After a slow start, Afghanistan’s digital ID system has gained momentum, with recent data confirming a surge in issuances to residents over the last four years.
According to a report, authorities have distributed over 10 million digital IDs nationwide in the last four years of Taliban rule. The report leans on data from the National Statistics and Information Authority (NSIA), with the agency revealing plans to scale up the numbers in the coming months.
NSIA spokesman Mohammad Halim Rafi disclosed that significant headwinds trailed Afghanistan’s digital ID milestone. For starters, Rafi stated that digital ID pick-up centers were few and far between, costing residents a fortune in travel costs to register for their identification.
Reports of corruption and bribery among officials dented the efforts by residents to obtain their digital IDs. Meanwhile, there have been pockets of criticism over the accuracy of addresses and other personal data in the distribution of Afghanistan’s digital ID to citizens.
Despite the headwinds, Afghanistan is inching toward a 100% distribution of digital IDs, making sweeping changes to the existing system. Authorities have increased the number of easy service centers in the country to simplify the collection process for residents.
Dubbed Asan Khedmat, the four easy service centers are operational in Kabul, with several dispersed across the rest of Afghanistan. Rafi disclosed that the government has opened an easy service center in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), unveiling plans to set up similar outlets in Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey.
Apart from the cross-border strategy, Afghan authorities have given more powers to provincial authorities to accelerate distribution within the nation’s borders. The government reiterated its commitment to achieving new milestones in the coming months, with a focus on fulfilling its backlog of applications by the end of the year.
In a show of commitment, the country has initiated the scanning of demographic forms for digital ID issuance, significantly reducing application time. Previously, only the NSIA’s Directorate of Identity Verification and Archive Management offered demographic form scanning.
Measuring up to its peers in the region
Afghanistan’s pursuit of digitization has recorded several milestones, with the country making keen progress with blockchain. In one novel use case, the country has turned to the technology to curb the circulation of counterfeit drugs while exploring supply chain applications in other sectors.
The country is mulling the use of digital asset bonds to rebuild its economy after decades of armed conflict. Despite the efforts, a nationwide internet outage in mid-October has cast a shadow of doubt over the future of Afghanistan’s digitization.
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New regulatory clarity to accelerate FIDO biometrics adoption in South Korea
South Korean enterprises have cleared a major hurdle in adopting the Fast IDentity Online (FIDO) protocol, a global passwordless authentication standard, through new regulations.
According to a report, the Korea Personal Information Protection Commission (KPIPC) disclosed that consent rules do not apply to biometric processes carried out on personal devices. Flowing from the clarification, enterprises seeking FIDO authentication are not bound by the provisions of the Personal Information Protection Act, which require service providers to obtain user consent to process biometrics.
The KPIPC decision follows an official inquiry submitted by the FIDO Alliance Korea Working Group (FKWG) seeking clarity on the status of the passwordless authentication standard in the country. FKWG Vice Chair Kieun Shin hailed the KPIPC decision as the right step for South Korea’s push to take the lead in biometric authentication processes.
“The decision eliminates the biggest barrier to deploying FIDO-based biometric authentication in Korea,” said Shin. “Enterprises can now adopt secure, phishing-resistant authentication without the friction of collecting additional consent.”
Since 2023, the status of consent requirements for FIDO authentication has weighed on the operations of industry service providers. While the 2023 guidance issued by South Korea’s Financial Security Institute (FSI) clarified the distinction between server-based biometric authentication systems and on-device alternatives, such as FIDO, the question of consent for biometric processes on user-controlled devices lingered.
Experts noted that South Korean enterprises entirely avoided FIDO to avoid potential regulatory backlash in the wake of the ambiguity. The FKWG disclosed that mass avoidance complicated operational processes for Korean businesses while adversely affecting the adoption of advanced authentication standards.
In a workshop held in Seoul, executives of the FKWG disclosed that the clarity may trigger FIDO adoption among major government agencies, including the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI).
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Setting the pace for digital IDs
With the new clarity in place, experts predict that South Korea will maintain its lead in digital IDs in the coming months. Previously, the country issued digital IDs on a blockchain as part of a pilot designed to enhance the functionality of the offering.
Meanwhile, authorities have unveiled a national digital ID system for people with disabilities in South Korea, pushing the frontiers beyond conventional utility. Outside of digital IDs, South Korea’s digitization is proceeding at a frenetic pace, with the country tripling its artificial intelligence spending in a year.
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Watch: Importance of digitalization for enterprises
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Source: https://coingeek.com/afghanistan-issues-10-million-digital-ids/