Will our next piece of ID be digital?

Showing a piece of ID to prove who you are has remained, for the most part, one stubbornly analog interaction in our increasingly digital world. That’s now starting to change, in countries like Estonia and even some Canadian provinces. While the establishment of digital identification is still in its infancy, groups are starting to advocate for such systems and watchdogs are keeping a close eye. Digital ID is a trend that’s a logical progression from mobile payments and apps that store customers’ loyalty card information, to the digitization of drivers’ licences, said Duncan Stewart, research director for technology, media and telecommunications for Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd. in Canada. “A national digital ID is, if you will, almost a logical conclusion to that. You can have a single ID that acts as your health card, as your drivers’ licence, as your passport, all of those different things,” he said in a phone interview. Stewart noted that Estonia is considered as the leader in digital ID, having recently put in place a digital card that’s used for identification and travel. Still, Stewart he said would be surprised if we “saw significant national digital ID in North America inside the next two years. I would be surprised if we didn’t have it 20 years from now.” “At some point over the next, I would guess, five years, we will very much be having this debate in Canada,” he said. The British Columbia government introduced a services card in 2013, which functions as a driver's licence, health card and photo ID. In the future, card holders will be able to use it to access government services online, and in person by tapping it on a card reader, the provincial government website says. For the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA), which put out a report on the B.C. card in 2012 titled “A National ID Card by Stealth?” the issue is “more than on our radar,” said BCCLA policy director Michael Vonn. “We have long said, look, what they’re planning to do is a pan-Canadian federated ID proposal,” with the B.C. card as a prototype, Vonn said in a phone interview. She said there are both privacy and security concerns around such a system. “Privacy is about: Where can the people who are custodians of this data legally send it around so that my privacy is violated?” she explained. “Security concerns are: Who not authorized can break through the wall? The first one is kind of: How big is the fortress for legitimate, quote-unquote, sharing of information? And the second: how high are the walls to keep out the people who aren’t legitimate?” Vonn said the privacy concerns around a national ID concern what potential such a system would have to “make data linkages that don’t currently exist. … Who has access to this information and how can it be linked? The security concern is: How can you promise me that you’ve got reasonable ability to protect this information?” Deloitte’s Stewart noted one factor affecting how fast digital ID can be adopted is cultural. Many European countries have a national identity card that fulfills multiple functions, and which is, in some countries, mandatory to carry at all times. In North America, “we tend to have some civil liberty disagreement with that idea, that you would need to carry a form of identification at all times, but there are also concerns about national databases,” he said. “One of the key barriers to adoption in North America is not the technical possibility of doing this but rather the balance of having this kind of digital ID in such a way that the population is willing to embrace it.” It’s a concern that the Digital ID and Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC) is well aware of. The group recently issued a call for the development of an official digital identity for all Canadians. DIACC president Aran Hamilton said in a phone interview that such a system would not be a new national ID “in any way, shape or form.” He said there’s no appetitive for the creation of a new national ID in Canada and that DIACC’s proposal is “a way for consumers to opt in to using their current, what you might call, street ID, online.” DIACC’s plan involves creating a digital identity that uses an authentication system for a person's existing IDs that can be used to conduct online activities, from signing contracts to accessing medical records. In order to have a way for people to open a bank account online, for example, “we have to have a way for people to go onto a website and say that they want to open a bank account, and then to give permission for certain pieces of data to be verified or passed from strong databases that already exist,” such a provincial driver's licence registry. “We need to have the methodology for you to be able to hand over your driver's licence information online if that’s what you want to do, and only if that’s something you’re choosing to do.” The group is a non-profit group created following a federal government task force on mobile payments. It advocates for the creation of a digital identity framework, he said. Its membership includes the federal and some provincial governments, banks, Telus Corp., Rogers Communications Inc. and BlackBerry Ltd., its website outlines. In a recent report, DIACC noted that the creation of such a system would benefit the telecom sector by enabling it to reach customers across the country, reducing the need for a physical presence, reducing operating costs “through process automation and decreased need for verbal authentication,” as well as providing new “business opportunities beyond being simply a conduit for communication, with the opportunity to monetize services such as mobile wallets.” Such a system is “feasible in the next few years,” Hamilton said. “Our members have agreed that they want to see some tangible results on this very, very quickly. One of the things that we have called for is the delivery of a live commercial service in the next few years.” Hamilton noted this wouldn’t involve the creation of any new databases or a central repository, and that the new ID would not create links between existing systems. He said the system would enhance the privacy of users, because it would only share the information necessary. For example, if purchasing alcohol, the ID would inform a vendor the person is of the age of majority, but wouldn’t share their address, height, weight or other information that is currently shared when someone hands over a physical ID. If using a drivers’ licence to prove identity when creating a bank account, he said the system would allow for a “one-time pull” of information that doesn’t create any links between the bank and transportation ministry’s databases. He argued such a system would pose no risk for identity theft, and that the system would be developed in such a way that “we’re not creating anything people want to hack into, because there’s no data in the system.” Tobi Cohen, spokeswoman for the federal Office of the Privacy Commissioner, said in an email that the office is “aware of the DIACC’s recent report and its efforts to propel digital identity programs and projects forward. We are encouraged by the report’s emphasis on protecting Canadians’ privacy and continue to monitor efforts in this area.” She said authentication processes can improve privacy “by reducing the risk of unauthorized disclosures, but only if they are appropriately designed given the sensitivity of the information and the risks associated with the information. Overly rigorous authentication processes, or requiring individuals to authenticate themselves unnecessarily, can be privacy intrusive.” Cohen added: “We would expect that governments and the private sector will act in accordance with the Privacy Act and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) as they move forward with any online initiatives.” — With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca

Will our next piece of ID be digital?

Broadcast | May 14, 2015

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Will our next piece of ID be digital?

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