MICHAEL ZUREIK: Digital identity system would open doors for, and to, SA

Home affairs minister Leon Schreiber announced a plan earlier in September to digitalise the department of home affairs’ processes for issuing and managing identity status and travel documents. 

Digitalising these processes and ensuring the documents are globally compatible with the hardware used to read them and the systems required to analyse them is no small task, but it is doable. 

Schreiber also rightly recognises the advantages of working with experienced providers to avoid the pitfalls that typify the go-it-alone approaches with unproven solutions that some other countries have struggled with.

Trust in secure digitalised systems is already high among South Africans, who were also early adopters of online banking and e-commerce.

Secure digital identities enable frictionless travel and movement, which is good for tourism, trade and travel. At the same time, they provide robust modern security catch-nets and barriers, flagging those people whose identities or travel authorisation have not been verified and stopping those posing a security threat and who are unwelcome.   

Digital travel depends first and foremost on having a reliable — ideally an indisputable — digital identity. You need to know who’s who.

The first manifestations of digital identity came when websites — and especially news and social media sites — wanted to know more about their consumers. They tracked users with cookies, which allow sites to know someone, but not necessarily who, is visiting. They also indicate if someone has been a previous visitor and what interested them.

To get a better handle on visitors, sites then offered benefits, such as ad-free browsing, if visitors created personal accounts. By giving access to people with usernames and passwords, sites could be confident about who was using them. However, there was no way of knowing who the actual person logging in was, as anyone with access to the username and password could access the system.

Biometrics, based on voice, posture, fingerprints or face, changed all this and is acknowledged as a mature and reliable method of identity verification. It is used daily by billions of people interacting with their devices. Fingerprints are particularly reliable, but facial recognition is catching up fast, and is more accurate than humans in making correct matches.

These advances have made travel easier, more efficient, and more affordable, notably when applied in metropolitan environments where smartphone apps are revolutionising public transport for customers and operators.

One drawback is that the data needs to be centralised. This creates potential risk and governance issues, with the potential for data and privacy breaches or noncompliance. This is easily managed in a confined geographical area with a population of a few million people.

It is more complex for airlines and airports, where sample sizes are vastly larger and the they are managing people travelling across the globe. It requires investment to manage, maintain and safeguard databases on this scale.

The solution is to decentralise and let travellers store their identification information, encrypted, on their own mobile devices and control consent for the use of their data. This would free airlines and airports of the data ownership responsibilities. 

With a digital, decentralised approach replacing analogue, paper-based manual tasks, one can also close down opportunities for abuse, corruption and identity theft while enhancing security.

Geneva-based Sita (unrelated to SA’s State Information Technology Agency), which has worked with governments, airports and airlines worldwide for more than 70 years, pioneered digital identity enrolment solutions that interface with government and airline/airport operational systems, which are also rapidly digitalising.

Governments are digitalising travel credentials, visas, residency permits and drivers licences. Airlines and airports switched to e-tickets nearly 20 years ago and most have introduced digital boarding passes, bag tags, disruption vouchers and airline IDs linked to passengers’ online accounts and loyalty programme membership.

Though our work in helping airlines and governments move into the digital travel world, we are seeing the increasing requirement to extend the application across other areas related to travel, including hotel, car hire, cruise ships, sport and live entertainment venues, corporates and retail. A recent example was the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar, where Sita’s digital biometrics-driven solutions enabled fans to streamline their access from flight booking, including hotels, attendance at any of the tournament matches and their return home.   

For SA, investing in a secure, reliable and trusted biometrics-driven digital identity system will deliver strong returns by helping it realise its aspirations to be a modern flourishing economy and a competitive and attractive destination for investment, trade and travel.

• Zureik is senior digital travel architect at Geneva-headquartered Societe Internationale de Telecommunications Aeronautiques, the air transport industry-owned provider of IT and tech solutions to airlines, airports and borders authorities worldwide.