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Friend sent me this from NY Long Island paper:

While NYS DMV says the Mobile IDs are safe, some critics argue the digital driver's license poses personal privacy and security concerns.

Digital IDs are not yet widely accepted as proof of identity. More than 25 states have adopted or are moving toward adopting the virtual IDs.

The digital IDs can be accessed by cellphones to quickly identify the holder while traveling, at bars, stores that sell liquor and tobacco products, doctor's offices & more - as long as the business decides to accept them. More than 20 airports accept the ID including NYs Kennedy & LaGuardia.

Since then, social media has lit up with concerns that the virtual IDs will serve an authoritarian government at the cost of personal privacy, including calling digital IDs "deep state psyops."

The conservative Rebel News website is pushing a petition claiming digital IDs "call for invasive collection of biometric markers, location data, banking information and vaccination records... digitization will surely have dire consequences for our lives as governments assert more power over us."

But the concern is broader. The NY Civil Liberties Union alerted the DMV about "urgent concerns" five months before the state announced the program. The group called for investigation, public debate and a full balancing of benefits and costs of the program before it was made public. "Without public debate or discernible legal and technical.

The company contracted to provide Mobile ID is Idemia Identity and Security USA, part of a French-based global company. Idemia has several contracts with the state for facial recognition, fingerprinting and other security programs.

The NYCLU's concern isn't just what Mobile ID can do now, but what in can do in the near future, said Daniel Schwarz, senior privacy and technology strategist. "The technology needs to be open sourced, revealing its full capabilities, and that state legislation is needed to provide safeguards."