On the first of October 2006, the paper driver’s license got replaced by a plastic card in the Netherlands. Main reason for the replacement: better security against fraud and forgery. Besides, the Netherlands was following other EU-countries, and in this way all the identity documents could be produced at one single factory. Fourteen years after the launch of the plastic card, the card will be unnecessary, since the RDW (Dienst Wegverkeer – ‘department road traffic’) is planning on developing an app for your driver’s license in 2020.
In a few years, the app should function as a replacement of the plastic card and serve as legal identification, according to the RDW. Next to this ambitious goal, not much is clear about the way the app will work, the RDW itself doesn’t even know how it will work. May be it won’t be an app, but another method with a smartphone. The core will be ‘Remote Document Authentification’, a method that is already tested on another project: Idensys. With this method, smartphones can read data from the current plastic driver’s license which are produced after the end of 2014. These driver’s licenses contain a chip from the Dutch company Gemalto. The RDW states that the option for a plastic card will remain, as not everyone has a smartphone.
One of the reasons for digitalizing the driver’s license is efficiency. For example, it won’t be necessary to renew your driver’s license every ten years. Personally, I doubt if the improvement in efficiency, outweighs the cost of such IT-project. Another reason for this app is of course the safety: better security against fraud and forgery. But if we take a look at other big IT-projects of governmental organizations, one could doubt if it really will improve the security against fraud and forgery. I will discuss a few examples that will explain my doubts about the added value and safety of the digital driver’s license.
The OV-chipcard for public transport got hacked easily, which meant that with a simple NFC-reader, one could travel for free. Second example: a huge automation project at the ministry of security in 2013 failed. 25 million euro was budgeted, but in the end it costed over a 100 million and the system was not used by its users. Another example, the electronic patient record, took 15 years and costed 300 million euros before it was cancelled. The development of the C2000 communication system for the emergency services costed 1 billion euros, but the communication system failed at crucial moments. If you aren’t convinced yet that the Dutch government and IT are a horrible combination: More than 30% of the big IT-projects fail in a way that the system that is developed will not be used at all. The cost for society? Between 1 and 5 billion euros a year, according to the parliamentary committee.
Of course I believe it is important as government to make processes as efficient and safe as possible. But will our digital driver’s license be more safe in 2020? And are these kinds of digitalisations really necessary, do they add enough value, compared to the price the IT-projects have?
Sources:
http://www.bnr.nl/nieuws/10128802/weer-mislukt-een-ict-project-bij-de-overheid
http://www.ad.nl/binnenland/rijk-faalt-bij-ict-projecten-het-gaat-mis-op-alle-niveaus~a354c62f/
https://androidworld.nl/apps/rdw-applicatie-fysiek-rijbewijs-vervangen/
https://tweakers.net/nieuws/116331/rdw-werkt-aan-app-die-rijbewijs-kan-vervangen.html
Dear Leon,
Thank you for this interesting blogpost. I’m not convinced by the success of IT projects by the government either. There are too many examples of failed projects which costed a lot of governmental money. However, I do believe that identification information will become digital in the near future. Nevertheless, this will be converted with other personal documentation such as bankcards, transportation cards etc. In this way, I believe that the transformation will create value compared to the cost of the transformation. However, this will have huge consequences if the security of this information is weak. I read something about a plan to implement DigiD smartcards with NFC chips by the government in 2018. I’m already concerned about that…
Dear Leon, thank you for your blog. While I believe that with experience, the government can make their applications safer, hackers will also gain more experience over time. Hence, the only way to ensure safety is to hire white hat hackers, who deliberately hack into the system to find faults. Only then I believe can the government ensure safety in the best way possible. Next to that, I think it is highly likely that we will be able to do more and more with our phones, thus eventually also show our driver license. However, 2020 is already in less than 4 years, and I do not think this change will take place that quickly. I think these kind of digitizations right now are unnecessary but in the future they might not be. I guess time will tell..
Dear Leon,
Thank you for this interesting blogpost. I think it is interesting to see that governmental organizations as the RDW are responding to the trend of digitization. As you mentioned the Netherlands was following other EU-countries with the introduction of the plastic driver’s license. Therefore, I was wondering if other countries already have a digital driver’s license.
In the United States a pilot program is in the works for this year in which the carrying and using of digital licenses is tried out on a small scale. The younger generation was positive about this innovation, however older drivers have their concerns.
In India the federal government launched a digital locker service called DigiLocker at the beginning of September. DigiLocker happens to be a cloud-based service that allows users to store digital versions of various documents issued by different government agencies. Users can create an account in the application by using their mobile number, and can then choose to link their ‘Aadhaar’ number with that account to use additional services.
So, I agree with you that 2020 is ambitious to replace the plastic drivers’ license. However, other countries are also digitizing the driver’s license, so we could learn from their experiences. In my opinion there should not be a year of introduction, but the digital driver’s license should be introduced when the safety of our information can be guaranteed.
https://www.cnet.com/news/your-future-drivers-license-could-go-digital/
http://www.androidheadlines.com/2016/09/digilocker-now-enables-digital-drivers-licenses-india.html