- From: Liam R. E. Quin <liam@fromoldbooks.org>
- Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2025 20:45:03 -0400
- To: Adrian Gropper <agropper@healthurl.com>, Manu Sporny <msporny@digitalbazaar.com>
- Cc: Kalin NICOLOV <kalin.nicolov@gmail.com>, Brent Shambaugh <brent.shambaugh@gmail.com>, Kim Hamilton <kimdhamilton@gmail.com>, "W3C Credentials CG (Public List)" <public-credentials@w3.org>
On Thu, 2025-06-26 at 20:28 -0400, Adrian Gropper wrote: > Kim's article is certainly important but the focus on mDL > surveillance misses the elephant in the digital privacy room. Most of > the examples she gives, other than age verification, already leave a > record that can be used for near-universal surveillance. Every credit > card transaction calls home and keeps a record. Signing-in to a hotel > leaves a ledger. So does signing with a notary. Picking up a package. > Etc... Will mDL make a qualitative difference? The vast majority of driving licence transactions are not digital today and leave no record. No proof that you were in that bar or restaurant drinking alcohol. No proof that it was you who paid that bill with cash at the government office. No proof that it was you when a policeman stopped you. Showing a driving licence (here in Canada) is normal and frequent and untraceable. For many people it's a daily occurrence, multiple times a day. So no, the elephant for some people is the move from not-tracked to tracked, in environments where you go to cross the border and the border agent refuses you admittance because you have a police record because you had to show your digital driving licence to a police officer, and it was OK and there were no charges, but the border agent only knows you have a record (real example by the way). The privacy rule here is that the immigration officer can't see the details, only that you have a record, but this only works because almost all stops are not recorded today. liam > -- Liam Quin, https://www.delightfulcomputing.com/ Available for XML/Document/Information Architecture/XSLT/ XSL/XQuery/Web/Text Processing/A11Y training, work & consulting. Barefoot Web-slave, antique illustrations: http://www.fromoldbooks.org
Received on Friday, 27 June 2025 00:45:09 UTC