[blessedwhiskers]

That assumes every LEO, bodega, grocery store, etc. goes out and buys the terminals to read these things though. Assuming LEOs you encounter will never just say "sorry, my reader is broken, go ahead and unlock your phone so I can bring it back to my car and type in your info to look up your license" feels naive, especially for folks with darker skin tones.

I agree it's possible to present your ID without unlocking your phone, but is it likely?

[quit32]

It is likely that the reader will be implemented into a phone / tablet app so will be pretty ubiquitous eventually.

FWIW it will never technically be legal to rely on visually looking at someones phone to verify age / id bc it would be incredibly easy to fake the display and physical interaction. The only reason it can work as an ID is if it is digitally verified by a reader.

But I do agree that especially in the interim there will be cases where LEO will coerce a phone handover but I don't think this will be a long term problem since physical interaction with the phone does nothing to verify authenticity. You may as well hand them a piece of paper you printed out with your info.

[overfeed]

> It is likely that the reader will be implemented into a phone / tablet app so will be pretty ubiquitous eventually.

They may wind up ubiquitous, but reader usage will be determined by the officers in the field, on a case by case basis. Take a look at jurisdictions where body cameras are mandated but are turned off, or intentionally obstructed.

[voxic11]

Don't hand over your physical ID either. Unless you are driving no one can make you identify yourself with a government ID.

[crazygringo]

I think you're forgetting about flights. And country borders. And I'm not sure how much luck you're going to have opening a bank account... does your birth certificate work for that?