Digital Driver’s Licenses Could Be the Future
Posted: Thursday, July 25th, 2019 at 7:56 pm
Digital Driver’s Licenses Could Be the Future
Showing your driver’s license is an action we complete on a regular basis. From proving your age at a bar to showing a police officer your license if you get pulled over, we all use our driver’s licenses on a regular basis. But our driver’s licenses can also expose a lot of information that we wouldn’t necessarily want others to have, and they’re easy to replicate, so law enforcement officers can never truly know if they’re looking at a real ID until they take a closer look. What if there was a way to solve both problems?
The Idea of Digital Driver’s Licenses
The idea of digital driver’s licenses has come up and, in recent years, has been taken more seriously. Originally, many people thought that a digital driver’s license would be just a digital version of their current license. However, digital licenses stand to be far more advanced than that. One idea is that a digital license would be able to show information related to the activity at hand. For instance, if you’re using your ID to verify your age, only the information pursuant to your age would show. If you need to show all the information, such as showing it to an officer, then all of the information would show. It would also allow your record to be pulled up right away without having to wait for an officer to do so manually. Your license would be with you at all times and could easily be accessed from any smart device. The idea has a lot of people excited for the future of driver’s licenses.
The Benefits of a Digital Driver’s License
Since you only have to show the information that pertains to what you’re doing, digital licenses would be safer because you won’t have to show all of your personal identifiable information, or PII, to strangers. What’s more, you wouldn’t be able to counterfeit your digital license, so police officers wouldn’t have to deal with fake ID situations and you would always be able to verify who you are with no questions asked. Furthermore, you can’t lose your digital license because it can be recalled from any digital device you own, and if you lose a device, some say you would be able to turn off your license on that device until it’s recovered. In this way, having a digital driver’s license would be far safer than having a plastic license which you an easily lose, thus exposing your personal information to anyone who happens to find it. Others see a safety benefit in the fact that you’d no longer have to pull out your wallet or rummage through your purse just to get out your license, which can expose you to theft or put you in unsavory situations at times. Instead, just pull your phone or smart watch out and show your ID — objects that are usually in hand or readily available anyway.
The Drawbacks of a Digital Driver’s License
As with all digital items, some people are concerned that hacking into licenses would become a prevalent crime. In recent years, we’ve already seen major corporations fall victim to cybersecurity breaches on an extremely large scale. What’s stopping people from hacking into the system that holds the licenses? Those who are developing the licenses say it would be heavily encrypted and that part of the reason they haven’t been released yet is the need for extremely high security measures. No doubt there would be much testing and an intricate system of security would be built. However, people still worry that they would be at risk, and until more specific information comes out regarding how exactly that security would work there will likely still be people who worry.
New technology is quickly advancing all industries, including the law enforcement industry. Soon, we might be showing our phones to prove our identity instead of reaching into our wallets or purses. How this will change the way traffic stops are conducted is yet to be seen, but there will likely be benefits to both law enforcement and citizens. It will also change the way attorneys gather and display evidence when defending their clients. In the meantime, if you’ve been ticketed for a traffic violation or charged with something more serious, like a DUI, it’s important that you contact a local attorney in your area. Only a qualified and experienced attorney can help you navigate the legal waters and obtain the best possible results for you given the specifics of your case.
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