Editorial

Digital Identity: Global Roundup

Digital identity news from around the world

Posted 16 January 2023 by Christine Horton


India

Fewer than 1% of voters downloaded e-EPIC, two years after the digital voter ID was announced.

More than 67 lakh voters have downloaded a digital voter ID, known as the electronic Electoral Photo ID Card (E-EPIC), from the time the document was made available until December 23, 2022, the Election Commission of India (ECI) said on Monday in a Right to Information (RTI) response obtained by The Hindu. Along with e-PAN and e-Aadhaar, the E-EPIC is one of the few generally accepted identity documents that can be downloaded as a legally valid PDF file.

About 9.8 crore voters are currently eligible to download an E-EPIC, the ECI said in its RTI response, that is, 6.8% of voters who are eligible to download an E-EPIC as a PDF document have done so — this is equivalent to fewer than 1% of all registered voters in India, going by data released by the ECI in past years. As of 2019, 91.2 crore people were registered to vote in India, meaning that the total number of people eligible to download an E-EPIC in the first place is only around 10% of the overall electoral base.

Global

The global Digital Identity and Security market is expected to grow at a CAGR of +16.4% in terms of revenue over the forecast period from 2023 to 2030, owing to a number of variables about which A2Z Market Research provides detailed insights and projections in the global Digital Identity and Security market research.

Philippines

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is exploring digital cooperation with Belgium in the areas of cybersecurity, digital ID, and satellites.

Belgium has an eID, an electronic proof of identity that citizens use for electronic transactions, such as signing electronic documents and securely logging in to online public services.

“We want to learn from digitally-advanced nations in terms of building and improving digital infrastructure,” said DICT Undersecretary for Public Affairs and Foreign Relations Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo.

“We want to improve the public’s access to and the government’s delivery of public services through digitalization, and strengthening measures against cyber threats,” she explained.

Lamentillo met with Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium to the Philippines Michel Parys to discuss digital cooperation between the two countries.

Congo

The Republic of the Congo is on the hunt for consultants to review the country’s legal and regulatory framework for its civil register, identity services, certificate of nationality and criminal records, according to a notice. The review is part of the country’s Digital Transformation Acceleration Project for public administration and services, funded by the World Bank’s International Development Association.

The four-month project, based in Brazzaville, would analyze the current legal landscape for civil registry, in-person and digital ID, nationality and police records to determine any gaps and limitations and recommend improvements.

Their overall aim is to find ways to offer better access to these public services. Consultants would have to bear in mind the right to privacy, international norms and the digitization of the economy.

The request for expression of interest is open until 18 January.

Thailand

A pilot for the issuance of digital IDs to Thai citizens via a mobile application is set to begin.

According to reporting by Bangkok Post, the move, which is in line with Section 14 of the Digital Public Service Act, is meant to facilitate how citizens access public services from government agencies.

Thai government Deputy Spokesman Traisuree Taisaranakul is quoted as saying that the app-based digital ID service will be extended from agencies under the Internal Affairs Ministry to private sector businesses like commercial banks. Officials say that about 10 million digital IDs are expected to be issued this year.

For users to access the mobile app, dubbed D.Dopa, physical ID card holders must first register with the authorities of their respective district office registries. After that, they must accept the terms and conditions of use of the system, scan a QR code to activate the two-factor authentication, and then complete a Personal Data Protection Act consent form.

The government deputy spokesperson also assured that all provincial offices and the central administration had been instructed not to deny any public service to anyone who presents a digital ID instead of a physical ID card, notes Bangkok Post.

Singapore

Jumio is partnering with GetGo, the largest car-sharing service in Singapore.

In using Jumio, GetGo says it can protect its fleet of more than 1,700 vehicles against theft. Jumio Identity Verification ensures that the person creating a new GetGo account or requesting a new vehicle is who they claim to be.

Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone has struck a deal with MOSIP to build and pilot a national digital ID system with open source technology.

The plan is for the IIITB, which developed MOSIP, to provide technical support to Sierra Leone’s civil registration authority for the design, development and maintenance of a foundational ID system using MOSIP’s open-source modules.

The outcome of the pilot will be considered as a basis for modernizing the national ID system, according to the announcement.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) specifies that the pilot will build on existing registrations.

United Kingdom

A UK government initiative to expand the use of digital identities in the UK economy has completed its initial trial phase, which tested the efficacy of age estimation technology and digital ID apps in a variety of retail environments throughout 2022, reported Computer Weekly.

Led by the Home Office and the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS), the nine trials allowed the supermarkets, bars and nightclubs involved to develop a “regulatory sandbox” for the sale of alcohol, using a variety of age verification and estimation technologies to assure people’s ages.

Regulatory sandboxes, such as those being developed by the UK’s information commissioner, are test environments that allow software to be trialled in real-life situations under the close supervision of regulators or other oversight bodies.

Four of the nine trials used age estimation technology developed by Yoti, which uses an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm to estimate a customer’s age from facial scans taken at either self-checkout (as was the case with the Asda, Co-op and Morrisons trials), or click-and-collect points (as was the case with the Tesco trial).

Europe

Idemia has been selected by the European Commission to run cross-border large-scale pilots in six use cases for upcoming pan-European digital identity wallets: Electronic Government services, Account opening, SIM registration, Mobile Driving Licence, Remote Qualified Electronic Signature, and Electronic Prescription.

The pilots aim to ready the bloc for its next identification regulation, eIDAS 2.0.

United Kingdom

TrustID has joined the Open Identity Exchange (OIX) community. A specialist in the verification of identity documents since 2013, strengthened with biometrics, fraud detection and data checks, TrustID is used by HR, compliance, fraud, and security teams across more than 2000 organisations of all sizes in both the public and private sectors.