ENIC to ensure accuracy in personal identification

By Kurulu Kariyakarawana

The Department of Registration of Persons (DRP) or popularly know as 'the NIC Office' was one of the leading government offices that was subjected to various allegations of bribery and corruption.

Commissioner General R M S Sarath Kumara

With the recent automated NIC issuing system many such allegations were withdrawn over the improved efficiency and transparent process of issuance. However that praise only short-lived with fresh allegations being made against the new personal data collection program of the new Electronic National Identity Card (ENIC), scheduled to be launched in 2016.

The Commissioner General of DRP, R M S Sarath Kumara came under scrutiny couple of weeks ago at a five-hour Parliament debate held to discuss about the pros and cons of the new ENIC. It is also widely discussed, as claimed by the opposition MPS that the fundamental rights on privacy of the civilians will be violated by introducing a program to collect personal details of the individuals as well as their families to establish a national data base. And the debaters argued that to establish a central data base on personal civilian information cannot be executed without any laws to support such activity.

DRP Commissioner General who had received top instructions to speed-up the personal data collection program to launch the new ENIC as soon as possible, was faced with a dilemma as legal provisions to conduct such a program is not in existence. According to the Registration of Persons Act No. 32 of 1968 (amended in 1972) only the personal details including the name, date of birth, address and the occupation of the individual could be obtained. But the new ENIC requires applicant's family details such as the details of the spouse and offspring as well as the individual's biometrics which are mandatory.

The Commissioner General declared that such details and features cannot be obtained under the prevailing Act and that it should be further amended with new provisions to support the ENIC in the future. And if any civilian who persists not to divulge his personal family details cannot be tried in a court of law due to the lack of provisions. Following this he received specific instructions by top state officials to consult the Attorney General's Department and Legal Draftsman in introducing new provisions in adherence to the ENIC.

Commissioner General Sarath Kumara speaking to the Sunday Observer explained that this is not an issue to be disturbed so much. When it comes to producing personal family details the first document to state that was the Birth Certificate, which includes the names and details of parents and grandparents. And a person's marriage certificate would bear the details of that person's spouse. And if someone is worried about giving biometrics what about the passport or the new driving license which require fingerprints and ICAO standard pictures (International Civil Aviation Organisation). If somebody is willing to travel abroad or migrate to an overseas country that person is willing to share his family details as well as information related to his assets and property.

So none of these details are unfairly requested by the authorities or it is not something entirely new that would stir the normalcy. By establishing a central data base what the authorities expect is, to gather all these details in one system which could be helpful in many areas in the modern developing world including crime prevention. At present there is no common place to seek general information on an individual.

For an example if law enforcement authorities intend to learn about a wanted criminal they may have to visit numerous state institutions to gather all those details, which may take weeks. But with this new database it could be retrieved within minutes.

And if someone believes that by establishing a database the DRP is bound to give away any personal details in future when required by any authoritarian party, that is also nothing new as the DRP even at present is bound to share identification details of certain individuals with the police, courts and banks.

According to Sarath Kumara the primary aim of the personal information database and the ENIC is to accurately identify a civilian in an advancedder the present system many flaws could occur in identifying an exact individual and chances are high for a mistaken identity or an act of impersonation by a hoaxer. But by obtaining biometrics the chances of producing a fool proof identification card is high with minimal errors expected.

Sri Lanka is not the first country in the world to introduce a national identity card installed with biometrics as the nearest example has been taken from Pakistan. Also ten leading countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Guatemala are using biometrics in their citizen identification documents.

Apart from fingerprints some countries even include high-tech biometric features like iris, face recognition, electronic signature etc. in identification papers. But in Sri Lanka only the fingerprint will be obtained.

A baseless fear which many have is that the new electronic card will be used by the authorities as a tracking device to understand the Global Positioning System (GPS) of a particular individual. With a memory chip included in an advanced plastic polymer card made up to the international standards of a credit or debit card containing all the private details of an individual, such as his personal, family, contact and other highly sensitive details, the authorities could encroach the bearer's privacy at any moment.

Refuting these remarks Sarath Kumara assured that the ENIC will never be used as a tracking device nor such technology will be used for a national identification document that has to be issued in multi-millions.

A memory chip will not be included in the card but a Quick Response (QR) code or a magnetic bar code could be added. Although the mentioned personal details are collected they will never be included in the card itself but will be stored in the database in a secure manner. The details like personal family information, the blood group or contact details (telephone numbers/email) will never be included in the card.

People are yet to understand the amount of benefits they will experience from an ENIC. Due to the fool proof aspect many day to day tasks like casting a vote (without the fear of being impersonated by another) banking needs, obtaining driving license and passport without delay, easy access to local and foreign professions, seeking EPF/ETF and a pension without any hassle as well as acquire and transfer of property and assets without delay are some of the main features. More over in an emergency or a natural disaster this could be utterly useful to identify a person.

During 2004 Tsunami number of persons lost their lives. People who lost their family members had reported it to several places naturally making the death toll erroneously high.

But with an ENIC this occurrence could be prevented as it has the details of a person's family tree. Even the deceased person's identification documents are missing any of his family members could assist the authorities to track the particulars of the former in the system.

Expressing his views on the disbelieves and scepticism of the general public on this new venture Sarath Kumara said what people always wanted was a smart and solid identity card with no errors in numbers or personal details, a substandard card on which the details will soon fade away with constant use and similar issues.

They never asked for an electronic identity card but to meet all those requirements and demands the best answer is an ENIC, concluded the DRP Commissioner General reminding the old saying the devil is not so black as he is painted".