What NY drivers should know about digital driver’s licenses, QR codes and privacy

What NY drivers should know about digital driver’s licenses, QR codes and privacy Garrett Chan News10NBC BATAVIA, N.Y. — Digital driver’s licenses are becoming more common across the country, with more than 20 states, including New York, now offering digital ID programs, according to the TSA. New York has a dedicated app that allows people to store a digital version of their driver’s license or ID, and if someone needs to show their ID to police, they present a QR code. Trevor DiMarco is the CEO of L-Tron Corporation in Victor. The company received a U.S. patent for its mobile driver’s license reader, a handheld device designed to scan both physical and digital driver’s licenses. “When you hand your ID card to somebody today for whatever the purpose, whether it’s law enforcement or a rental company or anything, you’re giving them everything. And what they do with that information from there, who knows? Right. With this product, you’re able to control exactly what you are sending. And with mobile driver’s license in general, you can control,” DiMarco said. DiMarco said the reader lets officers scan a mobile driver’s license without touching a driver’s phone. “So enabling the officer to be up at the vehicle or wherever they are and be able to read that mobile driver’s license without actually touching the civilians phone, was a really important thing. On a bigger picture for law enforcement, situational awareness and safety is their number one priority, right? For themselves? Obviously, traffic interaction could be one of the most dangerous things they do,” DiMarco said. DiMarco demonstrated how the device works. “If they have a civilian has a mobile driver’s license, they’re going to let the officer know that they’re going to present this giant QR code that the officer is going to scan. And then in a moment, the civilians going to get asked to share all this information with the officers device, and it’s all the basic information found on them on a driver’s license today. they’re going to pop it in this dock, and with a single button push, they hit transmit and it dumps the data to their computer,” DiMarco said. The reader can also verify if an ID is legitimate. “Our device, has a public key provided by the state of New York and other states. So it’s actually extremely secure, very, very difficult to manipulate” DiMarco said. There are safeguards to protect personal information and prevent misuse. “The data on this device gets auto deleted on a periodic basis, right? Could be anywhere from a minute or 30s later, from reading to a couple of hours, depending on what the agency has determined to be the appropriate timeline,” DiMarco said. DiMarco said he presented the mobile driver’s license reader at the New York State Highway Safety Symposium last month. Several New York law enforcement agencies and state police have already expressed interest in using the device. L-Tron is prioritizing the rollout of its mobile driver’s license reader to Georgia law enforcement agencies, which are required to have them by July 2027.