Tag: digital id

Biden admin calls for digital ID investment, public-private data sharing collaboration

The White House has presented its National Security Strategy that, among other points, calls for investing in digital IDs.

The Biden administration, however, is short on detail regarding this issue and privacy implications, while mentioning the term biometrics only once.

“Strategic Objective 4.5” is a 4-paragraph section in the 35-page document that speaks about supporting development of a digital identity “ecosystem.”

We obtained a copy of the document for you here.

The administration calls for improved digital identity infrastructure that would produce “a more innovative, equitable, safe and efficient digital economy.”

Like all other justifications for the push to adopt digital IDs, this one mentions conveniences and “secure” access to government services and benefits, “trusted” communication, as well as social networks, and improved payment systems.

To get there from here, the document calls for the digital ecosystem in question to undergo “fundamental changes,” and wants to bring in the private sector – both through “close cooperation” and public-private undertakings.

Keep reading

Louisiana’s new law requiring age verification on adult websites is driving uptake of digital ID

Downloads of Louisiana’s state digital ID app have substantially increased because of a new Republican law requiring adult websites to verify the age of visitors with ID.

Since Dec. 31, the day before the law took effect, downloads of LA Wallet increased from a daily average of between 1,200 and 1,500 to over 5,000.

The increase in downloads and site visits coincided with the Jan. 1 implementation of the state law requiring adult websites to verify the age of visitors or be held responsible for distributing harmful content to children.

The law was sponsored by Republican state Rep. Laurie Schlegel, who said that she saw the harm caused by pornographic content while working as a couples therapist and decided that websites should start requiring users to show ID.

Keep reading

Texas Republican introduces bill to force platforms to receive ID documents from users

Republican State Rep. Jared Patterson, from Denton County, Texas, has introduced a bill that would ban minors from having social media accounts. Paterson argues that social media is not safe for minors, citing, among other things, self-harm content.

Patterson proposed a new law that would force social platforms to perform age verification on users.

We obtained a copy of the bill for you here.

“HB 896 would prohibit minors from obtaining social media accounts in Texas. Specifically, this legislation seeks to limit social media usage to profile accounts 18 and older, requires profiles to utilize photo identification as a means of age verification, allows parents the opportunity to request account removal of their child, and grants enforcement of deceptive trade practices to the Office of the Attorney General if violated,” reads a press release from published by Patterson’s office.

Keep reading

ID.me accused of exaggerating info to push for Digital ID

Controversies continue to plague the biometric identification firm ID.me, specifically around its government contracts in the US.

According to reports, after the big IRS privacy-related controversy earlier in 2022, it is now suspected that ID.me could have been feeding both the public and House committees with misleading information concerning the level of fraudulent pandemic unemployment claims.

In addition, instead of making sure it was easier to detect fraud, and help those actually in need of help, the service used by 21 states the company provided may have been highly inefficient and therefore near useless – other than promoting the business itself, and the relevance of the biometric surveillance industry.

This is the gist of the allegations coming from the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis and the Committee on Oversight and Reform.

Keep reading

Mastercard just outlined its digital ID push

At the Authenticate 2022 event, Mastercard SVP of Digital Identity Sarah Clark detailed the company’s digital ID plans. Clark detailed Mastercard’s plans for a digital ID network at a presentation on “Use of FIDO in a Reusable Digital Identity Network.”

The network is aimed at individuals who already have a government-issued ID. Mastercard plans to create a network through which digital IDs can be reused online, for in-person interactions, through calls and other channels.

The company claims that the network is fully operational in two markets and active in seven markets across the globe. The company has launched a digital identity in Brazil and helped the Australian government develop the TDIF, a framework for the development of digital identity services.

According to Clark, there are opportunities for digital ID systems because of the poor user experiences most people have with traditional ID systems. She also claimed that digital ID could help combat cyber fraud.

The system, called “ID,” does not require a password; it uses biometrics. The user owns their own digital ID, making it decentralized, store it on their smartphone, and only show it to a party that has requested it.

Keep reading

The US edges closes to passing digital ID legislation

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Committee has approved the Improving Digital Identity Act, a legal framework for digital ID systems for US citizens.

We obtained a copy of the bill for you here.

The House Oversight and Reform Committee already voted to pass the legislation in July.

The Improving Digital Identity Act is a bipartisan bill sponsored by Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.). It aims to create a public-private digital identity task force tasked with “improving” digital ID verification systems in government agencies.

The legislation would also allow the Department of Homeland Security to award grants for advancements to digital identity verification systems. Territorial, tribal, local, and state governments would be eligible to receive funding for the establishment of interoperable and secure digital ID systems.

The legislation would also require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to provide Congress with reports on the cost savings of the wide use of digital ID systems.

Critics of digital ID systems say such systems raise privacy concerns. Supporters of these systems argue that they will help prevent identity fraud and improve economic activity by providing secure online transactions.

Keep reading

Governments Worldwide are Working in Lockstep to bring in Digital I.D. & Social Credit System as EU agrees to Expand Online Censorship with ‘Digital Services Act’

Under pressure applied by both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the European Union is working to expand online censorship to an extreme Orwellian level, as well as strictly regulate speech during what authorities deem to be times of crisis (we always seem to be in the middle of a “crisis”), and remove online anonymity by forcing the public to have a digital identity.

But these plans aren’t unique to the EU. They are also currently being rolled out in the UK and Africa, proving Governments worldwide are working in lockstep to bring in a digital identity and social credit system right under your nose.

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both lobbied for the EU to back the censorship bill known as the ‘Digital Services Act‘ on Thursday, April 21st, 2022.

From France 24, “EU agrees on new legislation to tame internet ‘Wild West’ “:

The Digital Services Act (DSA) — the second part of a massive project to regulate tech companies — aims to ensure tougher consequences for platforms and websites that host a long list of banned content ranging from hate speech to disinformation and child sexual abuse images.

[…] Tech giants have been repeatedly called out for failing to police their platforms — a New Zealand terrorist attack that was live-streamed on Facebook in 2019 caused global outrage, and the chaotic insurrection in the US last year was promoted online.

The dark side of the internet also includes e-commerce platforms filled with counterfeit or defective products.

[…] The regulation will require platforms to swiftly remove illegal content as soon as they are aware of its existence. Social networks would have to suspend users who frequently breach the law.

The DSA will force e-commerce sites to verify the identity of suppliers before proposing their products.

[…] The European Commission will oversee yearly audits [of Big Tech firms] and be able to impose fines of up to six percent of their annual sales for repeated infringements.

Looking over the outline of the new agreement it’s striking how they seamlessly conflate child sexual abuse material with “illegal hate speech.”

Both are jumbled together as “illegal content.”

Keep reading

Criticism of Canada’s Digital ID is dismissed as based on “misinformation”

There is pushback in Canada against the introduction of digital ID programs – but proponents of these schemes are referring to criticism based on civil liberties and privacy concerns as, “digital ID misinformation.”

Reports to this effect are appearing, spurred by a petition launched by the Ontario Party, that calls for “zero tolerance” toward the implementation of such programs in the province.

At the same time, IdentityNORTH – which says it brings together Canadian and global leaders to discuss “the big ideas and innovations” driving digital transformation – was holding its spring workshop.

The petition, meanwhile, calls on the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to prevent the planned introduction of a comprehensive Digital ID program, that would centralize citizens’ personal, financial, business, medical, and social information, and assign each an ID number.

In view of the fact that Canada’s central banks, and others around the world, plan to also introduce their own digital currencies, these would eventually also become part of digital IDs, the Ontario Party warned.

And that, in turn, spells trouble for civil liberties and privacy rights, creating “clear opportunities” for abuse by the authorities, the party believes.

Keep reading

UK to launch new digital ID technology next month as part of nationwide digital ID push

The UK government is pushing ahead with its nationwide digital ID plans, despite half of the responses to its public consultation on digital identity opposing the idea.

On April 6, 2022, new digital identity document verification technology (IDVT) that enables data sharing between public bodies and businesses for the purpose of identity verification will be introduced. It will be made available to UK employers, landlords, and letting agents who can use it to digitally carry out pre-employment criminal record checks, right to work checks, and right to rent checks.

The introduction of this digital IDVT is part of the government’s far-reaching digital ID plans which were announced in March. The government has framed these digital ID plans as a way for UK citizens to “easily and quickly prove their identity using digital methods instead of having to rely on traditional physical documents.”

Keep reading