Top five reasons governments should consider mobile IDs and mobile driver’s licenses
07 November, 2017
category: Digital ID, Government, Transit
American consumers are ready for a mobile driver’s license that is both secure and able to be used in other ways. So says Jean-Baptist Milan, Product Manager for Citizen ID Solutions at HID Global.
“In the U.S. market, a document that is meant initially to check the driver’s privileges – and that is supposed to be used mainly by law enforcement – is actually used mainly by the private sector,” Milan says. And while the need for the document is pervasive, he says, “there are plenty of young people who want to get rid of their wallet.”
 Establishing rules of the road for mobile driver’s licenses and IDs |
The only way that a mobile driver’s license should work, Milan says, is if the data on the phone is transmitted to another device that is equipped with encryption. Governments, as issuers of IDs, would be key stakeholders in enabling this kind of transaction.
Given that, here are Milan’s top five reasons mobile driver’s licenses and other mobile IDs should be considered by governments:
- Governments need to offer the highest security to their citizens. “Unfortunately at the moment, many programs with a physical driving license cannot reach the highest level of security. Very often security relies a lot on how much you train the person that will read that physical credential. You cannot rely only on a machine to tell you if it’s right or wrong.”
- Governments need to improve privacy for their citizens. “Giving the citizen the capacity to share only the information that is needed in a transaction is very important. I don’t think that all the citizens realize yet that the technology can offer that. But as soon as they understand that it’s possible, they just say – why don’t I get it today from my government because it’s really better for me. My privacy is better protected.”
- Governments want to stay on budget and reduce operational costs. “We want to reduce public expenses for their identification in the form of overhead and administration costs. A mobile driving license is a way to make the distribution of the credential much faster and simpler.”
- Governments could increase the number of services they provide to drivers. “Once the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) distributes the mobile driving license to a driver, they have an open channel with that person. They have the capacity to reach out to them (and) offer additional services to this person (via a variety of mobile-enabled communication channels).”
- Governments can make daily life easier for citizens. “E-government is something that is considered crucial by many governments around the globe. Improving the services that you offer to your citizen and to your driver is something that is very, very important.”
Read more and hear from Milan and others in a podcast titled, Mobile IDs 101: Establishing the rules of the road for mobile driver’s licenses and mobile IDs.
