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iPhone Driver's License Support Coming to Illinois
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Really? You have to ask why politicians and bureaucrats drag their feet on stuff like this. I watched a documentary about what it takes to get something done in the U.S. these days. The story was about a wind power farm that took 12 years to get all the necessary permits and approvals. Studies, reviews, public comment sessions, EPA rules, activist actions, the list went on and on.
Username checks out.
Yeah you definitely will because it’s not a valid ID except at a select few TSA terminals where, for the millionth time, you don’t have to hand the phone to anyone.
Legally, technically you don’t. But you’re also standing bare before the TSA, so who knows what you’re going to get.
I’ll just be happy when this is officially accepted by merchants as good enough for age verification.
The entirety of my NextDoor feed when Ohio added this support. Did they really think Apple was going to take that route?
It was astounding.
When you currently use Apple Pay in stores, do you normally hand your iPhone to the checkout clerk? Because the rest of us just hold our phone up to the scanner and authorize it to transfer some information.
That's exactly how the digital ID works. You don't hand your phone to anyone. They present a scanner (either a handheld one, or I think the TSA has ones that are mounted on a counter), you hold your iPhone close and the scanner requests information (from the demos, it shows a list of what information will be transferred - if, say, you're buying alcohol or entering a bar, it will only show your photo - so the bouncer can verify that it's you - and certification that you're 21 or older - not your age, not your birthday, just that you're at least 21). You decide that you're going to transfer the listed information, and double click the side button, and authenticate yourself to the phone with FaceID. The requested information shows up in their equipment, and that's it.
This is a huge win on both sides for something like a bar/club, because they get an ID that can't be faked (so they don't have to worry about underage kids sneaking in to drink), and the person getting in doesn't have to worry about an unscrupulous bouncer/etc getting their full name, birthdate, home address, etc.
Eventually, once this becomes widespread (like when two thirds of the country has digital IDs, and police departments get funding for handheld scanners, and procure them, and train everyone on using them), it'll become widely used for proving your identity (while only handing out the information needed, like that you're over 21), including to the police. But that's going to take years. And nobody is going to be "handing a near $1000 device to a person" to authenticate themselves. I wish people would stop repeating this falsehood. My understanding is, in many (most? all?) jurisdictions, where this technology is just starting to come online, the laws are being written so that police officers are not allowed to touch your phone in the process.
And there would be little benefit to them handling your phone, anyway - the mDL isn't human readable - the card that appears in your Apple Wallet doesn't even show your last name, just your first (and possibly middle) name and your last initial. The rest of the information can only be accessed via NFC, and only after the iPhone has been in close proximity to the NFC scanner, with the transfer then subsequently authenticated/authorized by FaceID.
If the phone is out of your possession, they can't get the mDL information from the phone - and note that the phone itself does not need to be unlocked in order to use Apple Wallet - if you opened Apple Wallet to show your mDL and they for some reason grabbed the phone away from you, they'd be able to... see what credit/debit cards you have (but not use them), and see what loyalty cards you have - they might get to see your Starbucks or BestBuy loyalty card numbers, and find out what grocery stores you shop at. That's it. No access to any of your other data.
You can test this for yourself - start with your iPhone locked, double-click to open Apple Wallet and let it authenticate you. Now, put your thumb over the camera, so FaceID cannot further authenticate (thus simulating someone else holding the phone), and see what information you can access - you can see what cards are in the wallet, you can see the last 4 digits on the credit/debit cards, but they'll want further authentication before the card is usable and you can see the fronts of the loyalty cards / tickets, which will generally show a barcode/QR code and a membership number of some sort. And that's it. There's nothing to be gained by handing them your phone, or them grabbing the phone away from you. I mean, sure, they could grab the phone away and then force you to authenticate in order to get into your personal data... but if you're going down that path of reasoning, they could also just shoot you, take whatever they wanted, and say that you became belligerent and resisted arrest. I'd worry about that scenario first.
(Oh, and if a police officer ever demands to see your phone, hold down the side button and volume up or down, for a couple seconds, then release and press the side button again - this will turn off FaceID and require a passphrase in order to unlock the phone. And this is easy enough to do while you're taking your phone out of your pocket or purse. That first press/hold takes you to the power-off/medical-id screen, the second press just dismisses that screen, so your phone looks "normal". Oh, and you don't just use a PIN, right? My passphrase is alphanumeric, and in excess of 15 characters - not something easily guessed or brute-forced.)
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As a Chicagoan I've been waiting for this one. High time, legislators!
"I’ll just be happy when this is officially accepted by merchants as good enough for age verification."
Correct. It's not like you chuck your license over the bridge.
Even if a cop did take the phone, the phone almost certainly needs to be re-authenticated once you activate the ID. The phone will be a brick without your face, finger or code.
Oops, I may have made a terrible mistake last night.
Yep, precisely this. The exchange is (1) you open Apple Wallet with authentication and hold it close to the scanner, (2) it sees the scanner and displays a list of the requested types of information, (3) you then have to double-click again and re-authenticate with FaceID, and (4) your phone transfers the requested information.
Even if you've authenticated into Apple Wallet (step 1), they can't get much more than your Starbucks card number, and if they took your phone "back to their car to use the scanner", it just plain wouldn't work, because step 3 would fail.
I'm guessing that liquor stores and bars/clubs may be one of the early adopters for using digital IDs, because then they don't have to worry about fake IDs, since these are cryptographically secure, and essentially can't be faked. It takes away their liability for having to spot fake IDs (if they miss one, it could imperil their liquor license, and if they mistakenly think someone's legit ID is fake, they could get sued). So they have financial reasons to get on board. It also protects them from, say, an unscrupulous bouncer making use of the home address info on licenses of cute women who are getting into the club.
But the day where you can leave your physical license at home is at least 10 years off.
I remember lots of stores having signs that say "we card if you look under 30", because they don't want to risk their liquor license.
This gets asked with every news post as often as the silly "why would you hand your phone to the police" (you don't) or "what if my battery dies" (it won't).
The police, liquor stores, banks, bars, clubs, etc... all will eventually get readers. All of this is going to take time.
Good point I just used Apple Pay on my watch as I was jogging to the store who would’ve thought that’s what Apple Pay would become. Having a digital ID could be even more convenient.
In Illinois, every major retailer must request it. My 82 year old father was carded.
The only annoying thing is that if you just want to use it to show someone your drivers license information, you do have to actually unlock the phone to the point that a simple swipe up takes you to the Home Screen.
You can display the license, and get it ready for reading via machine, but you can’t authenticate just the display of the text.
Would be nice if they would fix that. Still wouldn’t want to “hand it over to a cop” but maybe “show it to the grocer.”
Main reason I want my state (Washington) to adopt this is so I can stop stressing on those occasions when I run out of the house and then, 10 minutes later, find I've forgotten my wallet. 