A dry run, before being introduced worldwide.
3
Do unto others what you would have others do unto you.
A useful caveat and guideline for daily living in
a digital world which is not programmed to
distinguish between: my self-created and “p
“other” attributed Identity- “I am;” and
my range of visible as well as hidden behaviors.
Whatever the functions and advantages of this
advanced technology, it also can be/ is “flawed”
by a range of known, currently unknown and even
unknowable expected and unexpected outcomes.
Those in power may be misusing their powers as they
obscure a range of potential ummenschlich hidden agendas.
western values works! just at the colonial power defined border between Bangladesh and Myanmar. Israel and its Palestine population Eritrean Jews and danish born abroad . John 8:7: “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone" .
This story does a poor job of explaining a complex problem. For years corrupt officials have allowed a trade in Kenyan identification documents. The problem accelerated when the Moi administration let millions of Somali refugees cross into Kenya without a way to track or monitor refugees. Needless to say refugees understood they would need documentation to stay in Kenya and officials were more than happy to oblige for a small fee.
Kenya is also facing the menace of terrorism fueled by porous and meaningless borders aided by this easy ability to acquire documentation. The corrupt document system has also created a side business in stolen land titles, fake court records and jeopardises the already fragile security of the voting system, all of which has helped dilute some of the progress made since the passage of the new constitution.
Kenya has no choice, but to launch extreme measures to restore some sanity to its identification system by adding a tamper proof biometrics. Kenyans must demand the government invest in data security and insist that this work be handled by an independent body to ensure the registration process is free and fair especially when it comes to dispute resolution. However make no mistake biometrics are absolutely necessary or Kenya's documentation will lose the little veracity it has left and that will be as bad as a hacked system.
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@Frederick , really???...for a Country that does not even have a functioning rail system this will be quite a feat.
4
More and more of the world’s governments are becoming vile right wing dictatorships that want to make untermenschen of internal undesirable racial groups, and external refugees and immigrants. And with the wonders of technology you can now do that digitally.
As we face ever more serious existential threats, is our species going to turn ever more ugly and cruel?
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That the Maasai, for many the iconic face of Kenya, should once again face rampant discrimination and difficulty obtaining this ID clearly illustrates that the process is flawed and corrupt.
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From the start, the NIMS project lacked fundamental information which was easily accessible to Kenyans living in-country and outside the country. From lacking a simple answer to the question "Why will this new unique number be different to the already 5 or 6 unique numbers I already have as a Kenyan in my Passport, National ID, Tax PIN, Driving License etc." to the more complicated one of "Where is the legislation governing this new act?" the entire project feels (as of now) like a bug con and a few Kenyans I have spoken to share their disappointment with this and point to the numerous scams/bungled of the current (and past) regimes as a warning of something nefarious. I personally do not agree with forcing people to jump through monumental hurdles and threatening them with access to services they are entitled to as citizens and this is why I hope the Kenyan High Court will rule in a manner which delays the inevitable demise of privacy in so however as we know it. Taking lessons from South East Asia, we have seen the last of Privacy and this (including protests in India and elsewhere) is just but the dying kicks of a horse to quote something a teacher used to say in school.
6
It seems that all corrupt and autocratic leaders are learning from each other fast.
9
This policy sounds like a cross between 1984 and Brazil (the movie). Hopefully it gets as widely condemned as possible.
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@Kevin Yes, because places like China respond so well to such criticism. In fact, Apple, Nike/Lebron are well suited to defend the status quo by their covert application of "don't mess with 'or' money".
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What a coincidence that the photographer happened to click the photo of the people queuing up right in front of that filthy puddle in a slum. There probably was no other queue of people in Kenya on that day that didn't include something dirty and disgusting. And I am sure it has nothing to do with latent racial prejudices. It must all be in my head.
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@TruthSeeker
When I looked at that photo, the signal that registered in my mind was: "I wonder what conditions they're storing all of this data? And all this biometric data, too." If they're putting it on some crackerbox system, it's going to be a field day for identity thieves. A hacker could essentially create any identity he or she wanted, and do with it as they please. And to undo identity theft is a real pain...and almost impossible if you don't have a telephone, street address and wherewithal to fix everything.
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@TruthSeeker
It's not all in your head. Your complaint is shared online by countless number of Africans.
There's a young Ghanaian YouTuber, Wode Maya (Screen name), an engineer by training, who is working hard to present a more balanced view of Africa:
Kenya The Media Won't Show You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hixDCZjgQw
1
Even if the point was to highlight poverty, it's not even a very good photo. The eye isn't really drawn in any direction. There's no point of focus. It just looks like someone snapped a quick photo without any thought given to it. I'm not sure why this was the top photo for the story. The one with the guy posing for his picture is better.
1
Another autocratic country (just like Burma/Myanmar and my country-of-origin India) that’s moving to make its own citizens stateless. For shame, Kenya!
12
Apartheid South Africa legally rested on the Population Registration Act which required people to register their ethnic identity and carry a card that determined which Group Areas Act that they had access to and those they didn't.
Where people share the same color aka race and nationality they have fought over ethnicity and faith.
The reality is that there is only one biological DNA genetic evolutionary fit human race species that began in Africa 300, 000 years ago.
There is only one race aka human. One national origin aka Earth.
8
"nearly 40 million Kenyans have already had their fingerprints and faces scanned by a new biometric system"
In America, this is known as the police "booking procedure". A "mug shot" is taken...and then "fingerprinting" takes place.
Am I the only one who finds this Kenyan "Digital ID" deeply disturbing?
My guess is this is just the beginning. With global institutions like the "World Bank" backing such an invasion of privacy...it is only a matter of time before every human being on the planet will be expected to have a "chip" implanted as their "Digital ID".
The end game of global totalitarianism is near.
13
The Real ID drivers licenses soon to be required here in the good old USA require biometrics as well. You will be able to function without Real ID for a few more years and the right not to have one may be successfully defended in court but I suspect it will soon be necessary to have one for practical purposes and the majority will comply. Also, the social security database now includes citizenship information.
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@John
Why worry about being implanted with a chip under duress when so many of us carry one around in a smartphone by choice?
6
I am Kenyan and a cyber security professional.
This is a BAD idea. There is no such thing as a “single source of truth”. And the Kenyan government does not have a good track record with managing IDs - for decades Kenyans of Oromo, Somali and Karamajong origins have been discriminated against.
There are others. I am certain this will end up at the Supreme Court of Kenya.
19
This is literally a dystopic novel written ten million times before.
8
Is it really that much different than the new Real ID required in the US? I had to bring my birth certificate, a bank statement, and my social security card at the very least to get my NY State Enhanced Real ID driver’s license. Never in my life did I ever think I’d have to obtain a document like Real ID in the US. It’s ridiculous but it’s the law. There are many Americans that are going to have a hard time getting their Real ID by the deadline. Kenya is not the only one.
5
@Mike L Good point. When I got my Real ID I wondered how many people would not be able to, and therefore be barred from full participation in our country. We're heading down a dark, dark path paved with fear.
8
@Mike L False equivalence. You're still a citizen without the RealID and can use your passport if necessary for flying or entering federal facilities.
You still have all the rights without it. How can you compare that to being stateless, with no citizenship rights, as is the situation in Kenya?
7
In a year of frightening stories, this is the most frightening story I've read so far. Universal ID cards are bad, for so many reasons starting with invasion of privacy, possible effects when used by decision-makers in education, employment, housing, and health benefits, and ending with the completely predictable likelihood of wholesale abuse of marginal populations. How much worse with biometrics used to identify the population of entire countries, creating a separation of citizens from stateless non-persons. The commenter who warned of social control was right on the money.
8
Bureaucratic ethnic cleansing often precedes the physical one. Robust economic sanctions should be imposed on countries that are trying to make entire populations stateless, especially India where mass detention camps are already being built for the newly stateless millions. Unlike illegal immigrants, stateless persons have nowhere to run and are in the mercy of the government that has made them stateless to begin with.
It's absolutely beyond me how a country with no freedom of speech, with millions of people under house arrest and with bureaucratic ethnic cleansing, like India, can call itself a democracy.
9
It's a universal truth: whoever issues the credentials, controls the behavior of that person.
Ask anyone who lives in rural America what it means to loose your driver's license. Or ask any traveler what it feels like when the hotel clerk holds your passport in a foreign country.
It always starts out as an 'identification card', but always ends up as a tool for social control.
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@W You should never trust your passport to a hotel clerk. I always make sure they take color copies instead of the original. If they don't, I don't travel there or stay in that hotel.
5
@W - The issue in the article is more serious in nature - thinly veiled discrimination. Comparing it to having to shown an ID at a hotel front desk trivializes the matter.
2