Europe
The European Commission is reportedly backing down from a proposed “unique and persistent electronic identifier” in its efforts to establish a framework for a European Digital Identity.
In Austria and the Netherlands, it would be illegal for the government to track its citizens by using only one identifier for all its databases or the private sector eID services. In Germany, the constitutional court has found such permanent identifiers for citizens to be unconstitutional, while other countries, such as Belgium, are already using them.
“It is not necessary to have a single identifier and when identifiers are used, the strictest legal and technical safeguards must be applied,” a Commission spokesperson told EURACTIV.
It has been suggested that unique identifiers should only be used in a cross-border context, while at the national level it should be up to the member states to decide.
United Kingdom
Digital identity firm GBG has announced a technology partnership with Gretel for a consumer discovery portal for lost or forgotten financial assets.
Gretel is a free online service that reunites consumers with lost and dormant accounts held in the UK. If there’s a pension, bank or investment account out there that’s been forgotten and mothballed since the rightful owner got married, moved house or moved jobs, Gretel’s partnership with GBG ensures it can be matched to a new name or current address.
Based on Gretel’s own calculations, there are nearly 20 million customer accounts with a combined value of over £50 billion that have been lost or forgotten in the UK alone. This includes £37 billion in pensions, £5.3 billion in lost investments and shares and £2.2 billion in lost Child Trust Funds.
Gretel deploys GBG’s identity technology, and access to millions of data records, to match consumers and reconnect them with their lost money “in less than three minutes.” All anyone registering for the free service at www.gretel.co.uk needs to do is enter their name, date of birth and address to identify a dormant account.
Lithuania
Identity verification, fraud prevention and compliance company, iDenfy has announced a new partnership with IPRoyal, a wide-range proxy service provider. iDenfy will be responsible for verifying customers’ identities through its biometric ID verification implementation on IPRoyal’s network.
Like iDenfy, IPRoyal is a Lithuanian startup. The company provides different types of proxies, including Residential, Private, or Sneaker proxies. According to IPRoyal, many businesses select its services mainly for web scraping purposes. The company claims that its Residential proxy is ideal for this scenario, as it makes users indistinguishable from organic visitors.
United States
Quadrata, a Web3 identity passport network, has raised $7.5 million in a seed funding round led by Dragonfly Capital that the company will use to expand to additional blockchains and grow the team, Quadrata co-founder and CEO Fabrice Cheng told CoinDesk.
Crypto investment firm Dragonfly had around $3 billion in assets under management as of April when it raised $650 million for its third fund. Other investors in the round included Franklin Templeton, Abra, GSR Ventures, Orange DAO, Fellows Fund, GreatPoint Ventures, August Capital and a number of angel investors.
The Quadrata Passport syncs secure identity, compliance and reputation-based data across multiple blockchains. The passport offers users a unique decentralized identity (DID) and provides decentralized applications with compliance infrastructure, including know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) requirements. Quadrata also partnered with credit score giant TransUnion to create a native on-chain reputation score.
United Kingdom
Tony Blair has launched a new drive for ID cards to tackle illegal migration.
A report by the former prime minister’s institute, published on Friday, said the weakest link in the Government’s approach to migration was its failure to crack down on a black market fuelled by unscrupulous employers giving jobs to illegal migrants.
It proposed a digital identity verification system for all Britons which would be required to claim benefits or work in the UK. To get an ID card, individuals would have to demonstrate they had a legal right to reside in the UK and verify their identity via their passport or equivalent document.
The Telegraph reports this resurrects a plan that Blair introduced when he was in government but which was repealed as soon as David Cameron’s coalition government took power in 2010 following opposition from human rights lawyers, activists, security professionals and IT experts.
United States
A bill designed to ramp up federal government participation in the digital identity ecosystem is inching closer to passage. The bill is poised to be advanced by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and a Senate version was just introduced.
The bipartisan Improving Digital Identity Act was first introduced by Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.) in 2020, but never voted out of committee. It also didn’t get a Senate version in that session of Congress. Foster reintroduced the measure last year.
In the House, the committee recessed on Thursday before finishing officially recorded votes to report Foster’s bill and others out of the committee. That will happen when the committee picks back up on the markup, a committee aid confirmed with FCW.
The legislation pushes the federal government to use existing authority to help Americans “prove who they are online,” by providing opt-in ID validation services that “augment private sector digital identity and authentication solutions.”
The bill would also set up a task force on digital identity and establish a grant program at the Department of Homeland Security to support the creation of interoperable identity credentialing systems for digital identity verification on the state and local level.
Brazil
From August 2022, the current Registro Geral (RG) document will be replaced by the upcoming Carteira de Identidade Nacional (CIN) as the identity card for Brazilian nationals reports immigration specialist Fragomen. The CIN will include a QR code to help authenticate the card to prevent fraud and to identify the holder.
The crossover will be phased with some states issuing the new credential from August 2022, others following by March 2023. The existing RGs will remain valid until 2032.
Brazil will also launch a new passport in September 2022 with anti-fraud technology, laser-engraved personalisation and watermarks.
Nigeria
Authorities in Lagos State announce that they are launching an upgraded Lagos State Residency Identity Card or LAG ID for improved access to local government services, where biometric capture is required.
Functions include a way of identification and use in loan applications and to pay on buses, ferries and in shops.
It is not clear how it is used in conjunction with the national ID (NIN).
Meanwhile, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami , said he has directed the Management team of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to ensure a 500 percent increase in the number of monthly Citizens’ Digital Identity Enrolments – up from the current 500,000 monthly enrolments to 2.5million monthly enrolments.
Philippines
The Philippine Statistics Authority has released an update on progress towards the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) national ID, reports the Philippine News Agency.
68.3 million Filipinos have now registered for the national digital ID, 74 percent of the target population. The target for the end of the year is 92 million enrolments. Physical card issuance still lags behind. The latest figure is 13,859,229 cards issued.
United States
Digital ID card network Unum ID has raised a $2 million strategic round led by 1414 Ventures and Outliers, with participation from Draper Associates, TappanHill Ventures, and others. This round of funding will strengthen Unum ID’s position in reusable identity.
