The survey finds that 90 percent of people of said they would pay extra to renew their driver’s license online while almost a third of Americans (31 percent) revealed they have driven with an expired license to avoid an in-person visit to the U.S. Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
Most countries in Europe offer digital government services, and the ability to undertake everyday tasks like processing driving licences have been operational in the U.K., as an example, for over a decade (albeit with variable technological success, much to the frustration of some users of government digital services).
Furthermore, most digital government services around the world are free. It is interesting that the option, even expectation, to pay for services features in the U.S.
The new survey comes from iProov, who offer face verification technology and therefore they have an interest in digital service provision.
As an example of the type of security services on offer, recently the Australian government announced the selection of iProov to provide face verification for national digital identity. Such facial recognition services are in place in Singapore and Estonia.
The use of facial recognition is seen by many cybersecurity experts as essential to avoid fraud. As things stand, U.S. government departments could be losing revenue as citizens delay in-person appointments.
As well as finding that U.S. citizens want to access services online and a desire for the U.S. to catch up with other nations, the main thing that people want to see is improvements to customer service offered through a well-designed digital platform.
A faster service is also required, especially through services that avoid in-person wait times. In terms of whether people are comfortable with biometrics as a cybersecurity measure, this appears to be generally favorable. This includes face verification, a matter that has raised civil liberties arguments in the past.
According to this particular survey, just 12 percent of people said “no” in response to the use of biometrics or other digital identity services. It should be noted that this survey comes from a company that develops such software.
Other survey, however, show more of an even split in relation to the facial technology acceptance verus mistrust debate.
