Kay Chopard | Executive Director

 

Twitter:    @KantaraNews

LinkedIn:  @KantaraInitiative

Kay, hope your meeting goes well tomorrow. Looking forward to speaking with you Thursday. If there are any articles you’d like me to read prior to meeting with you, please let me know.

 

Here’s a little more about the article for GovTech Magazine, from the brief I was given.

 

Title: The ID Balancing Act: Accuracy, Equity and Privacy This article will explore how to create digital identities without widening the digital divide and/or opening new data vulnerabilities. It will offer expert opinions on how to ensure equity for low-income or unbanked residents, people with disabilities, residents without access to connectivity and technology, etc. It will also cover important considerations for protecting personally identifiable information, biometric data and other information used to verify identities. Some points to cover: Examples of equity ideas and approaches that work. (Multiple cities offer municipal ID cards for people who lack traditional driver’s licenses – often homeless residents, undocumented immigrants and other marginalized populations.) General principles that policymakers and IT leaders should keep in mind.

 

With that in mind here are a few questions I’d like to cover; please suggest others.

 

• If state and local governments move to requiring digital identification to receive services and benefits, how do you think that will affect those in our communities who struggle with identification issues?
• Digital identification generally requires a piece of information (such as a password), and a way to authenticate the person entering the password (e.g., a code from a phone app or text). How hard is this for some people?

<D> In the space of identification we are seeing technology advancements that allow the “piece of information” to be more than just a password. Numerous demographics from the young, elderly, those with varying accessibility needs to those without access to technology that may not be able to use the password option and must rely on either assistance, or in person validation have options and more and more each week.  Technologies in the form of biometrics (fingerprint, voice, facial recognition etc.), gestures, tokens, embedded keys etc. to better live ID verification (in person or remote) are appearing not only in institutions and as part of regular interactions, but as part new of new interactions to identify people to prove they are who they say they are. 

Authentication is following similar suit by providing that proof of identity.  Password and similar technologies like PINS have been the most common

Similarly, the authentication process is designed to grant access based on set of permissions

• Do you know of any cities that are issuing digital versions of their municipal ID cards?

<D> There is an entire province in Canada that has issued digital versions of identity cards.  They went beyond municipal support and implementation and have gone to the equivalent of a state level.  British Columbia has issued citizen cards that can be used as a drivers’ license, health card allowing for services, identification, and digital ID (mobile drivers license) card that can be tapped and scanned at both public and private sector’s locations.  Not everyone has a driver’s license, so they made the ID to cover the biggest pockets/demographics of their population.  It has been rolled out to almost all citizens allowing them single sign abilities to numerous services not just in government, but for those affiliated with the government.

• What should policymakers know about people struggling with issues related to not having commonly accepted forms of identification?
• How big a factor is trust/distrust of government in the populations you work with?

 

Thanks and best regards,

 

Leslie

 

Thursday, please! I’ll send you a list of questions later today.

 

Shannon, can you please set up the interview in Teams?

 

Thanks,

 

Leslie

 

 

On Thursday I could talk at 8:00 AM. Or after 2:00 PM on Friday.