Recent developments further suggest the growing importance of digital ID in Europe and the Americas, with mobile driver’s license solutions emerging at the vanguard.
Austria, for example, has become the latest country to launch a mobile driver’s license app. Android and iOS users can create a virtual version of their driver’s license by registering with the ID Austria platform. Police officers and other government officials can scan the app’s QR code to verify a user’s identity. The app is compatible with eIDAS, paving the way for use in other European countries as the EU’s overarching digital identity program continues to evolve.
In the United States, that kind of mobile ID tech is about to see one of its most high-profile tests in a pioneering use case. Mississippians will be able to use their mobile IDs as valid proof of identity when casting their ballots in November’s state elections. The state’s mobile driver’s license system was developed by IDEMIA in partnership with the Mississippi Department of Safety (DPS), and launched last year. The app supports mobile-based biometric authentication via fingerprint or face scan, which may help to assuage potential concerns about election tampering.
North of the border, privacy is in focus as regulators prepare the way for digital ID across the country. Canada’s Federal, Provincial and Territorial Privacy Commissioners and Ombuds have issued a formal resolution calling on governments and stakeholders to ensure that privacy and transparency are baked into emerging digital ID programs in the country. Philippe Dufresne, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, called the rise of digital identity technology “a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate how innovation and privacy protection can coexist.”
Those concerns will be of growing interest to private vendors like AuthenticID as they seek to pitch their solutions to various governments. An identity verification specialist founded in 2001, AuthenticID has launched a new digital wallet solution, called “Identity Pass”. The mobile app is designed to store virtual versions of IDs such as drivers licenses and passports.
Like Mississippi’s solution, it features a biometric authentication system of its own. And the app helps to show further applications of this technology, as it can also be used for passwordless and multi-factor login.
That kind of innovation points to some interesting potential use cases as the above government authorities and many others around the world continue to explore the frontier of digital and mobile ID.
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