This application is in development and has not been officially released. This page is not complete and is subject to change at any time. This page was last updated October 23, 2023.

About

This platform serves to be a comprehensive and accurate validation service for drivers licenses barcodes. It is designed to serve a variety of users, from everyday individuals to researchers in need of in-depth barcode analysis.

This platform is completely free for basic barcode validation. Simply upload a drivers license barcode and our system will determine its validity. However, for those looking for more advanced features, we offer a paid account option for researchers. This account includes lifetime access to full reports on exactly what checks were performed and detailed information on exactly why the barcode is deemed invalid if applicable, giving users a deeper understanding of barcode validation.

This platform is equipped with industry leading validation rules, ensuring the highest quality and accuracy in validation. We analyze the data in a barcode and determine whether it is valid or not. It goes beyond just scanning the barcode, as it checks for specific patterns, formats, and other elements to ensure its authenticity.

Disclaimer

This platform is still in development, and we are continuously working to improve and add new features. This means that not all checks are in place yet.

Different commercial barcode validation services in the market, such as Intellicheck, CheckpointID, Veriscan, Scandit, etc. offer varying levels of validation, depending on how much the client is paying per validation. This means that the validation result of our platform will not necessarily match other platforms. We are aiming to include all of the validation checks possible to match the most secure validation option of any commercial validation service, meaning that if the barcode passes our checks, it will also pass on any other service.

This software is provided “as is”, without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and noninfringement. In no event shall the authors or copyright holders be liable for any claim, damages or other liability, whether in an action of contract, tort or otherwise, arising from, out of or in connection with the software or the use or other dealings in the software.

Scanning vs. Validating

People often ask, "What's the difference between scanning and validating a drivers license barcode?". It’s actually a pretty big difference.

Scanning is just reading a barcode. You may scan a QR code that takes you to a restaurant website so you can see the menu. You might scan barcodes while using self-service checkout. You might use it in a library when you are checking out a book. In all these cases, the scanner, whether a phone or a dedicated device, is converting a barcode from black and white lines or blocks into text or data. In other words, it is like a translation tool that is converting from one language to another. The tool doesn’t really care what is in the barcode, just that it can accurately extract whatever information is encoded in the barcode and returns it in the desired format.

This is a problem when scanning the barcode of a drivers license. The fraudsters who produce fakes add a fake birthdate into the barcode. The scanning app will just report the fake data. Because fakes are so good today, you can't visually inspect them and confirm their authenticity.

That is where validating an ID comes into play.

A tool that validates cares about what's in the barcode, and it cares whether the format of the barcode is valid. Where this might be most important is where you want to validate an ID like a drivers license so that you can determine if someone is the right age to make a purchase or is who they say they are. Here, you care not just about the information that describes the person who presented the ID, but also that the barcode matches an officially issued format and is real. Each issuer of an ID includes information within their barcodes that serves as a sort of security watermark. This helps you know if it’s real. After all, any phone or app can read a barcode, and any fraudster can take information and create their own barcode and the ID that goes with it. However, reading the security information lets you know if it’s real and ultimately whether the person who presented it should be trusted.

The big difference is that if you use scanning software for a business’ critical activity like verifying an ID, you open yourself up to fakes, fraud and fines. Scanning just tells you what’s encoded in the barcode on the fake ID or real ID you’re looking at.

What is barcode fingerprinting?

Most drivers license barcode generators used by fraudsters include unique "fingerprints" in the barcode that allows us to determine which platform was used to generate the barcode. These fingerprints are determined by specific idiosyncrasies in the way these services generate the barcode.

There are some cases in which we are not able to identify the generator used, however when a fingerprint is detected we are able to identify the correct generator service used with nearly 100% accuracy. It is not yet clear if any commercial drivers license validation solutions are checking for these fingerprints, however if and when they do, all barcodes generated by any of these services will be able to be positively identified as fraudulent.