PUTTING PEOPLE FIRST IN DIGITAL ID SYSTEMS
Digital identification systems are more dangerous than you think. They can undermine people’s privacy, increase surveillance, and push the most vulnerable among us further to the margins. We challenge those promoting these systems to first consider alternative solutions and, when a digital ID system is appropriate, to center human rights in its design and implementation.
#WhyID
An open letter to the leaders of international development banks, the United Nations, international aid organisations, funding agencies, and national governments
Resources
Data Protection
Open letter: World Bank and its donors must protect human rights in digital ID systems
Access Now and partners urge the World Bank to immediately stop activities that promote harmful models of digital ID systems.
Data Protection
Busting Big ID’s myths
Big ID programs threaten our human rights yet are spreading like wildfire around the world. To buck the trend, we need to debunk the myths that propel digital ID systems forward.
Data Protection
Go back to the drawing board: Kenya must scrap unconstitutional Huduma Bill 2021
Civil society organizations are calling on the Kenyan parliament to immediately scrap the unconstitutional Huduma Bill 2021.
Data Protection
Biometric ID in Tunisia: a threat to privacy and data protection
Authorities in Tunisia have been deliberating over a biometric ID law that bears threats to the right to privacy & other fundamental rights.
Privacy
Iris scanning of refugees is disproportionate and dangerous — What’s happening behind IrisGuard’s closed doors?
Refugees should not be required to hand over personal biometric data in exchange for basic needs such as purchasing food. However, iris scan tech is reportedly being used by the World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR) in Jordan.
Digital Identity Systems
The Jamaica NIDS digital identification program: a cautionary tale
Lawmakers pushed through the Jamaica NIDS digital ID program without taking enough time to listen to civil society concerns. Here’s what other countries can learn from the flawed process.
Covid-19
Protocol for exclusion: why COVID-19 vaccine “passports” threaten human rights
As the global COVID-19 vaccine rollout gains momentum, governments are clamoring to implement measures to help the world return to pre-virus normality. This includes exploring digital vaccine certificates — or COVID-19 vaccine “passports”. Current proposals, however, threaten human rights.
What are digital identification systems?
Digital identification or “digital ID” systems are those that use digital technology to establish the identity of an individual. More often than not, they refer to systems that aim to establish the legal identity of a person through processes of data capture, validation, storage, transfer, verification, authentication, and management. This can include different aspects of a person’s legal identity as it pertains to their relationships with authorities, or only a specific aspect of it, such as voting or travel.
Why do they matter?
The deployment of digital identification systems, by their very nature, affects every aspect of human life, including the rights to education, healthcare, work, freedom of movement, and autonomy. The heightened risk of surveillance that digital identification systems entail is rapidly undermining people’s privacy all over the world, and as a consequence, pushing the most vulnerable among us further to the margins of society, deepening existing inequalities, and further harming human rights. Access Now challenges those advancing these systems to first consider alternative solutions and, where ID systems are appropriate, to center human rights in their design and implementation.
Latest Updates
An open letter to the RightsCon community about RightsCon Costa Rica and what comes next
We explain the challenges and exclusion some participants faced, apologize and take accountability for our role, and share thoughts on the road ahead.
Big Tech looks the other way on Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses
Past learnings must be ‘at the heart of implementing’ a digital identity system in Kenya
Activists urge Kenya not to repeat mistakes of Huduma Namba in new digital ID plan
Tunisia’s digitization programs threaten the privacy of millions
Tunisia’s recent digitization programs could pave way for mass surveillance, identity theft, data exploitation, and more. Here’s why.
Privacy first: Ugandan court hears civil society’s human rights warnings on digital identity system
The High Court or Uganda has ruled to allow expert intervention from Access Now and partners on the human rights red flags around the country’s digital ID system.
Pronunciamiento conjunto: México, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador y Estados Unidos deben terminar sus acuerdos para el intercambio transfronterizo de datos biométricos de personas migrantes
México, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador y Estados Unidos deben terminar acuerdos para el intercambio de biométricos de personas migrantes.
Joint statement: Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and the United States must terminate their agreements on cross-border transfers of migrants’ biometric data
Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and the US must terminate their agreements on cross-border transfers of migrants’ biometric data.
Sociedad civil exige la terminación de los acuerdos para el tratamiento transfronterizo de datos biométricos de personas migrantes
México, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador y Estados Unidos: terminen los acuerdos para el intercambio de biométricos de personas migrantes.
Civil society demands the termination of agreements on the cross-border processing of migrants’ biometric data
he US, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador: terminate the agreements on cross-border transfers of migrants’ biometric data.
Remote biometric surveillance in Latin America: Are companies respecting human rights?
Companies must address their impact on human rights and concerns raised by impacted communities or individuals.
Guatemala, Honduras y El Salvador se abstienen de entregar información sobre el tratamiento de datos biométricos de personas migrantes
Guatemala, Honduras y El Salvador denegaron información sobre los acuerdos para el tratamiento de datos biométricos de personas migrantes.
Human rights organizations and associations call for the Tunisian government to postpone the launch of digital platform for subsidies compensation
The undersigned organizations and associations call on the Tunisian government to postpone launching a digital platform for subsidies compensation.
Access Now oral statement to the UN Global Digital Compact Informal Consultations with Member States and Stakeholders
Access Now’s Senior UN Advocacy Officer Laura O’Brien delivered an oral statement to the UN Global Digital Compact Informal Consultations with Member States and Stakeholders on Feb 3 2023.
América Latina: Lo mejor y lo peor en derechos digitales durante el 2022
Digital identity: Our five calls to action for the World Bank
For the second year in a row, the World Bank is leaving digital identity programs off the agenda for its annual summit. Here’s why we need urgent action to stop further human rights abuse, exclusion, marginalization, and surveillance.