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Finland Will Introduce a Mobile 'Driver's License' App (yle.fi)
The Finnish Broadcasting Corporation reports:
Simo Karppinen, Unit Head at the Finnish Transport and Safety Agency Trafi, says it plans to roll out an app that will function as a free digital driving license by the end of summer. The agency said it expects many Finns to take up the use of the digital driving license as soon as it is released. The digital license has been in use by a test group who report successfully using the app where proof of identity is required, such as picking up postal packages. Other uses for the digital license include informing the owner of license renewal dates... The digital driving license will not record the location of its user or serve as a tracking device.
Slashdot reader Kiuas writes that it's being used as a supplement for traditional card licenses rather than a replacement, because "Current Finnish law mandates that all driver's licenses are handed out in a physical form. So everyone will still get a physical driver's license, but those who wish to do so can now leave their card at home and use the app instead.
Slashdot reader Kiuas writes that it's being used as a supplement for traditional card licenses rather than a replacement, because "Current Finnish law mandates that all driver's licenses are handed out in a physical form. So everyone will still get a physical driver's license, but those who wish to do so can now leave their card at home and use the app instead.
In Brazil already has this in place:
https://servicos.serpro.gov.br/cnh-digital/
http://www.brasil.gov.br/infraestrutura/2017/07/carteira-de-habilitacao-eletronica-e-aprovada-pelo-contran
Not all states off it already, they have until july 2018 to comply (original date was february 2018...).
It is just a digitally signed version of the paper document, you have to register the cellphone in order for the digital document to be valid.
Truth-on-server. The officer doesn't rely on on the information displayed on the screen to do anything except point at an entry in the police-accessible database. And that database must already exist, since the State today has to keep track of whose license is expired, who got a DUI, who has a CDL/motorcycle endorsement, etc...
For instance, you could easily have you phone display a QR-code that encoded something like license-tracker://US.California.DLIDv2.1234512345 (someone probably screwed up v1). All the information then comes down from the already-existing-today backend. If you lie and say you are record #5432154321, then hope that person's photo looks just like you (and anyway, look-alike photos are an equal problem with physical licenses, couple of my friends had older siblings above the drinking age :-) )
This is actually step up in security from truth-in-hard-to-forge-plastic with fancy holograms and other anti-counterfeiting measures. The essence there is the relying party assessing whether the document is legitimate. In the truth-on-server model, the relying party checks their own authoritative record and doesn't have to trust anything from outside it.
[ Of course, this is assuming all-online. Obviously hard-to-forge instruments were created expressly for offline verification. The construction of a hybrid approach is left as an exercise for the reader. ]
How is this supposed to work on a rooted Smartphone?
I know nothing about Finland's system (even after reading the nearly content free article), but California considered a DL app several years ago, and several of these issues were raised.
If a cop pulls you over, they can look up your DL# and verify it matches what is displayed by the app, just like they can currently verify a physical card. So no underage driving.
In a bank, the teller can give you a multi-digit code, which you enter into the app, which then verifies your info through DMV's server. There is no reason that a licensed bar could not do the same. So no underage drinking.
Every problem that you list would actually be LESS of a problem with this system than with a physical ID.
I've done this for ages and it works for me.
Whart country are you in? It would have helped to have said.
Since essentially every police force in the free world can look up your drivers license on their in-car computer, it's hard for them to argue that not physically holding it is so terrible anyway.
In the UK it has never been a requirement to carry your physical driving licence when driving, although many people don't realise this. I don't - my driving licence is too valuable to have it knocking about in a pocket when I'm out. From the gov.uk website :-
If you’re stopped, the police can ask to see your:
driving licence
insurance certificate
MOT certificate
If you don’t have these documents with you, you have 7 days to take them to a police station.