Editorial

Digital Identity: Global Roundup

Digital identity news from around the world

Posted 8 April 2024 by Christine Horton


Australia

Australia’s government anticipates 5 to 10 private sector digital identity providers, and possibly more later on, participating in the country’s national ID scheme.

Five companies have already been approved under the Trusted Digital Identity Framework, which underpins the Australian Government Digital ID System (AGDIS) Accreditation Scheme. AGDIS accreditations are expected to begin within two years, following amendments to the bill to gain opposition support in the senate.

Australia Post, IDVerse, Mastercard and Makesure, a domestic background screening provider, are accredited identity service providers. Mastercard and eftpos are also accredited as exchange operators under the TDIF.

Malaysia

Registration for the national digital identification system, both online and at MyDigital ID kiosks nationwide, has been postponed to May.

Acting chief executive officer of My Digital ID Sdn Bhd, Mohd Mirza Mohamed Noor, said that though the system was ready, the rollout for the public, initially set for March, was delayed to allow for integration with various websites and mobile applications.

Currently, MyDigital ID logins have been integrated with services like MySejahtera, the MyGov Portal, and HRMIS (the government human resources portal). Integration with Padu is targeted for this month, and with MyJPJ at a later date.

Financial institutions – banks, insurance companies, and ewallet providers – will be able to start integrating MyDigital ID in May as a solution for eKYC (electronic know your customer) and transaction authorisation.

Global

Consumers are willing to make sacrifices in time and effort to establish their identity, according to the 2024 Veriff Identity Fraud Index.

The survey said 64.1 percent of people will accept a longer sign-up process involving the use of an ID document and a selfie if it means they and their personal information will be kept safe from fraudsters.

It said 38.5 percent of respondents viewed facial recognition/biometrics as the most secure method of logging into an online service. This was higher than the combined result for two long standing approaches: one-time codes (20.5 percent) and passwords (14.1 percent).

Most respondents (60.5 percent) also expressed comfort with using facial recognition to access their accounts online; similarly, over half (51.6 percent) would be happy using IDs and selfies to confirm their identities.

South Korea

South Korea and the World Bank are expanding their partnership to enhance digital identification (ID) systems in developing countries, leveraging South Korea’s K-DID system. This collaboration was discussed during a meeting in Seoul, where the Korea Minting, Security Printing & ID Card Operating Corp. (KOMSCO) and the World Bank explored ways to share South Korea’s technology and expertise.

United States

A Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) worth up to $50 million has been awarded to Idemia Public Security and partner XTec Incorporated to provide cardstock and personalisation services for the US federal government’s biometric Personal Identity Verification (PIV) cards.

The General Services Administration (GSA) awarded the 12-month contract, which comes with three option years.

PIV cards include the fingerprint and face biometrics of the bearer, and are used to access a wide range of government resources, from physical access to government facilities to medical care offered by Veteran’s Affairs.

United States

Additionally, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has declined to approve biometric age estimation as a method of verifying parental consent under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA), reports Biometric Update.

Commissioners voted 4-0 to deny the application, but left room for it to be refiled in the future. Specifically, the FTC notes a forthcoming report from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

The request to consider adding “privacy-preserving facial age estimation” to the list of approved methods was submitted last year by Yoti, the Entertainment Software Rating Board and Kids Web Services Ltd., collectively referred to by the FTC as “the ESRB group.”

The FTC published the application on July 20, 2023, and over a month received more than 350 public comments. The Commission notes that those opposed referred to “concerns about privacy protections, accuracy, and deepfakes.”

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