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Biometric Passports in Google Wallet Take (Domestic) Flight in US
Google Wallet’s feature for digitizing U.S. biometric passports has graduated to a production launch, enabling domestic travel within the country through digital ID.
The TSA is accepting Americans’ biometric passports presented as an “ID pass” within Google Wallet at select checkpoints. Digitized passports cannot be used for international flights to or from the U.S.
The feature was launched for beta testing in September, when Google unveiled TSA acceptance and plans to use the credentials for other use cases, including account recovery, identity verification and car rentals. Given the paucity of national ID credentials in the U.S., and the modest pace of mobile driver’s license (mDL) launches at the state level, Google apparently sees an opportunity to play an even larger role in American’s lives.
Americans can enroll their passports in Google Wallet if they are running Google Play services version 24.47.35 on Android 9+, according to 9to5Google.
Under Surveillance: The Psychological Implications of Big Brother’s Gaze
A psychological study has shown that when people know they are under surveillance it generates an automatic response of heightened awareness of being watched, with implications for public mental health. In a paper published in the journal Neuroscience of Consciousness psychology researchers from the University of Technology Sydney worked with 54 participants to examine the effects of surveillance on an essential function of human sensory perception — the ability to detect another person’s gaze.
Lead author, Associate Professor of neuroscience and behavior Kiley Seymour, said previous research has established the effects on conscious behavior when people know they are being watched, but the new study provided the first direct evidence that being watched also has an involuntary response. “We know CCTV changes our behavior, and that’s the main driver for retailers and others wanting to deploy such technology to prevent unwanted behavior,” Associate Professor Seymour said. “However, we show it’s not only overt behavior that changes — our brain changes the way it processes information.
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States Encourage Acceptance of Mobile ID for Age Assurance, Air Travel
The U.S. continues to open up to mobile driver’s licenses and other digital identity credentials, as the larger ecosystem of identity wallets, trust frameworks and digital ID enables growth. State push for New York Mobile ID gets thumbs-up from hospitality industry
Bars and restaurants in New York State are being walked through the process of accepting the New York Mobile ID (MiD) for age assurance, following guidance from the New York State Liquor Authority advising the state’s liquor license holders that the mobile digital credential is an acceptable form of identification for verifying someone’s age. MiD is supplied by Idemia Public Security and picked up more than 100,000 users in the first two months of use.
“The Mobile ID is as equally beneficial to users as it is to the businesses that accept it,” says DMV Commissioner Mark J.F. Schroeder. “It offers businesses a huge leg up in the fight against identity theft, and gives those verifying a patron’s age greater reassurance that they are not accepting a fake ID, which could result in unknowingly serving someone underage.”
Lawmakers Tell Apple, Google to Prepare for TikTok Ban
The top lawmakers on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party told Apple and Google on Friday to prepare to remove TikTok from their app stores, as a potential ban looms next month. Committee Chair John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) said in a pair of letters to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai that their companies “must take the necessary steps to ensure it can fully comply” with the law by Jan. 19. Under a law passed by Congress earlier this year, TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance is required to divest from the popular social media app or face a ban on U.S. networks and app stores.
The law gave ByteDance about nine months — until Jan. 19 — to sell TikTok. President Biden, who signed the law in April, could also give the company an additional 90 days to complete a sale. In a separate letter to TikTok CEO Shou Chew on Friday, the two lawmakers urged the company to “immediately execute a qualified divestiture.”
