eNewMexican

In this digital age, virtual IDs are on the way

The digital world is making even plastic so last century. Now, Colorado has adopted an innovation that allows its residents to travel without being weighed down by such things as a driver’s license.

The contactless Colorado Digital ID allows individuals to create a secure but electronic version of a driver’s license or state ID card. For now, individuals are encouraged to carry their physical ID card, too, until the world adjusts.

On their digital “wallet,” people also can store vehicle registrations and proof of insurance. The ID feature is part of myColorado, a mobile app that allows residents there to access state government services from their phone. Even fishing licenses are available digitally.

The new digital ID became available late last year in Colorado, with businesses, government agencies and the Colorado State Police accepting it. Months later, more local police departments recognize it, and the guy who developed it — public safety director Stan Hilkey — just won the Technology Champion Award from the National Association of State Chief Information Officers last week.

With so much business now taking place online, individuals needed a way to prove their identity from home. Digital ID makes that possible and secure. Finland, Germany and Mexico also are developing digital ID technology.

About a dozen states in addition to Colorado have developed the virtual ID. New Mexico should be among them, grabbing onto this wave of the future.

Even as states innovate, though, the federal government needs to set a broad federal strategy, so residents of one state can use their IDs when they travel and all applications of the virtual ID are secure.

With Arizona joining Colorado with a form of virtual ID, New Mexico is starting to be surrounded. Soon, there could be a national plan.

Last September, a bipartisan group of U.S. House members introduced the Improving Digital Identity Act of 2020 to help create a federal strategy.

It would provide a framework to determining how digital identity would work and how the private and public sectors could make its use safe and secure.

What’s more, states will be able to apply for grants within the Department of Homeland Security to obtain money to upgrade systems they use to issue licenses and other

ID credentials.

With so much business conducted online, having digital proof of identity only makes sense.

For people used to carrying a smartphone attached to the hand, carrying the IDs and other documents inside that device is convenient — if they are secure. It’s bad enough to lose a phone and worry about a thief using a banking app, but losing one’s ID brings in another level of concern.

Naturally, virtual IDs have to be protected from hackers, too.

Digital ID must be private and secure, and elected officials at all levels of government — along with private industry — have to work to make sure the inevitable online future is as foolproof as possible.

Technology is moving, and woe to those who don’t keep up.

LOCAL & REGION

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2021-05-17T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-05-17T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://enewmexican.pressreader.com/article/281694027671632

Santa Fe New Mexican