The Brazilian government hopes to collect about 1.9 billion digital finger prints of its citizens that will be used on biometric identity cards to help cut down on fraud, according to Dom Phillips writing for the Txchnologist.
By 2018, Phillips writes, the 132 million voting the country could be verifying their identity using their thumb. Since 2001, Brazil’s voting system has been 100 percent digital and fully automated but officials seem to hope this will secure elections even further.
Since fully automating the system, Giuseppe Dutra Janino, Secretary of Information Technology at the Tribunal Superior Eleitoral, said there has been no fraud and Flesicher said fears of hackers are unfounded. Still, the government plans to move forward with securing the system even more.
According to the security firm Gemalto, Brazil still has a big problem with identity fraud in other areas, which costs government billions of dollars a year. With its plan to collect biometric data and issue smart ID cards with this info, officials hope to also cut back on paperwork saving time and money. Here’s an example of how they plan to save with the smart ID cards:
Eliminating things like false driver’s licenses would also have a financial trickledown effect. The switch to eDriver licenses in a number of states in Mexico, for example, has reduced traffic accidents by 40 percent. When you consider that road accidents have cost Brazil 28 billion reais (US$16 billion) in 2009, a 40 percent reduction would mean that more than 10 billion reais (US$5.7 billion) could be used for something more productive.
While some have high hopes for the new system, biometric collection has caused a stir in other countries due to the potential for pervasive tracking. What do you think? Is a biometric ID card going too far?
By 2018, Phillips writes, the 132 million voting the country could be verifying their identity using their thumb. Since 2001, Brazil’s voting system has been 100 percent digital and fully automated but officials seem to hope this will secure elections even further.
Since fully automating the system, Giuseppe Dutra Janino, Secretary of Information Technology at the Tribunal Superior Eleitoral, said there has been no fraud and Flesicher said fears of hackers are unfounded. Still, the government plans to move forward with securing the system even more.
According to the security firm Gemalto, Brazil still has a big problem with identity fraud in other areas, which costs government billions of dollars a year. With its plan to collect biometric data and issue smart ID cards with this info, officials hope to also cut back on paperwork saving time and money. Here’s an example of how they plan to save with the smart ID cards:
Eliminating things like false driver’s licenses would also have a financial trickledown effect. The switch to eDriver licenses in a number of states in Mexico, for example, has reduced traffic accidents by 40 percent. When you consider that road accidents have cost Brazil 28 billion reais (US$16 billion) in 2009, a 40 percent reduction would mean that more than 10 billion reais (US$5.7 billion) could be used for something more productive.
While some have high hopes for the new system, biometric collection has caused a stir in other countries due to the potential for pervasive tracking. What do you think? Is a biometric ID card going too far?
