US Senators Introduce Legislation To Launch A National Digital ID System

Two U.S. Senators, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona (I) and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming (R), have introduced bill “S.884 – Improving Digital Identity Act of 2023,” first introduced on March 21st after passing the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

The bill appears to have been originally introduced in 2022 by Sinema and Lummis.

The bill’s text says,

The lack of an easy, affordable, reliable, and secure way for organizations, businesses, and government agencies to identify whether an individual is who they claim to be online creates an attack vector that is widely exploited by adversaries in cyberspace and precludes many high-value transactions from being available online.

Incidents of identity theft and identity fraud continue to rise in the United States, where more than 293,000,000 people were impacted by data breaches in 2021.

Since 2017, losses resulting from identity fraud have increased by 333 percent, and, in 2020, those losses totaled $56,000,000,000.

The public and private sectors should collaborate to deliver solutions that promote confidence, privacy, choice, equity, accessibility, and innovation. The private sector drives much of the innovation around digital identity in the United States and has an important role to play in delivering digital identity solutions.

The bipartisan Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity has called for the Federal Government to “create an interagency task force directed to find secure, user-friendly, privacy-centric ways in which agencies can serve as 1 authoritative source to validate identity attributes in the broader identity market. This action would enable Government agencies and the private sector to drive significant risk out of new account openings and other high-risk, high-value online services, and it would help all citizens more easily and securely engage in transactions online.”

Furthermore, the creation of this new task force – which they say the head shall be appointed by the President – will “establish and coordinate a government-wide effort to develop secure methods […] to improve access and enhance security between physical and digital identity credentials, particularly by promoting the development of digital versions of existing physical identity credentials, including driver’s licenses, e-Passports, social security credentials, and birth certificates,” the bill says.

When first introduced in 2022, Sinema said,

We’re supporting innovation and enhancing privacy by improving digital verification to combat identity theft, fraud, and cybercrime.

Senator Lummis added:

Technology has the potential to dramatically improve the security and privacy of identity credentials, and enable easier access to the financial system. It doesn’t make sense that Americans have to constantly overshare sensitive identity information with government agencies and businesses, which are honeypots all too often targeted by hackers and identity thieves.

I’m proud to work with my friend and colleague Sen. Sinema to introduce the Improving Digital Identity Act of 2022 to work toward digital identity standards that protect our privacy and give Americans more control over their identity.

The WinePress previously reported on this bill’s passage in the Senate Committee last November. Other senators have also called for the creation of a national digital ID system as well, as noted in that report.

COVID-19 changed a lot of in the way Americans live, work, and provide for our families, and we have become even more reliant on digital commerce platforms.

But with more Americans adapting to a ‘new normal’ in the way we go about purchasing life necessities, this also means more Americans’ personally identifiable information [PII] is at risk of being stolen.

Barry Loudermilk of Georgia (R) said in 2021, pushing for similar legislation

Bloomberg Law explained what the implementation of a national digital ID would mean:

A person seeking to enter a bar, for example, could prove that they’re at least 21 years old without revealing their birth date, along with other details like their name and address, by presenting a QR code for scanning. Security checkpoints at airports, which are starting to test the use of mobile driver’s licenses in some US cities, also require only a few data points from a person’s license.

A key selling point of digital driver’s licenses is that they’re difficult, if not impossible, to steal, alter, or forge, according to industry experts.

Mobile driver’s licenses are digitally signed by the state’s issuing authority, allowing agencies or businesses that accept the IDs to electronically authenticate identity information and ensure that there has been no tampering. This process can be done offline, using a downloaded set of cryptographic keys that let a verifier confirm the validity of a digital ID with its issuer.

Adoption so far has focused on in-person use cases like at banks or airports, where a physical ID card can be replaced by a digital one. Digital identity proponents are pushing for credentials that can be used online to access health-care records and government services such as unemployment benefits.

Andrea Vittorio for Bloomberg explained

Introducing an new digital ID will surely be linked to the financial sphere as well, according to the magazine International Finance:

China heavily relies on national technology companies using smartphone applications that are connected to financial institution accounts that make financial transactions. On the other hand, India, the largest democracy in the world has managed to create the largest single digital biometric ID programme in the world for citizen and public welfare. Kenya is known for its mobile money model that primarily provides customised financial services through mobile money accounts.

These are all examples of how nations have managed to digitally include their citizens in the formal economy while creating a digital footprint for their citizens that were previously underserved and financially excluded. Even then, there is a large chunk of the world population that is still without bank accounts, and they are especially from third world countries. The information about an underserved individual that exists online can be used by the concerned government to leverage this digital data to create digital personas. This data can also be used to gain market insights, personalize customer engagements, and provide a fictional transaction process.

The publication wrote

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AUTHOR COMMENTARY

The whole world has been moving in lockstep to introduce their own digital IDs as well, as documented in other articles:

• 27 Corporations Publish ‘Policy Blueprint’ On How Governments Should Adopt Digital IDs
• New South Wales Australia Set To Launch All-In-One Digital ID To Fully Replace Physical Documents And Requires Facial Recognition
• Newfoundland Canada Is Set To Launch Digital ID Pilot Program In 2023
• EU Votes To Adopt European Digital Identity Wallet To Store And Share ID Documents, And Make Online Purchases
• Sri Lanka Begins To Procure National Digital IDs In Collaboration With India
• Utah Mandates Blockchain Pilot For Digital ID Issuance

Most people are going to reject this, assuming it passes the Senate and House, as will the people also reject the CBDCs and social credit scores; but when the economy goes thermal nuclear and the masses are begging for bread, they will accept anything the government gives them.

[8] But mine eyes are unto thee, O GOD the Lord: in thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute. [9] Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me, and the gins of the workers of iniquity. [10] Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I withal escape.

Psalm 141:8-10

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[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).

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