Everything we do in a digital space creates a footprint. There will be times when you present your national identification system (NIDS) card to an entity that will try and verify your identity with the National Identification Registration Database, and a record is created in the database. However, in the development stage, the ministry decided to make its own authority that governs the national identification system to meet international standards.

Access to the data by workers is restricted by law and is a criminal offence. The vision of the NIDS is to build a zero-trust initiative in which data security is the most crucial aspect. Using Blockchain technology, any record that is created will be stored in an encrypted manner until disposed of.

According to the National Identification Registration Act (NIRA), before law enforcement authorities can access the data there has to be a court order granting permission based on evidence. Once their data is accessed, the requisite individuals will be notified. However, the court has to specify which information the police can access.

Currently, the Act provides only three types of identity disclosures — consented disclosure, judicial disclosure, and disclosure in accordance with any other law. Therefore, based on their statutes (inherited from the Data Act), any government agency can say they have the right to the data being stored through the NIRA. The agencies must show that their statute enables them to access the database. However, these Acts are outdated compared to the NIRA and have no authority over this Act. There is a specific framework for law enforcers to access the data. Outside of the police that needs judicial consent, there will be no other unconsented disclosure, as the Bill will operate under the provisions of the Data Protection Act.

The first application of NIDS in society will be in the financial sector, where the Ministry of Finance has signed a memorandum of understanding with ten deposit-taking institutions for participation in the pilot of NIDS. With the elimination of identity verification, the ministry hopes to encourage more Jamaicans to open bank accounts.

The agency will act as a consent base access system. There will be systems to notify data owners when their data is accessed. The NIDS is a conduit through which the Government acts as a facilitator where the database can be accessed with the owner’s consent.

Contributed by Floyd Green, minister without portfolio, Office of the Prime Minister, and Matthew McNaughton, co-convener NIDS Focus Coalition, on behalf of the Jamaica Technology and Digital Alliance.