Digital Driver’s Licences
Digital driver licences risk privacy breaches and government overreach
Digital driver licences are coming to New Zealand, offering convenience but also bringing the risks of government overreach and privacy breaches.
From around mid-2026, New Zealanders will be able to store their licences on a government app on their smartphones. Users’ digital credentials—such as their names, photos, and dates of birth—will be encrypted and stored on their devices. A user will be able to choose which information to share, such as their legal age, without revealing their name, date of birth or other personal information. The credentials will be authenticated through biometrics—facial scans or fingerprints.
The new licence is part of a push by the New Zealand government to introduce a digital identity system which could eventually be used for multiple services such as car registration, tax and birth, death and marriage certificates. In May 2025, it launched NZ Verify, an app that verifies international digital credentials, making travel in New Zealand easier. An all-of-government app, Govt.nz, was released in December 2025.
Government overreach?
One major concern with digital driver licences is that they could be a step towards government overreach. The licences will lead to greater state surveillance and exclusion, the Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement warns. Every time your licence is “accessed or presented, a record can be generated, stored, and potentially cross-referenced with other information about you,” the group says. Carrying a plastic card may be less convenient, but it gives a measure of independence, they say.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has introduced his own member’s bill to guard against “digital overreach” and protect personal choice and privacy. The bill would mandate organisations to accept hard-copy versions of driver’s licences and passports.
However, transport minister Chris Bishop says Mr Peters’ concerns have already been addressed. “The government’s changes to enable digital driver’s licences do not do away with physical driver licence cards…The point of our reforms is to give people the choice.”
Despite this assurance, there is a high risk of “function creep” with digital driver licences, where their use expands over time beyond their original purpose. New Zealand privacy advocacy group PILLAR warns that access to essential services like driver licences, banking and welfare through digital ID will eventually become mandatory in practice. A stark example of function creep is India’s digital ID system Aadhaar, which started as a voluntary service but is now effectively mandatory; the Aadhaar ID card is needed to buy houses or cars, open bank accounts and receive government benefits.
PILLAR executive director Nathan Seiuli says optionality in the use of digital ID services is an illusion. “We cannot trade fundamental freedoms for minor administrative gains,” he says.
Privacy concern
Another cause of concern about the new digital licence is external agencies getting access to our personal data. The Department of Internal Affairs says digital credentials will be stored on users’ devices and not stored in the cloud. However, the backend systems that store driver-licence data may use cloud infrastructure.
The New Zealand Transport Agency (Waka Kotahi), which is the legal government authority for driver licences, keeps licence holders’ personal information in a centralised driver licence register. NZTA has not stated whether any of this information is stored in the cloud, but do we know it stores different types of data in the cloud with third-party providers such as Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS). The backend databases and authentication systems of the Govt.nz app and NZ Verify also use the cloud infrastructure of Microsoft Azure and AWS.
These companies’ servers are located offshore and/or are under US jurisdiction. Under the US Cloud Act, in certain circumstances US authorities can force these cloud service providers to disclose data, even data stored outside the United States. If a US-based cloud provider is presented with a valid warrant covering New Zealanders’ information, the provider would likely give access to that information, says New Zealand law firm Buddle Findlay.