Hacker News Reader

In some more advanced countries, they do this exact thing (or in other cases, a barcode with a serial number that is used to double-check to a government-controlled database). Does not stop bribing government officials to make a genuine fake ID of course, but it significantly raises the bar of faking it.

In Italy the new ID card (issued from 2015 onwards) has NFC capabilities. It contains key attributes (including the picture) that can be read via NFC signed from governament PKI. Some information can be unlocked using a code printed on it, some using the private PIN given to the citizien, and some other only from police/governament.

Some innovative use cases could be using the ID also as a gym card or as transportation card.

The very last thing we need, is any form of computer involved in spot id checks.