International Biometrics + Identity Association explores principles and state of mobile digital ID

Standards, privacy and trust frameworks and principles for deployment to support the launch of mobile driver’s licenses and digital travel credentials have progressed to the point at which practical considerations, like who is ready to accept them, must be considered. That was one of the major take-aways of a webinar presented by the International Biometrics + Identity Association (IBIA) and Biometric Update this week on ‘The State of Mobile Identity Credentials.’

The webinar was organized around the IBIA’s new white paper, “The Path to Digital Identity: Principles for Mobile Identity Credentials’, which was released earlier this year by the IBIA Mobility working group to provide five core principles to ensure effective, secure and privacy-preserving use of biometric digital identity credentials to for identity verification.

The webinar featured a presentation on the IBIA white paper and the principles it elucidates by HID Global Mobile ID Product Director for goID Citizen ID Solutions Jean-Baptiste Milan and Paul Townsend, CISSP, head of business development for Government Systems with Acuant, two of the white paper’s authors.

Mindy Stephens, Manager of Identity Management for the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA), presented on the what mobile drivers’ licenses are and how they work. Justin Ikura, Vice Chair of the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO’s) New Technologies Working Group and Deputy Director of Passport Program Policy and Admissibility for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, who presented the global air travel organization’s vision for digital passports as secure, interoperable identity containers. The webinar was moderated by Biometric Update Editor Chris Burt.

Milan explained the importance of the core principles for mobile identity credentials, and how they were arrived at. Townsend reviewed the principles and how they fit together to govern the entire digital identity credential process, as well as implementation considerations and various life-cycle processes, which each involve biometrics.

Stephens addressed some common misconceptions about mobile driver’s licenses, what they need to be able to do, and the benefits anticipated from their adoption. Ikura began with an explanation of how biometric passport chips work, and reviewed three versions of digital travel credentials, along with their place in the evolution of the concept.

Discussion among the panelists covered how the user experience works for processes like onboarding, when relying parties will begin to accept mobile credentials, and the difference between international digital travel credentials and national programs that use biometrics in airports.

An engaged audience posed question on the recoverability of digital identity credentials, and their potential use in other applications, among others.

Article Topics

Acuant  |  biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  credentials  |  digital identity  |  HID Global  |  IBIA  |  ICAO  |  identity document  |  privacy  |  standards