Tag Archives: arizona

From mDLs (Mobile Driver’s Licenses) to mBCs (Mobile Birth Certificates)

I have been talking about mobile driver’s licenses for years, ever since my then-employer IDEMIA began issuing them almost a decade ago. When accepted, mobile driver’s licenses can function as the physical equipment of your physical driver’s license. Even at the airport.

But you know what we haven’t had? Mobile birth certificates.

Mobile driver’s licenses vs. mobile birth certificates

Part of the problem is the complexity of the birth certificate ecosystem.

  • Yes, there are over 50 driver’s license issuers in the United States alone, and each issuer potentially has dozens of license types (license, ID card, commercial license, license under 21, license under 18, ID card under 21, ID card under 18, etc.). And their format potentially changes every few years. Incode and its competitors recognize thousands upon thousands of driver’s license types.
  • Birth certificates are even more diverse. Issued by states or counties, and issued in innumerable formats over the past 100 years. My birth certificate, issued…some time ago in Cook County, Illinois, probably looks extremely different from the birth certificate of a 2026 Cook County newborn. Could the identity verfication vendors even BEGIN to recognize all the different birth certificates?

Actually, some have. Several years ago when performing analysis research for a Bredemarket client, I looked at a number of these offerings, including VitalChek.

Mobile birth certificates in Arizona

Which brings us to the news from Arizona.

“Arizona has become the first U.S. state to let residents present a verified digital birth credential from a smartphone during Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) transactions, eliminating the need for a paper birth certificate in eligible cases.

“The program, developed by LexisNexis Risk Solutions, the Arizona Department of Health Services and the Arizona Department of Transportation, delivers the credential through VitalChek.”

So, when accepted, the Arizona mobile birth certificate (I’m calling it an mBC until someone forces me to stop) can function as the equivalent of a physical birth certificate.

What about YOUR mobile birth certificate product?

The birth certificate is probably the most important document you can have. If mobile versions of birth certificates take off, it will be revolutionary.

If your company offers mBCs and needs help marketing your product, let’s set up a free meeting to discuss how Bredemarket can help you with content, proposal, or analysis services.

Ask before the courage fails.

Wallets for Non-Human Identities?

Let me start this post by stating that I am human. Well, so far. I might be changing into a wildebeest.

Google Gemini.

But assuming that I remain human, I have multiple digital wallets—two of which support decentralized storage of my California driver’s license.

But the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) doesn’t just issue driver’s licenses. It also issues car registrations.

As does the Arizona Department of Transportation, which brings me to this Identity Week story.

“Arizona is among the first states in the country to transition beyond the digital driver licence (mDL) into full-fledged mobile vehicle documentation, officially updating its proprietary Arizona Wallet app. They have allowed residents to upload and store their official vehicle registration, title information, and insurance details directly onto their smartphones.”

But there’s a philosophical problem here.

  • As I’ve noted previously, title (and registration) are primarily associated with a non-person entity (the vehicle), not a person.
  • Yes, a person may hold the title to a vehicle. Or the title may be held by two people, in the case of spouses.
  • But the title belongs to the vehicle.
  • Yet the aforementioned Arizona Wallet app is held by people.

Shouldn’t a vehicle have its own wallet, and then grant access to elements in the wallet to one or more person wallets?

Google Gemini.

And how would the vehicle manage its own attributed-based access controls?

And what if the car gets mad at its human owner(s) for boring driving habits and not taking it to the car wash every week, and therefore decides to change its registered owner to someone else who is more exciting and car-loving?

Google Gemini.

I’ll admit that this is a flight of fancy, but it raises governance issues about maintaining non-human identities.