The present invention relates generally to identification documents. In one implementation, a provided method includes: obtaining optical scan data associated with text characters provided on an identification document to obtain first data; using at least a portion of the first data to facilitate decryption of information--not the text characters--carried on or in the identification document. The information corresponds to the identification document or to an authorized bearer of the identification document. In another implementation, a method is providing including: obtaining optical scan data associated with an identification document to obtain first data; obtaining second data from the identification document, the second data comprising encrypted data; communicating the encrypted data and the first data to a remote device, the remote device decrypting the encrypted data with at least reference to the first data; and receiving decrypted data from the remote device. Other implementations and embodiments are provided as well.