Utah to Pilot Digital Drivers License in 2022; Could Technology Include Social Credit Scoring?

While we’ve heard warnings that vaccine passports are a gateway to digital IDs, there’s another tool knocking on our doorstep that does the same thing.

Digital Drivers Licenses (DDL).

This mobile identification card to replace your wallet can include any piece of information the government or Big Tech needs to control your life.

It’s touted as the leap forward into the digitalized 21st century to make our lives easier.

Aside from showing proof of our legal age to drive or drink alcohol, what other records may later get tacked onto DDLs?

How about your vaccine records, taxes, financial statements, or, dare I say, social credit scoring?

Here’s a full list below:

https://twitter.com/DarrenPlymouth/status/1454701420385554433

The flyer says Utah is among the test states for DDL and will launch beginning in 2022.

This pilot project is set to begin for 100 participants.

However, the program will expand to around 10,000 participants.

The Utah Department of Public Safety provides this description:

The Utah Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) Driver License Division (DLD) is taking the first steps toward moving Utahns’ identities out of their wallets and into the 21st century with the initiation of a mobile driver license (mDL) and identification card pilot program. In addition to the convenience aspect of adding the primary form of identification to Utahns’ mobile phones, the primary benefit the mDL will offer Utahns is enhanced privacy by minimizing the amount of personal data they share, in contrast to what they now share when handing over a physical card. Utah’s mDL will be the first in the nation that will incorporate the industry standards established for privacy, security, interoperability, and authenticity. The pilot program is now ready to begin with approximately 100 select participants and will expand to 10,000 participants including the broader public later in the year.

What Utah’s mDL Is

Utah’s mDLs are a secure, contactless digital form of ID that give citizens control of the personal information they share with businesses. The pilot project aims to establish acceptance of the mDL by Utahns through use in real-world scenarios such as banking, travel, traffic stops, and restaurant and liquor store transactions that require age verification. The mDL is accessed through an app that users download to their mobile device and entities such as banks or grocery stores will utilize a reader that will request, receive and verify the integrity and authenticity of the mDL by accessing the DLD’s information infrastructure.

As the Utah DPS explains, the DDL will be used for banking, travel, and other transactions.

Here’s a video representation of the GET Mobile Driver’s Licenses (mID):

The Salt Lake Tribune describes how the digital ID “protects your privacy”:

The ID isn’t just a photo or digital replica of a driver license, which are easily photoshopped, the division says. Instead, Utah’s digital driver licenses would be stored in an encrypted app with other security measures to reduce the potential for fraud or identity theft. The app would be protected by a PIN code, face match or fingerprint.

Businesses like banks or restaurants would be able to use technology to verify the “integrity and authenticity” of an ID through the division’s information database. That could be done through a QR code, a contactless payment reader or even over bluetooth, according to the division.

While other states are also exploring digital driver licenses, Utah is the first in the nation to incorporate industry standards around “privacy, security, interoperability, and authenticity,” the division said in a news release.

QR code or facial recognition technology is already used to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination with programs like New York’s Excelsior Pass.

New Yorkers wishing to attend concerts, sporting events, and other venues have to scan a QR code from an app that verifies proof of COVID-19 vaccination.

That same technology is applicable to DDLs.

Anyone who thinks DDLs end with buying a beer or driving a car is incredibly naïve.

Once the digital application is normalized, the government will keep tacking additional items to your ID.

And they could potentially become mandatory to gain access to restaurants, travel, healthcare, and more.

KSL.com highlighted Utah’s future DDL expansion:

The employee will only see the information they need, such as if the customer trying to purchase alcohol is at least 21. It’s a process that should take seconds.

But that’s just the beginning. Leaders from both GET Group North America and the state’s Driver’s License Division envision a completely different future of licenses than what Utahns have used for nearly a century.

Harmons is among Utah companies looking to integrate mobile licenses into their system that won’t even require an identification check from an employee, according to Williams.

“As you’re scanning your items, we can have you just scan the bar code on your phone as a part of the process and it makes that continuation go a lot smoother,” he said, adding that it should save time for customers who won’t have to wait for a store employee to plug their date of birth into a computer or spend time looking at a card to make sure it’s authentic.

Utahns may not have to worry about having their QR Code scanned either. Another function being tested would allow mobile license users to share their encrypted information through near-field communication or Bluetooth. It’s a function that could come to law enforcement in the near future.

“We’re pretty close to having it. We’ve done some demonstrations and we’re testing that right now,” Williams added. “That seems to work, where I can ping a device from afar.”

What’s next for the program?

UCCU and Harmons may be the first two businesses to accept mobile licenses but they aren’t in line to be the last. Williams said the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control is planning to apply the technology, which could come to all liquor stores statewide, in the coming months.

There’s also a plan to reveal a new Utah business that will accept mobile licenses every month to close the year, according to Kelts. Those could include convenience stores, restaurants and hotels.

The Utah Highway Patrol and various local police agencies are also interested in its potential.

Eventually, every aspect of life will require a DDL.

-Banking

-Travel

-Healthcare

-Entertainment

-Restaurants

-Shopping

And this is the Orwellian society of government control we receive:

Lin Jinyue, lead designer of China’s social credit system, extolls its value and his hope for worldwide adoption:

“If you had the social credit system, there would never have been the Yellow Vests, we would have detected that before they acted.”pic.twitter.com/6JKC8tDVzP

— Michael P Senger (@michaelpsenger) October 22, 2021