EU planning second try at uniform digital wallet for ID, payments

The European Union is working on a new standard of digital identification to give citizens of all 27 countries access to public and private services under a single online ID.

The European Union-wide app would be accessed via biometric scans, such as retina, facial recognition, or fingerprint scans. It would allow users to securely store payment information, such as bank cards and credit cards, and official documents like passports and drivers' licenses.

According to the Financial Times, the use of the wallet won't be mandated at the time of introduction. Still, those who choose to use it would benefit from the added layers of convenience and security.

In order to avoid any cross-transfer of sensitive data, the EU officials will enforce a structural separation designed to prevent companies from accessing user data. This would prevent companies from being able to utilize a user's data for marketing purposes.

Currently, officials are meeting to discuss guidelines and standards for the rollout of the digital wallet, which they hope to have fully functional in roughly a year.

As of now, only 19 countries have begun roll-outs for digital IDs, and not all IDs are compatible with each other. Countries involved will need to agree on how to implement the system — and the lack of agreement is what scuttled the previous "standard."

Apple also has been planning ways to replace passports, driver's licenses, and other physical forms of identification. Patents have shown that Apple has been looking for ways to provide verified claims of user identity.

Apple has suggested there could be multiple ways of presenting an ID on request. For example: in the future, a user may be able to show a driver's license on the screen of their iPhone while their phone is in a locked state. Patents have also shown plans for potential RFID, NFC, Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi Aware methods for transmitting identity-verifying information.

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23 Comments

red oak

said about 2 years ago

LoL

The EU has become a bunch of lifetime bureaucrats trying to legislate and birth
technology

That is not how it works

avon b7

said about 2 years ago

red oak said:

LoL

The EU has become a bunch of lifetime bureaucrats trying to legislate and birth
technology

That is not how it works

That's how it should work - and does work.

Electronic IDs and passports, digital certificates etc already exist across the EU.

I can update the the digital certificates on my ID Card using just my biometrics. I can obtain my digital 'signature' from government for use online etc.

These technologies already exist but they are not harmonised across the EU.

Logically they will be improved upon and integrated but issues that only governments can decide on have to be tackled (and are being tackled). Privacy, security, legislation, enforcement...

The EU is perfectly able to 'birth' technology and has been doing it for decades. It normally does it in conjunction with partners.

Here's a recent example :

https://www.european-processor-initiative.eu/project/epi/

22july2013

said about 2 years ago

We already have photos and signatures used in passports, which are a form of biometrics. But I'm worried about other biometrics being used for passports. Retinal scans might not be so bad because nobody can scan your retina without your permission. But fingerprints are another matter. I wouldn't want people I do business with to see my fingerprint. I (physically) leave my actual fingerprint behind wherever I (physically) go, which is very different from a retinal scan, since I do not leave a copy of my retina lying around when I walk through a building. Would EU citizens get to choose which biometric they can put into their digital ID? And how many nations would have access to the biometric database which the EU would set up? This could be a privacy nightmare.

I'm not an opponent of digital IDs. I think they are great. I have built more than one digital ID computer system for big clients. But the policy is important to understand. A digital ID policy statement tends to be about 100 pages long (and it's harder to write when it requires international agreements.) Has the EU even drafted their policy yet, or are they just winging it? The link that AppleInsider provided is not accessible because it's behind a paywall.

crowley

said about 2 years ago

red oak said:

LoL

The EU has become a bunch of lifetime bureaucrats trying to legislate and birth
technology

That is not how it works

Governments have shaped and created standards since forever. This is exactly how it works.

entropys

said about 2 years ago

I guess the real issue here is if ordinary citizens of these 27 countries want their identity information controlled by Brussels instead of more directly accountable politicians and bureaucrats.

I would not. And I doubt the citizens in those countries will get any say at all on the matter.

The EU is perfectly able to 'birth' technology and has been doing it for decades. It normally does it in conjunction with partners.
Here's a recent example :
https://www.european-processor-initiative.eu/project/epi/

They aren’t “birthing” anything new here, they are just building out a universal tracking system of its member states’ citizens.

but yes, in the case mentioned it totally makes sense for the EU taxpayer to fund a processor. Not. It isn’t as though there wasn't already a myriad of processors out there, but hey let’s do our own using Other Peoples’ Money. And do a cosy deal with our corporate mates so the Eurocrats can get a sweet job on early retirement, and everyone gets rich except the proles that actually paid for it in the first place. The only difference between 1930s Italy and the close coupling of government and corporate in the EU is a kinder face and an absence of snazzy uniforms.

The end result will still be a boot stamping on a human face, forever.

According to the Financial Times, the use of the wallet won't be mandated at the time of introduction. Still, those who choose to use it would benefit from the added layers of convenience and security.

I wonder if the person interviewed and the journalist both laughed after that was said. A smug, insider laugh.

In order to avoid any cross-transfer of sensitive data, the EU officials will enforce a structural separation designed to prevent companies from accessing user data. This would prevent companies from being able to utilize a user's data for marketing purposes.

Bwwahgahhahhha! Oh my aching sides. The only way to stop this would be to not allow corporations any access in the first place. But of course, that isn’t what they want.