Campaign to Preserve the IDNYC

In late 2018, the coalition that formed to design, launch and promote the IDNYC (NYC’s municipal ID card) learned that the administration of the City of New York had issued a request for proposals to add a smart chip to the IDNYC. According to the solicitation, the chip would allow cardholders to load funds onto their IDNYC cards, make payments to private vendors, and enable “integrations with public and private partners, such as the MTA’s planned contactless fare payment system and NYC Health + Hospitals medical records.”

We have expressed steady concerns that this plan would expose cardholders—particularly immigrant New Yorkers—to serious privacy, surveillance, consumer protection, and other unwarranted risks. These very real risks far outweigh any purported benefits the plan would provide to New Yorkers. Learn more about the issue below.

Letters of Support

New York City Council Progressive Caucus Letter to Speaker Johnson, 12/11/2019

Letter to Mayor DeBlasio, submitted 9/12/2019 (Resubmitted 10/2/2019 with additional signatories)

City Council Hearing Testimonies

Testimony of Mizue Aizeki, 2/11/2019

Testimony of Mizue Aizeki, 10/2/2019

Select Media Coverage

Op-Ed: A dangerous IDNYC overhaul: Don’t equip this card with financial technology chips (The Daily News, 9/13/2019)

Reject IDNYC Payment Chip as Security Risk, Say Council Member and Coalition (The City, 9/12/2019)

NYC won’t be able to add smart chips to IDNYC card under Council bill (The Daily News, 9/11/2019)

Immigration groups say they won’t recommend IDNYC to clients if financial smart chip plan moves forward (The Daily News, 2/11/2019)

IDNYC payment cards coming soon, brought to you by New York’s MasterCard-connected deputy mayor (The Daily News, 1/19/2019)

Bill Information

Int 1706-2019 Information