Does the track record of some firms who capture peoples’ facial images without their consent make it impossible for facial recognition to get a fair hearing in the court of public opinion – or are there deeper issues concerning the technology?

The official groundbreaking ceremony for a new security document printworks took place in Entebbe, Uganda earlier in May.

As a side event to the 78th session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the UN hosted ‘Building a More Resilient Future with Inclusive Civil Registration and Vital Statistics – Strengthening Linkages with the Health Sector’.

In the aftermath (for some, though not for all) of a global health crisis like COVID, it is inevitable that the media engages in some ‘who did what and when’ style of journalism.

The use of fake ID’s has for some time been linked with a whole range of serious crimes including terrorism and people smuggling as well as, at the other end of the criminality spectrum, less serious misdemeanours such as under-age drinking.

Behind the ‘will-he-won’t-he’ and the ‘can-he-can’t-he’ stories of Elon Musk’s attempts to acquire Twitter lurks another equally interesting tussle about identity, and how we assert and verify it when we are not physically present.

Some one million Bangladeshi drivers are currently driving with an ‘acknowledgment slip’, but they are not able to apply for government and private jobs as they don’t have smart driving licence cards.

Sri Lanka’s unique digital ID project, prepared jointly by the Sri Lanka Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) and the Department of Registration of Persons, is about to go live, according to news reports in the country.

Apple, Google and Microsoft have all agreed to implement the password-less system proposed by the FIDO Alliance. The body has announced that the three companies have committed to phasing out passwords.

After the success of the Tax Stamp & Traceability Forum™, Malta (16-18 May), the next opportunity for the ID and secure document industry to come together is at the High Security Printing™ EMEA conference in Tallinn, Estonia (13-15 June).

At a time when other countries chop and change ID contractors on a regular basis, El Salvador is reaping the rewards from sticking with the same contractor over three successive contract periods.

Since February, over 700,000 Ukrainian refugees have exercised their right to obtain a Polish national identity (PESEL) number, which gives them access to various public services and benefits.

Veridos and the Latin American systems integrator GSI Sertracen have announced the signing of a major contract with Costa Rica.

Ugandan ePassports, driving licences and other security documents will soon be produced within the country, according to a plan by the Ministry of Works and Transport.

Earlier this month, the Argentine Minister of the Interior, Eduardo Wado de Pedro, announced that the process of physically stamping passports will stop and that the process of registering entry and exit from the country will be digitised.

Experts, government representatives, technologists and commentators gathered in Austria’s stunning capital city of Vienna (11-13 April) to share recent technical developments in the fields of optical and digital document security.

In this next episode of the occasional series of country profiles, Francis Tuffy took on the hard task of visiting the beautiful Principality of Monaco to find out about the government’s strategy for connected digital identity… and conclude some unfinished business.

Whilst pockets of personally identifiable information exist in all countries’ civil registries, some in physical documents but increasingly in digital records, not all countries are at the same stage of establishing a national digital identity.

Residents of Luxembourg now have access to a mobile ID app designed to act as a kind of authentication companion to the country’s physical ID card.

Estonia has, for a long time, been recognised as a tech-savvy country – boasting the highest number of tech-startups per person in the world. It took a step further into the eState provision of citizen services in 2002 with the introduction of the ID card.