The days of lugging around various physical valuables are slowly disappearing. More stores and merchants are going cash free, you can pay for goods using nothing but your phone, and soon, iPhone and Apple Watch–wielding Illinoisans won’t even need to carry their physical ID card for some things, but for now at least, you still need to keep your driver’s license on you when you get behind the wheel.
Digital identification cards aren’t particularly revolutionary; in fact, 12 other states and the island of Puerto Rico already allow drivers to ditch their physical license in favor of one made up of ones and zeros. As of November 19, Illinoisans are able to add their driver’s license and state IDs to their Apple Wallet, and they are valid at restaurants, bars, cannabis dispensaries, and TSA checkpoints at Chicago O’Hare Airport and Chicago Midway Airport. The technology will roll out for Samsung and Google phones next year according to NBC Chicago, but Illinois law enforcement isn’t quite ready to take driver’s licenses fully digital yet.
At least Illinois says displaying a digital driver’s license or ID does not constitute consent for search
This technology can help declutter your wallet and prevent you from losing your ID, but we’ve investigated how it can also potentially allow authorities to legally search through your phone. Illinois Senator Michael E. Hastings, who helped champion the law, says this won’t be the case for Illinoisans. According to NBC Chicago, “The measure in Illinois explicitly prohibits law enforcement officers from searching through a phone’s contents after viewing the mobile identification card, according to the legislation.”
Weirdly, Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias says the mobile driver’s licenses will not replace physical ones, but merely act as a companion. For now, the digital ID only acts as a way to show proof of age and proof of identity, but for now, law enforcement and other official uses will still require a physical form of identification. There’s no explanation as to why the digital driver’s license will not be recognized as an official form of identification for Illinoisan drivers, and there’s no timeline provided for when or if digital Illinois driver’s licenses will replace physical ones. According to NPR Illinois, “Under the law, residents will continue to be required to have physical IDs. Mobile ones can serve as identification, but businesses aren’t required to accept them.”
The development is being lauded as a game changer for Illinoisans, but that feels like an exaggeration given that businesses and law enforcement aren’t required to accept them as a form of legal identification. It’s a step toward convenience and increased privacy for bargoers and concert goers, though, since the digital ID can exclusively display a person’s date of birth and no other personal information, but overall it seems like more of a half-step.
