New ID to contain secure life data – AG

A computer chip containing an individual’s fingerprint, driver’s licence and other personal data are to be included in the pending Barbados Digital ID and National ID Card, Attorney General and Minister of Home Affairs Dale Marshall, QC, has told lawmakers.

As the Barbados Identity Management Bill was laid before the House of Assembly Tuesday, Marshall promised that the data on the chip would be protected and can only be shared with whom the holder allows to access it.

Marshall said the Digital ID card, fit for purpose in a modern and dynamic Barbados, would also include the holder’s medical information if they desire.

He told the House: “It will have your fingerprint on it if you desire. So that the person to whom you present your ID card if they ask you to authenticate who you are you ought to say let me give you my fingerprint. And let me make this clear, the last Administration wanted to make fingerprint mandatory. The last administration wanted to introduce a new ID card but one of the hallmarks of what they were doing is that you had to give your fingerprint at all times.

“And in opposition, we took the position no .. this is not a police state and we cannot agree as a responsible political party representing Barbadians that we needed to give this kind of data. And now that we are in Government and have the opportunity to put these things in place, our position is that you can give your fingerprint if you wish but you cannot be compelled to do so.”

An awareness campaign is to be launched to assure the public about the security of the Digital ID, set to replace the current laminated plastic card, he said.

The AG assured parliamentarians that opportunities for fraud would be significantly reduced, while highlighting the need for a secure form of ID that is available for Barbadians, and anyone entitled to register, establishing with the maximum level of certainty that they are who they say they are.

Marshall declared: “Happily, technology has brought us to a place where we are now about to do that and this national ID bill will once and for all give our ID the power and authority of statute that it so badly needs and will establish a certain framework for its issue and for its management.

“On registering, you will have to provide the same kind of information that you did before; marriage certificate, birth certificate, change of name, we are not asking for anything different. But, what would be the end product would be significantly more secure and the idea that somebody will be walking around with an ID card trying to convince someone that they are Colin Jordan, will not be possible.”

Marshall said the bill will for the first time make it a criminal offence to impersonate somebody by using a fraudulent ID card and slapped with a maximum fine of $40,000.

The Attorney General also dismissed any suggestions that Government was implementing the Digital ID to influence any upcoming general elections which are due in two years. He made clear the new ID card would have no effect on the electoral process, which remains unchanged under the Representation of the People Act.

Marshall said: “These two things are connected only because the head of the Electoral and Boundaries Commission is also the Chief Electoral Officer in office. They are connected because one method of establishing who I am when I go to vote is by producing a national ID. But what we are doing today does not in any way modify or abrogate the arrangements under the Representation of the People Act.

“This Bill has nothing to do with elections, this Bill has to do with being able to have a certain and clear regime for the issuing of the Barbados ID. A lot of it is not new; a lot of what we had in the 1979 statutory instrument is replicated. You go and produce all of your documentation.”

(anestahenry@barbadostoday,bb)