Digital ID Isn't for Everybody, and That's Okay

How many times do you pull out your driver’s license a week? Maybe two to four times to purchase age restricted items, pick up prescriptions, or go to a bar. If you get a mobile driver’s license (mDL) or other forms of digital identification (ID) being offered in Google and Apple wallets, you may have to share this information much more often than before, because this new technology may expand the scope of scenarios demanding your ID.

mDLs and digital IDs are being deployed faster than states can draft privacy protections, including for presenting your ID to more third parties than ever before. While proponents of these digital schemes emphasize a convenience factor, these IDs can easily expand into new territories like controversial age verification bills that censor everyone. Moreover, digital ID is simultaneously being tested in sensitive situations, and expanded into a potential regime of unprecedented data tracking.

In the digital ID space, the question of “how can we do this right?” often usurps the more pertinent question of “should we do this at all?” While there are highly recommended safeguards for these new technologies, we must always support each person’s right to choose to continue using physical documentation instead of going digital. Also, we must do more to bring understanding and decision power over these technologies to all, over zealously promoting them as a potential equalizer.

What’s in Your Wallet?

With modern hardware, phones can now safely store more sensitive data and credentials with higher levels of security. This enables functionalities like Google and Apple Pay exchanging transaction data online with e-commerce sites. While there’s platform-specific terminology, the general term to know is “Trusted Platform Module” (TPM). This hardware enables “Trusted Execution Environments” (TEEs) for sensitive data to be processed within this environment. Most modern phones, tablets, and laptops come with TPMs.

Digital IDs are considered at a higher level of security within the Google and Apple wallets (as they should be). So if you have an mDL provisioned with this device, the contents of the mDL is not “synced to the cloud.” Instead, it stays on that device, and you have the option to remotely wipe the credential if the device is stolen or lost.

Moving away from digital wallets already common on most phones, some states have their own wallet app for mDLs that would require downloading from an app store. The security on these applications can vary, along with the data they can and can’t see. Different private partners have been making wallet/ID apps for different states. These include IDEMIA, Thales, and Spruce ID, to name a few. Digital identity frameworks, like Europe’s (eIDAS), have been creating language and provisions for “open wallets,” where you don’t have to necessarily rely on big tech for a safe and secure wallet. 

However, privacy and security need to be paramount. If privacy is an afterthought, digital IDs can quickly become yet another gold mine of breaches for data brokers and bad actors.

New Announcements, New Scope

Digital ID has been moving fast this summer.

• More states are contracting with mDL providers.
• Federal agencies are looking at digital IDs to prevent fraud.
• A new API enables websites to ask for your mDL.
• TSA accepts “Digital passport IDs” in Android.

Proponents of digital ID frequently present the “over 21” example, which is often described like this:

You go to the bar, you present a claim from your phone that you are over 21, and a bouncer confirms the claim with a reader device for a QR code or a tap via NFC. Very private. Very secure. Said bouncer will never know your address or other information. Not even y