News in Brief

Officials Involved in Passport Scam

The government of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu has disclosed that the probe into a passport racket has revealed the involvement of 41 people, including police and passport officials.

The case was being probed by the Madurai division of the state police’s Q Branch, which deals with extremist activities, after it received information that some Sri Lankan nationals were trying to obtain Indian passports to travel abroad.

A probe into procurement of passports by submitting fake documents revealed the involvement of 41 people, including five police officials, 14 zonal passport officers and two postal department employees, it said.

So far, a total of 15 people – 4 Sri Lankan Tamils and 11 travel agents – have been arrested in connection with the case.

While sanctions had been sought to take action against 14 passport officials in December 2021, a communication was submitted in March 2022 seeking clarification on the matter. But, so far, no sanction has been received, and a release added: ‘The Q branch probe has been completed and the final report against the 41 persons is to be submitted in court.’ During the investigation, 124 passports were recovered, and it came to light that an additional 51 people had received Indian passports. Of these combined 175 passports, 28 had been obtained by producing fake documents and cases have been filed against the accused in several different parts of the state.

Investigations are ongoing into the status of an additional 30 passports, the release said.

Finland’s New Digital ID Aims to Bolster Gender Neutrality

The government is proposing a digital identification app in 2023 on smartphones and tablets that aims to prevent gender-based discrimination and promote work-based immigration.

The government has justified its legislative proposal which it plans to submit to parliament in the autumn. The app claims that it will make everyday life, from shopping to dealing with authorities to using services, a lot smoother.

Redesigning the personal identity code system would also enable the issuing of gender-neutral personal identity codes to prevent possible discrimination. Gender- neutral personal identity codes will not change existing personal identity codes. They will be introduced in 2027 and issued to people born in or immigrating to Finland after that date.

Another goal of the reform is to make it possible to issue personal identity codes to foreign nationals more quickly and promote work-based immigration. Finland is in need, and aims to attract, foreign talent and expertise.

Digital identification is part of a wider ‘digital compass’ project for digital transformation in Finland.

Linking Aadhaar to Voter ID Card to be Challenged in Court

India’s Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a plea by Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala challenging the Election Law (Amendment) Bill that enables linking electoral roll data with the Aadhaar ecosystem.

The Bill allows electoral registration officers to seek the Aadhaar number of people who want to register as voters ‘for the purpose of establishing identity’.

The Congress leader, in his plea, submitted that linking the two cards infringes upon the fundamental right of privacy of citizens and goes beyond the authority of the Constitution.

He argues that linking Aadhaar data with the Electronic Electoral Photo Identity Card data will allow the personal and private data of voters to be available to a statutory authority and impose a limitation on the voters, namely, that the voters will now have to establish their identity before the Electoral Registration Officer (which is Respondent No. 2 in the case) by furnishing their respective Aadhaar details.

The plea goes on to contend that the situation will be further aggravated by the fact that at present there are no laws for protecting the data of citizens and that the amendment might even enable voter profiling, as all the demographic information on a citizen linked to Aadhaar will now be linked with the Voter ID.

In theory, this might also increase the possibility of disenfranchisement or intimidation based on the identity of voters.

‘This may even increase chances of voter surveillance and the commercial exploitation of private sensitive data of voters’, the plea says.

In its defence, proponents of linking Aadhaar to the Voter ID Card say that the move was necessary to eliminate fake and redundant voter cards, thereby making elections fairer and more transparent.

In 2015, a similar move to link Aadhaar to the Voter ID card was shelved after the Supreme Court observed that ‘the Aadhaar card scheme was purely voluntary’ and was only meant to be proof of residence, and not proof of citizenship.

US House Panel Advances Digital Identity Act

The House Committee on Oversight and Reform has voted to advance the Improving Digital Identity Act, which aims to modernise the US’s digital identity infrastructure and protect Americans from having their personal information stolen.

The bill would establish a task force of federal, state, and local leaders ‘to develop secure methods for government agencies to validate identity attributes to protect the privacy and security of individuals, and support reliable, interoperable digital identity verification tools in the public and private sectors,’ according to a press release.

The bill would also instruct the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to develop new standards for digital identity verification services, with an emphasis on security and privacy.

Additionally, the legislation would establish a grant programme within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for states to upgrade their systems that enable digital identity verification, such as those used to issue driving licences or other types of identity credentials. These upgrades would also conform with the new NIST standards.

‘It’s time for the United States to catch up to the rest of the developed world on digital identity,’ Representative Foster said when he introduced the bill. ‘The work and routine of daily life is increasingly done online – whether it’s banking, investing, shopping, or even communicating with doctors – and the COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated this digital evolution.’

‘It’s become vitally important to ramp up safeguards to protect against identity theft and fraud, so consumers and businesses can have confidence in online transactions and the peace of mind of protecting sensitive information,’ he added.