Biden Administration Pushes Digital ID Expansion for Public Benefits

by Didi Rankovich | Reclaim The Net

The Biden administration is using what little time it has left to bolster digital ID use for applications for public benefits. An executive order follows a bill signed on December 30that seeks to expand digital ID in federal agencies.

The executive order will now serve to have those agencies use digital documents like mobile driver’s licenses (mDLs) and electronic passwords, as a method of online identity verification.

The use of the controversial login.gov is not made mandatory by the order, while the document at the same time mentions different verification methods, such as the Social Security Administration’s social security number verification services, to be used in federal benefit programs.

The order tasks the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) with producing guidance concerning how these digital IDs are used, and that builds on NIST working on digital authentication standards guidelines, the Digital Identity Guidelines. Read Full Article >