[Reader-list] The 7th Government Discussion Forum on Electronic Identity Documents unveils global trends

Taha Mehmood 2tahamehmood at googlemail.com
Fri Jan 16 04:17:51 IST 2009


Dear All

It seems that the city state of Dubai which is desperately looking for
other- than- oil
avenues of business has entered the smart card game in a big way.

The key words to emerge from the ongoing inter governmental discussion
were 'standardization and interoperability'. At the story below
indicates the consensus obviously emerged 'behind close doors'. I
wonder what were the reasons presented for 'standardization and
interoperability'? Why go for standardization and interoperability?
Were those reasons related to public policy or were they dealt with
the ease of the corporates? You know. Delivery issues. That you may
manufacture smart cards in say,China, because of xyz factors and
deliver anywhere in the world. Or were those reasons got to do with
separation of the territory or market? We don't know as yet.

It would be interesting to have a range of stories related to smart
card, national id card, from all the participating countries. India
was one, so was UK, Egypt and UAE. I think as it is quite clear from
the Indian context that the legitimizing argument to introduce smart
national id card was the rhetoric of 'illegal immigrants'. For us at
the reader-list I think we should start incorporating stories from
other countries too, to analyse whether the legitimizing argument
remains the same or different. If it is different in other countries
then we need to ask that what is the nature of that difference? How
are different populations/users/citizens made to give their consent
for the introduction of National identity card and why?

Regards

Taha


http://www.ameinfo.com/181220.html

The 7th Government Discussion Forum on Electronic Identity Documents
organized by the Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD)
from January 13-15 under the patronage of Lt.Gen. H.H. Sheikh Saif Bin
Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Interior, saw experts from around the
world discuss the best global practices on the implementation of
e-passports, smart identity cards and automated border control
systems. Over 60 countries, mainly in Europe and Asia, are currently
using e-passports.

Delegates from over 35 participating countries including Japan,
Germany, Italy, UK, United States, India, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the
UAE presented 15 case studies on the first day of the conference. Key
speakers included Nobuko Hamada, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
in Japan who gave an update on Japan's e-passport project and Mohammad
Aseeri, from the Ministry of Interior of Saudi Arabia, who offered an
update on the Kingdom's ID Card Program. Also speaking at the
conference was Mark Edwards, HM Inspector, UK Border Agency, Home
Office, in the UK who presented a case study on automated passenger
clearance.

Lt. Colonel Khalid Nasser Alrazooqi, Assistant Director of the IT
Sector at DNRD, presented a groundbreaking case study covering the
implementation of border security and identity management for Dubai.
The second case study was presented by Lt. Mohamed Bin Hashim, IT
Sector at DNRD which focused on the introduction of DNRD's AMER
self-service kiosk which provides automated visa and passport services
to nationals and residents of the UAE. The AMER kiosk is currently
operational at the DNRD's headquarter.

Today's closed door sessions included a discussion on electronic
identity system standardization and interoperability, introduced by
Dr. Tim Jurgensen, Consultant from the National Institute of Standards
and Technology, in the USA. Eckart Brauer, from the German Federal
Ministry of the Interior introduced a session on issues of secure
authentication of e-passports and Greg Pote, Chairman of the Asia
Pacific Smart Card Association (APSCA), led one of the final
discussions of the day on the challenges of national eID cards.

Lt. Colonel Khalid Nasser Alrazooqi commented, 'Today's closed door
sessions are critical in sharing ideas and experience in matters of
biometrics, e-passports, and border security, which will continue to
help us grow, develop and maintain the highest quality of customer
service and security standards.'

Stated Greg Pote, Chairman of APSCA, organizer of the forum said:

    'The highlights from today's closed and open door sessions
included the discussion of bilateral and multilateral agreements in
the field of automated border projects based on biometric schemes
which aim at facilitating travel for trusted passengers and increasing
security and control of individuals with suspicious records.'



The 7th Government Discussion Forum on Electronic Identity Documents
Forum will continue for the final day, until the 15th of January, and
will conclude with a tour of the Dubai International Airport.


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