Time to ditch your wallet? Digital licenses and state IDs take off

JIMMIE JOHNSON: HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU DUG THROUGH YOUR WALLET OR POCKETBOOK TO FIND YOUR DRIVER’S LICENSE? 

WHAT IF YOU CAN DO *THIS* INSTEAD? LET ME EXPLAIN?

FOR THE FIRST TIME – FLYERS CAN CLEAR T-S-A WITH JUST THEIR SMARTPHONE.

IT’S HAPPENING AT  – PHOENIX SKY HARBOR INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, WHERE A DIGITAL DRIVER’S LICENSE OR STATE ID IS JUST AS GOOD AS THE PLASTIC ONE.   

ARIZONA IS THE FIRST IN THE NATION TO USE THIS – WHICH T-S-A HOPES WILL SPEED UP PROCESSING TIMES WHEN IT ROLLS OUT THE SERVICE AT OTHER AIRPORTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY.

 RIGHT NOW, MORE THAN A DOZEN STATES HAVE DIGITAL OR MOBILE DRIVER’S LICENSES – D-D-L OR M-D-L FOR SHORT IN USE OR IN DEVELOPMENT. 

AND MANY OTHERS ARE IN THE DEVELOPMENT STAGE. 

JOHN GILMORE: “A mobile driver’s license is really just a proxy of the regular driver’s license.”

JIMMIE: MEET JOHN GILMORE. HE’S A RESEARCH ANALYST AT ABINE, AN ONLINE PRIVACY COMPANY. 

JOHN: “The technology they’re using is simply providing a verification of what they already maintained and their motor vehicles, databases.”

JIMMIE: SO ARE DIGITAL FORMS OF ID MORE SECURE? 

JOHN: “If that database exists in the state of Arizona, and they have all of that same information in a state database, then your individual ID is no more or less secure than it was before because all of that information can still be lost in a data breach.”

JIMMIE: IN THE LAST DECADE, SEVERAL STATE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION OFFICES DATA HAS BEEN COMPROMISED.

JOHN: “The ransomware attack has access to the information the DMV has collected for the last 15 months.”

JIMMIE: GILMORE SAYS THE DIGITAL I-D IS BEING MARKETED TO AMERICANS AS A FORM OF CONVENIENCE, BUT IT’S REALLY TO UPGRADE AND STREAMLINE GOVERNMENT PROCESSES. 

JOHN: “This is the best quick fix to our general problem with authenticating citizens’ identities, in order to deliver government benefits government services, and also just processing government, you know, bureaucracy.”

JIMMIE: AND THESE TECH UPGRADES DO NOT COME WITHOUT SOME APPREHENSION OVER PRIVACY CONCERNS FROM GROUPS LIKE THE A-C-L-U.

JOHN: ”There concerned this is going to be used to identify people who may be not in good keeping with immigration law, who may be in violation other things and this will make government’s life easier will not make the citizens life easier. “

JIMMIE: ARE YOU READY TO CARRY A DIGITAL DRIVER’S LICENSE INSIDE YOUR SMARTPHONE?   

LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW.