I recently turned 16 (happy birthday to me 🥳). This meant I needed to get my governmental ID made since I live in Egypt. unfortunately, It’s not a pleasant process, in fact it’s quite annoying 🙄. I have to be at a government facility, and it won’t get made until I’m done waiting for what feels like forever, and even then I still have to deal with all the employees there who’ll send me from counter to counter aimlessly. There must be a better way! Like hotel bookings and bank transactions, can’t this be digital as well?

Our current system

I already told you about how IDs are made. There are three problems i see with it:

  1. You have to be on premises
  2. You have to wait in a long queue
  3. You have to deal with (what i’ve been told are) annoying employees looking for a bribe

Now once you have an ID, you should be extra careful not to lose it, since it’s the only thing that confirms that you should exist. To make sure this isn’t someone else’s card, there is a photo on the ID that can verify your identity if needed.

When creating any government documents or when signing contracts, your ID’s number is used to make sure you approved of this document or operation.

For example: if you sign on a document stating a bank transaction, then your ID number will also be included on the document . This keeps anyone else from assuming your identity and singing with your name, thus performing an operation on your behalf that you don’t allow.

This also means that your ID number MUST remain a secret. This isn’t a very reliable system. If someone just looks over your shoulder (spotting your ID number) and looks like you, then for all the government knows, they’re you.

We already have digital IDs!

You probably have a google account. That account identifies you not just when using google services, but also with any app that asks you to “sign in with Google”. So your google account is a digital ID.

We do really serious stuff with these accounts already. Your google account is linked to Google pay, which lets you perform credit card transactions.

Your account is also super secure. It uses multi-factor authentication, which means that just knowing the password isn’t enough sometimes.

why a digital system of government IDs might be better than what we have now

First and foremost, it would end the main annoyance I talked about at the beginning. If IDs were digital then there would be no need to be on prem (unless maybe biometrics were needed) when making your ID.

Operations would be done much faster, because they’ll be done by computers instead of people. And speaking of people, employees will almost be completely eradicated from the system, except maybe for support in case someone doesn’t understand what they should be doing.

Identity fraud would become less of a problem. No one can peek over your shoulder and steal your identity, because these digital systems can use multi-factor authentication.

For example requiring you to sign with your finger print and your password. Or maybe the card could be scanned (sorta like a credit card) and your fingerprint could be read and a password could be put in. all that could be sent over to triple check you’re who you say you are!

Or we could get rid of the card entirely and have it work like logging in with an online account: just a name and a password and maybe a code sent to you with SMS.

You might think the things I listed above might take a lot of time, but they don’t. How much time does it take for you to unlock your phone with your fingerprint? How much time does it take to login with your account’s password? How much time does it take you to put the credit card inside a credit card reader. Almost none!

Is that secure?

Short answer: yes!

Long answer: if data is transferred over the internet, then an idntity could be fabricated using a special type of computer called a _quantum computer. _These new computers basically break our current systems of authentication on the internet, so they can commit identity fraud. That being said though, there are new algorithms which are immune to quantum computers. We can use them instead.

What india’s done

In response to a lot of Indians not having an ID, India created a system of digital identification called the aadhaar. The Aadhaar is a system used by 1.3 billion indians. It connects a citizen’s basic information and biometrics with a 12 digit code. This id can be used for registration of services like banks for example.

Conclusion

Current governmental ID systems are annoying. A digital system of identification would be faster, less annoying and more secure. If such a system is used, then modern algorithms must be used to avoid the threat of quantum computers. India is a great example of how digital governmental IDs can be used IRL.

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