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Governments Look toward Mobile to Enable Next-Generation Citizen ID Use Cases |
NEWS |
With a vast number of Electronic Government (e-Government) services available online and widespread smartphone penetration rates in most developed nations, the convergence of e-Government and mobile services could be considered a natural technological progression as governments attempt to reduce ongoing operational costs and demands for physical staffing by allowing services to be conducted by citizens on their devices.
Today there are a number of mobile identity projects, either fully established or within pilot stages. Governments around the world have launched dedicated mobile solutions for a variety of applications, such as driver’s licenses and national IDs, including mobile driver’s license projects in Brazil and Indonesia and national mobile identity projects in Estonia, Moldova, Finland, and Austria to name a few.
The rise of mobile identities has raised questions related to the role of mobile identities within the citizen ID space and whether a mobile derivative of a national ID card, passport, etc. could spell the beginning of the end of the well-trusted and reliable physical counterpart.
Why Are Governments Turning to Mobile? |
IMPACT |
In terms of citizen mobile credentials, a growing number of opportunities are presenting themselves as drivers of the mobile identity market as it relates to citizen-issued identities:
By providing a platform with multi-application enablement, it is possible to use a signal mobile device to access services across multiple government departments. As new services are developed and launched, applications can be updated and patched to provide additional functionality.
Why Mobile and Physical IDs Should Be Considered Complementary |
RECOMMENDATIONS |
Having a mobile identity as the only form of credential, without a physical document to accompany it, will likely not occur for a significant amount of time. Therefore, mobile and physical identities should be considered complementary, rather than competing, form factors. Having a digital or mobile identity, as well as a hard copy of the document, can achieve a wider range of functions and use cases, both in commercial and in government markets, in turn increasing trust between all parties.
One such case study that demonstrates the implicit benefit of implementing a dual credential program is that of the itsme service made available in Belgium in May 2017. Three Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and four Belgian banks cooperated to launch a mobile identity platform that allows users to use a singular identity to access a variety of services, able to request government documents and verifying online transactions by using the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card within their mobile devices and a unique five-digit code.
The mobile identity program connects a range of commercial partners and the Belgian government with citizens to enable a range of functionalities. The app runs on smartphones using a SIM card as the unique identifier to create the digital identity, paired with biometric hardware on mobile devices (such as fingerprint scanners), which are leveraged to provide an additional layer of security.
Most importantly, while itsme was designed to facilitate a wider range of access to services for citizens, it was not designed to replace the Belgian e-ID card, but rather as another medium through which Belgian citizens can access governmental services. Physical checks at borders and terminals and the requirement of fallback physical credential in case digital counterparts experience downtime are just two examples of why physical credentials are still required.
This demonstrates that, while a mobile identity can be used to support and increase the number of services available to citizens, it is important to consider the range of benefits that a physical document brings in terms of validation and authorization of identities.
Today, governments are looking to mobile not to replace physical credentials, but rather as a way of expanding and improving C2G communication lines, using a digital path in order to provide new levels of convenience and another medium through which secure access and consumption of e-Government services can be achieved.