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Education Apple

Colleges Across the US and Canada Are Adopting Virtual Student IDs (theverge.com) 49

Posted by BeauHD from the expanded-support dept.
Apple Wallet is expanding access to its contactless student IDs, a feature it first debuted in 2018. A number of U.S. universities are adopting the new format for the first time. Apple Wallet student IDs will also arrive in Canada later this fall. The Verge reports: The University of New Brunswick and Sheridan College will be the first two Canadian schools to use Apple Wallet IDs. The new US roster includes Auburn, Northern Arizona University, University of Maine, and New Mexico State University, in addition to "many more colleges across the country." The University of Alabama, one of the program's early adopters, will also be the first school to issue exclusively mobile student IDs (to students with eligible devices) this fall. (Those with Android phones can use the digital cards through Google Pay.) Apple claims that "tens of thousands of college students" will have access to the feature during this upcoming school year.

In theory, the virtual student ID should offer all the functionality of a regular student ID -- holders can access restricted areas of campus or pay for amenities like food and laundry by placing their iPhone or Apple Watch near a physical reader. Transaction history isn't shared with Apple or stored on Apple's servers.
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Colleges Across the US and Canada Are Adopting Virtual Student IDs More

Colleges Across the US and Canada Are Adopting Virtual Student IDs

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  • will the meal plan have the 30% apple fee?

  • restricted areas aka door card needs an 3rd pary cloud to work? or can it work offline / in house only??
    Can the local staff add an phone to the access list with no need to talk to ANY APPLE service?

    • Not necessarily. Say you have a QR code with student and access data signed/encrypted with a private key. The QR scanner doesn't need to have an Internet connection. It just need to know the corresponding public key to authenticate the QR code and see whether it contains access permission to wherever the door is located. This can be done entirely offline.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by rtb61 ( 674572 )

        Yeah, nahh. They have flagged your phone, only needed to do it once, heh, heh, track you at all time on the campus whilst you carry phone. They were purposefully create check points that require you to carry you digital dog tag, the phone, at all times. Locks on lecture theatres, you are dealing with extreme pervasive control freaks. They control the software installed and they can turn on microphone or camera as they choose, you, they force to carry your animal registration device with finger print authent

  • I know lots of students and not a one has or wants an i device. The university should be making it's own app for student ID instead of using Apple's. I can't believe that this would be a very complicated endeavor.

    • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

      by defovil901 ( 7969846 )
      It literally says there is an Android option in the summary.

    • I know lots of students and not a one has or wants an i device.
      The university should be making it's own app for student ID instead of using Apple's.

      Doesn't have to be a Apple device. From TFS:

      (Those with Android phones can use the digital cards through Google Pay.)

      The larger issue is this [emphasis mine]:

      The University of Alabama, ... will also be the first school to issue exclusively mobile student IDs (to students with eligible devices) this fall.

      What if someone has an "eligible device" and doesn't want a eID? Do they lie and say the don't have the right phone? Going forward is this kind of thing going to turn life into a have/have not situation revolving around having an appropriate phone?

      For example, my phone is from 2015 and runs Android 4.4 (KitKat) so I can't run a lot of recent apps, but it still work for what I need it for -- calls, texts and the occasio

      • I actually checked the University of Alabama's website's info [ua.edu] about this subject. I realise this isn't in the spirit of Slashdot.

        They have regular plastic University ID cards for location access. But in addition, the university 'ACT Card' apps allow payment for things using currency called 'Dining Dollars' or 'Bama Cash'. So a phoneless (or just privacy-concious) student can opt-out of the whole mobile ID thing altogether.

        At least in the case of Alabama, the article sounds scarier than the reality.
    • Actually, it is not the way for a more practical reason: how do you show your ID in an in-person exam when all phones are explicitly banned? It's fine to have virtual IDs as an extra, especially during the pandemic, but you need a physical photo ID for in-person exams.
  • Did anyone read the part about "with the release of iOS 15 and will support driver’s licenses and state IDs" ?

    Who here want to have to hand their cell phone to a cop every time they get pulled over?

    • I wouldn't use it. I don't even use the digital fishing license; I print mine out. If I drop my phone in the lake, I'm not going to stop fishing.

      If your phone dies, are you going to stop driving until you get a replacement? Take the bus to the phone store?

      So surely, I would never use it. But... golly, how often do you get pulled over, anyway?

      • Door cards are now common for both dormitory and campus facilities. Part of the reason is non-students, whether homeless or predators, nesting on campus. It's understandable for the homeless to seek shelter. It's understandable when the homeless shelter on campus during a storm: it's not so worth the sympathy when students "on sabbatical", banned from campus, spend a year couch surfing in the dorms and tying up the computer labs to play games.

        • Exactly, there are lots of reasons why they have to be semi-serious about the ID cards. That's what leads to it being expensive for them to do it, and their wanting to make it cheaper with a stupid app.

      • I wouldn't use it. I don't even use the digital fishing license; I print mine out. If I drop my phone in the lake, I'm not going to stop fishing.

        If your phone dies, are you going to stop driving until you get a replacement? Take the bus to the phone store?

        So surely, I would never use it. But... golly, how often do you get pulled over, anyway?

        If you lose your driver's license, does that mean you don't have a driver's license? Does it mean you have to go to the DMV and take the road test again?

        Of course not.

        The driver's "license" that you carry in your wallet is not a license. It's one form of proof of having a driver's license. Your real driver's license is ethereal - it's not tied to any piece of plastic you carry in your wallet - it's tied to you. Likewise, if your license is revoked, your card doesn't vanish into thin air.

        The card is a mere representation of the license. It isn't the license itself. This goes for everything - pilots license, fishing license, dog license, etc.

        Even if you go for a drive and realize you don't have your wallet, it doesn't mean you don't have your license. It might annoy the cop so you should be extra polite and pleasant but he can call up on his computer your driver's license. Because the fact that you don't have the card on you, doesn't mean you don't have a driver's license. It makes people's lives easier when checking, but that's it.

        You'll find that little truth practically nowhere, but it's the truth - your licenses are more than the pieces of paper or cards you get.

        If you drop your phone in the lake, keep fishing - you did get a license, and the license. You just failed to have the license on you and forced someone to have to look up your details on a computer.

        And for those who don't know, if you lose your driver's license, you just go to the DMV where $50 and a few taps of the keyboard later they can find your license information and have a replacement sent.

        The proper name of the card is a "driver's certificate" - it isn't your license, it's a certificate showing you have a license. Not having a certificate just makes people's lives harder so be extra polite and be honest.

        • The card you carry with you is your license, and you're not allowed to drive without it.

          If you lose it, you have to have it replaced and that has nothing to do with taking the test again.

          If you do not have your fishing license with you or if you are unable to show it to the police officer and they caught you fishing, it is a $400 fine a 1 year ban from being allowed to possess a fishing license (first offense).

          You're either not an American, or you're a fucking idiot. Either way, shut up.

          • You're either not an American, or you're a fucking idiot.

            // I hope you're not suggesting that
            if (!american && !idiot) then {
            american = idiot;
            }

            :o

        • The card is a mere representation of the license. It isn't the license itself. This goes for everything - pilots license, fishing license, dog license, etc.

          That's not always true. In the UK, the dog licence (and the dog's ID) isn't the entry in the database. It's the physical chip in the dog. And if that's somehow removed, or stops working, the dog is unlicenced and you need to go through the whole licencing procedure again.

          That sounds moot, until you hear about people like Three Square Market chipping their employees. [theguardian.com]

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by Gruntbeetle ( 6802064 )
          > The driver's "license" that you carry in your wallet is not a license. It's one form of proof
          > of having a driver's license. Your real driver's license is ethereal.

          While I agree with you in THEORY, the PRACTICE is different.

          The last time I was pulled over, the police asked me for my license, registration, and PROOF of insurance. In my state, ALL of these are available "ethereally". Why do I need to present anything at all?

          To make things even more interesting, I was let off with a warning bu
  • Of all the problems facing colleges today is the ID card that important? What happens if your phone battery dies or the phone is stolen? Sounds like an expensive complicated solution being used to replace a easy cheap solution.

    • The local community college made issuing the IDs part of the school store, then when they outsourced the school store the training for issuing the IDs was the biggest headache. They don't want to have bring it back in-house; for one thing, they already re-assigned those rooms to other uses. It can be surprisingly expensive to issue id cards, even if it seems like something simple.

      So yes, they're trying to address a real problem that they face. And if they can get 50%, or maybe even 80%, of students to use t

    • You could have the option to print a QR code that's signed with a private key.
  • What if I don't want to enrich Apple in any way? What's the alternative?
  • Why oh why would Apple implement this? Datagrab!

  • Transaction history isn't shared with Apple or stored on Apple's servers.

    Even if its true, they dont mention google.

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