Mastercard is using its accreditation under the Trusted Digital Identity Framework to conduct an age verification pilot with Service New South Wales and alcohol delivery company Tipple. When making a purchase with Tipple, pilot participants verify that they are over 18 by connecting to the Service NSW app, which is integrated with the Mastercard ID network. The only information received by Tipple is verification that the consumer is over 18. Consumers do not have to share the date of birth or copies of documents such as a driver’s licence or passport. “This approach ensures that only the minimum amount of information needed to complete their purchase is provided, helping to preserve the consumer’s privacy and streamlining the transaction process,” said Richard Wormald, Mastercard division president for Australasia. Mastercard was accredited as an identity provider, identity exchange and credential provider under the TDI Framework in July last year. This is its first pilot involving public and private sector organisations. The TDI Framework was launched as part of the Morrison government’s digital economy plan. It was designed to streamline the identity verification process, especially when transacting or interacting online, and improve data security by limiting the copying of personal documents. Since May 2019, the TDI Framework has accredited a number of digital identity providers, including Australia Post, the Australian Taxation Office private operator OCR Labs and, most recently, Mastercard. It has also accredited identity exchanges, including ConnectID (which was established by eftpos), Services Australia and Mastercard. In September last year Australia’s big banks agreed to work with Australian Payments Plus on ConnectID. The banks will participate in trials, acting as identity providers. ConnectID will act as a digital identity exchange, connecting merchants with identity providers. In trial applications, the digital identification will replace the 100-point check and other ID requirements. Beside the Mastercard and ConnectID pilots, there is not much going on. Development of the scheme has been held back by a lack of enabling legislation. A bill was issued in draft form in October 2021 but never made it into Parliament before the last federal election. Labor has not shown any interest in legislating the TDI Framework since it came to government, despite its potential to reduce the impact of cyber attacks.  Without legislative backing there is a limit on how much government and the private sector can interact in the digital identity space.