newsletter from the National Motorists Association, subscribe today.

If you drive, you likely have a physical license indicating you passed a test and can legally drive on the nation’s roadways. After the September 11th attack 20 years ago, driver’s licenses became a primary form of identification if you wanted to fly domestically.

Now, a driver’s license is once again being asked to do more—as a digital product that can be used on your smartphone. In September, Apple announced that it would soon have a product to store your driver’s license and other valid government IDs on your iPhone. The Transportation Security Administration subsequently announced that it is already preparing its systems to accept valid digital documents from Apple Wallet for domestic flights.

Not only that, the Secure Technology Alliance issued a December 2021 press release noting that mobile-device-based digital driver’s licenses have gained traction in at least 30 US states. It proclaimed that “the progress exemplifies that the transition from physical driver’s licenses is well underway, and the future of identification documents is digital.” The pace of adoption by states has tripled in 2021.

Three states (Arizona-Delaware-Oklahoma) have implemented digital driver’s licenses. Five states (Florida-Iowa-Maryland-Utah-Virginia) are currently running pilot programs. Legislatures in 16 other states (California-Georgia-Illinois-Indiana-Kentucky-Michigan-Minnesota-Missouri-Mississippi-New Jersey-New York-North Dakota-Pennsylvania-Tennessee-Texas-Wyoming) are studying the ramifications of using the smartphone for individual identification. Colorado also has some jurisdictional specific implementation of phone licenses.

Christine Nizer, who runs the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration and also serves as chair of the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators International Board, observed:

“Smartphones carry everything, from payment cards to precious photos. It is only natural that the devices are becoming a platform for storing identity credentials too. The success of mobile driver’s licenses depends on stakeholders and relying on parties banding together to create an mDL environment that is convenient and secure for the end-user.”

Of course, it is more convenient to have your driver’s license and ID information on your phone, but should we?

With so many states (and mobile phone users) jumping on the digital ID bandwagon, what could go wrong?

Experts say that mobile digital licenses (mDL) will offer enhanced security by requiring a cryptographic protocol that provides assurances the IDs were issued by a trusted authority, such as a state Department of Motor Vehicles. Individuals as the phone would. They can point their phone toward a receiver using a QR (Quick Response) code; the information is captured instantly. The cryptography protocols will theoretically prevent alteration or counterfeiting.

Apple is not a member of the Secure Technology Alliance, and it is unclear how or if it will store the encrypted driver’s license and ID information of iPhone users. It should be noted that police enforcement agencies are also not members of the Alliance.

You can bet, though, that a digital license will be more convenient for the police during traffic stops. A scan of the driver’s QR code can provide instantaneous access to his/her history. Information from the stop (including drone or body cam video) can be scanned in, becoming a permanent entry to the driver’s record. The officer then instantly sends a ticket via the police handheld device back to the driver’s phone without creating a paper trail.

Picture this: The officer who stops you offers a discount of the traffic fine by a single screen tap or code scan. No muss, no fuss!

That would be convenient, but for whom?

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