The critical privacy considerations for mobile driver's licenses involve limiting verifier collusion, ensuring selective disclosure where individuals only share necessary information, and addressing concerns about issuers tracking holders' movements; the goal is to prevent unintended surveillance and profiling, emphasizing user-controlled identity and selective disclosure to empower individuals in digital interactions and align with data protection regulations.

The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) request for information (RFI) in 2021 prompted concerns from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), ACLU, and EPIC regarding potential privacy issues related to mobile driver's licenses (mDLs). The major concerns include increased identity checks impacting online privacy, potential misuse of centralized databases, equity issues with smartphone-dependent solutions, and the risk of digital IDs being controlled by a few Big Tech companies; the EFF emphasizes the importance of technology solutions to address these concerns, advocating for principles such as minimal disclosure and selective disclosure to safeguard user privacy.

In the increasingly digital landscape of identity checks, even the most technically-savvy individuals can be vulnerable to phishing scams. To address this, there is a need for thoughtful solutions that incorporate guardrails, such as indicators for trusted verifiers, varying risk levels for different types of information, and a societal shift towards minimal disclosure to enhance the security of digital identity checks.

The principle of minimal disclosure in identity verification emphasizes sharing only the necessary information, such as proving age for entry to an age-restricted venue, without divulging excessive personal details. To uphold minimal disclosure, it is crucial to prevent collusion between entities conducting verification and employ privacy-by-design technology to limit the correlation of information across different verifiers.