07/06/2012

IDG Connect Dan Swinhoe (India)- Biometrics On An Eye-Popping Scale

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Dan Swinhoe (India)- Biometrics On An Eye-Popping Scale

Posted b y Dan Swinhoe Company IDG Connect 06/06/2012

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What you're Saying Brandon Faber (South Africa) - How to Avoid Those 'Smack Your Forehead with a Plank' IT Moments
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12 b illion fingerprints, 2.4 b illion iris scans and 1.2 b illion photographs of faces. That's a hell of a photo alb um. Since its launch two years ago, the world's b iggest and most amb itious b iometric datab ase has gathered the information of 200 million people. But it's not run b y the US or China, b ut b y the Indian Government. India has transformed over the last decade. The country is richer and more connected, b ut much of this has b ypassed the rural poor. This huge new datab ase hopes to address that, providing an official identity and documentation to the millions of Indians who have no form of identification, essentially lacking any sort of state recognition. Though there are many different forms of identity; voters' cards, passports, b irth certificates, ration cards that enab le the poor to b uy cheap food and cooking fuel, driving licenses and PAN cards to name a few, many lack any of these. Unicef estimates only 58% of children b orn in India are registered, and even then not all have b irth certificates. Many villagers don't see the need for them, and often would require a long trek to other villages. This lack of identity extends to b ank accounts, with almost 40% of villagers not having accounts, often b ecause they lack the proof needed to open one. There is also the cycle of documentation, where to get a license you need a ration card, to get a ration card you need a b irth certificate, and so on. Big Plans It takes all of 10 minutes to key in a person's details into a laptop b efore they have their picture taken on a web cam followed b y an iris scan as part of the government's "unique identity" (UID) scheme. In return they are given a random unique 12-digit numb er, which will enab le access to state welfare, open b ank accounts and improve job prospects. Once estab lished and stored, a person's identity can easily b e verified and authenticated using a mob ile or smart phone, tab let or any other device hooked to the internet. The government hopes this will prevent corrupt officials from faking the names of people seeking welfare b enefits or access to education - potentially saving b illions of dollars. Paying money directly into b ank accounts (such as the multi-b illion dollar rural job s guarantee scheme) will also reduce waste. Hopefully this system will also reduce the b lack market for fake documents, where a ration card can b e purchased for up to 60,000 rupees ($1,095). Run b y the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the scheme hopes to have 400 million people b y 2014, eventually leading to the entire population b eing scanned. Progress has gone well, already the scheme has more than the US' b iometric visa program, which contains the details of only' 120 million. Once the country's 60,000 villages are all registered, people will b e ab le to access their accounts remotely (80,000 b ank b ranches cater to 5% of villages) through b ank representatives using automated teller machines, without travelling for miles and losing out on a day's work.

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Some really useful information here, and I'll b e downloading the rest of the paper. But I'd appreciate some advice on how to stop all this losing of data.... Bob 06-06-2012

Douglas Cohen (South Africa) - Connecting Rural Areas (Part 2)

These are some good ideas, b ut I doub t the government will act with any haste to fix anything. Like you said, the USAF has b een untapped and implementing... Patrick 05-29-2012

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IDG Connect Dan Swinhoe (India)- Biometrics On An Eye-Popping Scale

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Adopting b est practices on b iometrics from across the glob e, the government has b een as smart as it can with the project. With so many people and high levels of migration to the city, de-duplication has b een a worry, so the datab ase goes through rigorous checks. Costs have b een kept to a minimum, with each person enrolling costing the government 88 rupees ($1.59), which at $263m, last year's b udget for the program pales in comparison to the $60b n each year it spends on welfare programs. The government plans to keep ab reast of the latest b iometrics and cloud computing to keep the scheme up to date, and adopting an open policy in selecting devices and software and encouraging multiple private vendors. The scheme is also technology-neutral, not locking in to any particular hardware or software The Negatives Internet connectivity, and fingerprint degradation for lab orers have b een raised as potential issues, and the relatively high cost of iris scanners, compared to fingerprint readers, means that many organizations may not adopt b oth scanners. But so far early tests in villages have gone well, with many early scan-ees opening b ack accounts successfully. Such a huge scheme is ob viously going to draw flak from various sides. Opposition parties, as they would anywhere in the world, are b emoaning the costs, saying it could b e spent elsewhere, and many skeptics are worried ab out their lib erties and this data b eing either b eing hacked into, ab used b y those in power, or used for more authoritarian means. Clearly such a huge amount of detailed data can b e worrying for people, and although it's currently voluntary, many worry registering will b ecome compulsory and the lack of proper data laws is also a concern. The government has promised information will b e safe, stored in a fortress-like data center in Bangalore with a triple layer of security, and travel in highly encrypted packets. Those worried ab out freedom are b eing reassured that the data will not b e used for any other purposes. The b iggest critics of all have b een The Standing Committee for Finance, who in a 48-page report from 53 parliamentarians, claimed the project had no clarity of purpose' and b eing implemented in a directionless way with a lot of confusion.' Bipartisan politics are an ob stacle that won't go away. But compared to creating a huge b iometrics datab ase creating decent data laws should b e easy. Educating and convincing the poor the government is trying help that this will really help them and not b e ab used b y the rich may b e the b iggest challenge of all. The UID scheme won't fix all the prob lems of a huge population and sketchy infrastructure and connectivity in rural areas b ring. But it has b rought India closer to b ringing all its citizens into the 21st Century.

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