Iowa Wants To Let You Carry Your Driver's License On Your Phone

An anonymous reader writes: The Iowa Department of Motor Vehicles is busily developing software that will allow users to store the information from their driver's license on their smartphone. It would also add features like a simple barcode to scan for information transfer, and two-factor authentication to access it. "At first thought, the idea seems rife with potential security and privacy issues. It is well known at this point that nothing is unhackable; and if a project is made on a government contracting schedule, the likelihood of a breach is only greater. ... Questions of security, however, must take into account context – and there, it can be argued that our current regimes of physical documents have been an enormous failure. Having every state choose their own approach for issuing IDs has led to patchwork regulations and glaring weak points in the system that criminals have repeatedly taken advantage of. Driver's licenses today are regularly forged, stolen, and compromised – it’s far from a secure situation."

Comments

Inherent 4th amendment problem...

[Bugler412]

Handing you phone to a cop grants them implicit rights to search the phone. Therefore, having your license on the phone is a backdoor way to grant them access to search your device.

Re:Inherent 4th amendment problem...

[duranaki]

Right? So don't hand them the phone. Hold it up so they can scan the QR code on the display. I don't hand my phone to the TSA Security guard validating my boarding pass, I just hold my phone over the scanner.

Enormous failure?

[fahrbot-bot]

... it can be argued that our current regimes of physical documents have been an enormous failure.

Unless, by enormous failure, you mean, has been working for hundreds of years, then citation please. No one's stolen my driver's license or any other physical documents - ever - and they're pretty simple to use - no batteries or cell signal required. In addition, I don't have a smartphone.

Re:This has been going on for a while

[TheGratefulNet]

best to assume ALL cops are dirty cops. start from there and go downward and you'll be close to reality.

look, they have this thing called a 'blue line' (google it). that makes them all dirty, by collusion. any one who does NOT report bad behavior (think: serpico) is a bad cop. and so, probably 99% of the cops out there are bad, by definition.

thugs with guns. I would trust the mafia (truly, honestly) before I'd trust an american cop.

sad to say this. I don't enjoy feeling this way. but I'm realistic.

don't talk to cops, don't socialize with them, avoid them at all costs. they CAN kill you and they will make up any story they want to save their own asses.

bad scene. hope it gets fixed but I don't have any such false hopes.