It’s 2020. A 17-year-old kid coyly tries to enter the worst night club in town after being rebuffed at four others.
Thanks to technology, he now knows the fake ID, passed down by his older brother as a rite-of-passage, isn’t going to work. He cuts a forlorn figure as he steps up to the terminal and scans his phone.
“If your face doesn’t ding, you’re not getting in,” said the HGH-addled bouncer, knuckles splattered with the blood of another poor patron, who expressed concern about this privacy invasion in the politest possible terms.
He’s being tended to by an ambulance crew as you stroll back to the taxi rank, sober as a judge.
Currently on trial in Bournemouth pubs and nightclubs (as well as tanning salons, estate agents and tattoo parlours) is a vision of future nights out across Britain.
Patrons are being encouraged to download the Yoti app, which stores a digital driver’s license (or passport) and encourages users to “prove your age”.
It is being pitched as a way to reduce queues at popular nightspots, while allowing consumers to leave their physical IDs at home (via Telegraph).
All revellers need to do is scan a code with their smartphone or take a selfie or input their date of birth in order to gain entry.
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The app, which has been downloaded 350,000 times, is also being pitched as a way for shoppers to approve purchases of cigarettes and alcohol in super markets.
It would certainly be quicker than waiting for the employees at the self-service checkouts to come over and check IDs and punch in their approval codes.
While there are undoubted benefits, there are certainly privacy implications involved in such tech.
There would be concerns about whether nightspots would have access to the identity of everyone who frequented their establishment on any given evening. Would that information be handed to the authorities in the event of trouble?
Also, would consumers really want their supermarket alcohol purchases connected to their driver’s licenses?
Would you be in favour or replacing physical IDs with facial recognition tech? Drop us a line @TrustedReviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.