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Student IDs on iPhone and Apple Watch Expand to Canada and More US Universities

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Re: Student IDs on iPhone and Apple Watch Expand to Canada and More US Universities

#31

Post by secabeen »

eptcyka wrote: post #25
fsflover wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So this is awesome on the part of Apple, but what about Android? But what if I have neither iOS, nor Android? Why must the government/universities support the duopoly?

What if I have Android but not Google services?

Apple PR is being really careful with their language: "This fall, the University of Alabama will be the first school to exclusively issue mobile student IDs to their 38,000 students with eligible devices." The UofA action card office will continue to produce physical cards for students, no mobile device required: https://actcard.ua.edu/faq/

Re: Student IDs on iPhone and Apple Watch Expand to Canada and More US Universities

#32

Post by ryanmarsh »

devwastaken wrote: post #16

The more value you make a target the more money is invested to break it. Physical documents require significant physical abilities to steal, you actually have to be in physical possession of a document. In the digital world the databases are accessible from anywhere in the world. Significantly larger attack surface, and we know for a fact no software, especially Apples, is going to be secure enough. Governments have…

You’re not wrong, but there’s other aspects worth considering.

1. Most physical identification documents are trivial to fake.

2. Possession of a paper/plastic document means for a nonzero period of time you control the only valid one of its kind. A digital ID can be immediately revoked thus reducing the possession time of a hacker.

3. Digital ID’s can be protected by on-device biometric authentication. Yes “physical access is total access” but it takes more sophistication to exploit a properly protected digital ID

4. People today are more apt to lose a physical document over their phone, which is also easier to locate when lost.

5. Your state likely sells their drivers license database. Yes that’s right. Ever wonder how some business require valid ID to open an account? They check the info on your card against their copy of the db. Hackers don’t have to hack the government to get the info on your ID (and exploit it) there are myriad targets that can be exploited.

Re: Student IDs on iPhone and Apple Watch Expand to Canada and More US Universities

#33

Post by vishnugupta »

I hope Apple and institutions that rely on it make it easy to recover from a lost device.

I totally get the convenience angle, being an Apple ecosystem dweller myself. However, with more and more of identities, payments moving to a single device the recovery workflow should be hassle free.

With physical documents, my IDs are spread out so if I lose my drivers' license I can pull out my passport to get a new one. How will it look like in Apple world? I haven't read the recovery workflow documented anywhere.

Imagine being on a business trip say ~5 years down the line and losing your phone. Your hotel key is gone, passport is gone, no money, no one to call, no app, no internet. Now what?

Re: Student IDs on iPhone and Apple Watch Expand to Canada and More US Universities

#34

Post by ryanmarsh »

eqtn wrote: post #21
personlurking wrote: post #9

I'm curious how different digital IDs will work in the near future. Will one app hold all your official IDs or will there be an app for each purpose? After fall 2022, the EU plans to do a pilot of the EU digital ID. It would "let users store electronic forms of identification and other official documents, such as driver’s licenses, prescriptions and school diplomas." [1] https://apnews.com/article/europe-health-coron…

In India, there is an app which holds all your ids. We just enter the id number and required information and it will fetch the details. This includes school certificates, college certificates, driving license, birth certificate, Car/motorcycle papers and whole lot of other things. https://www.digilocker.gov.in/

I’m embarrassed the US doesn’t have this. You should see the absolute disaster that is digital records at the Dept. of Veteran Affairs. It’s better than it used to be and it’s still terrible.

Re: Student IDs on iPhone and Apple Watch Expand to Canada and More US Universities

#35

Post by systemvoltage »

devwastaken wrote: post #16

The more value you make a target the more money is invested to break it. Physical documents require significant physical abilities to steal, you actually have to be in physical possession of a document. In the digital world the databases are accessible from anywhere in the world. Significantly larger attack surface, and we know for a fact no software, especially Apples, is going to be secure enough. Governments have…

Some things are better in analog form. Voting, IDs, Passports, etc.

Re: Student IDs on iPhone and Apple Watch Expand to Canada and More US Universities

#36

Post by d0lphin »

My school (UC San Diego) already has a mobile app with our student IDs on it. You can add it to your mobile wallet on both iOS/Android I believe (on iOS it took some fiddling with PassBook before it showed up for me). It's pretty convenient but I'm never really in a situation with my phone/watch and not my wallet.

Re: Student IDs on iPhone and Apple Watch Expand to Canada and More US Universities

#37

Post by fsflover »

tnel77 wrote: post #27
fsflover wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So this is awesome on the part of Apple, but what about Android? But what if I have neither iOS, nor Android? Why must the government/universities support the duopoly?

Genuine question: what’s the alternative? Perhaps a web app based solution?

Web app or official API, so anyone could develop an app.

Re: Student IDs on iPhone and Apple Watch Expand to Canada and More US Universities

#38

Post by wlesieutre »

kyrra wrote: post #10
wlesieutre wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like yes: https://support.google.com/pay/answer/9867059?hl=en > You can add your campus ID card to your Android phone to securely access your residence hall. You can also use your campus ID with Google Pay to pay for things on campus such as dining, laundry, vending, books, and more.

(googler, opinions are my own). I really wish we would have stayed with the Google Wallet moniker. Seeing that you can add student IDs, Walgreens Card[0], Vaccine status/card[1], various metro cards (like Japan's Suica[2]), it is more like a wallet than a pay app at this point. [0] https://www.walgreens.com/topic/promotion/google-pay.jsp [1] https://support.google.com/googlepay/answer/10890261?visit_i... [2] https://…

Yeah as a non-Android user I was confused by this page. You have to add your card to Google Pay to be able to use it for dorm entry? That's very Google of them, like needing to enable "Web & App Activity" tracking to be able to get home/work directions in Maps.

But then I wasn't sure if they just branded "any NFC pass you can put in your phone" as "Google Pay" which would be stupid but believable. Thanks for confirming.

Re: Student IDs on iPhone and Apple Watch Expand to Canada and More US Universities

#39

Post by niklasrde »

devwastaken wrote: post #16

The more value you make a target the more money is invested to break it. Physical documents require significant physical abilities to steal, you actually have to be in physical possession of a document. In the digital world the databases are accessible from anywhere in the world. Significantly larger attack surface, and we know for a fact no software, especially Apples, is going to be secure enough. Governments have…

"especially Apples" - what are you basing that on?

I personally trust Apple more to actually want to protects users' information rather than try find legal loopholes in protection mechanisms to aid their business model.

Re: Student IDs on iPhone and Apple Watch Expand to Canada and More US Universities

#40

Post by fsflover »

secabeen wrote: post #31
eptcyka wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if I have Android but not Google services?

Apple PR is being really careful with their language: "This fall, the University of Alabama will be the first school to exclusively issue mobile student IDs to their 38,000 students with eligible devices ." The UofA action card office will continue to produce physical cards for students, no mobile device required: https://actcard.ua.edu/faq/

Nevertheless those without iPhones will be at disadvantage AFAIK.
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