Sri Lanka’s new e-NICs collect personal data, family information, adoption details

26 AUGUST 2014

Sri Lanka’s government is trying to introduce a new electronic identity card. The Government says this is to prevent fraud. Opposition claims the card infringes upon people’s privacy, and are worried about the Ministry of Defence running the show. Their fears are justified.

• Universal registration of people in Sri Lanka is relatively new. The process began in 1972, and all Sri Lankan citizens over 16 are eligible for the identity card.
• Sri Lanka’s Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka planned the electronic identity devices following a study in 2008. The process was then taken over by the Registrations of Persons Department, which now falls under the purview of Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence.
• The government says that the new electronic identity card system was introduced to prevent misuse and fraud. The card would be available for those aged over 15.
• The new ID card carries several pieces of information that were not available on the previous document, including fingerprints, blood type, family information and several bits of biometric data. The government says that the data is needed for “national security purposes.”
• The opposition parties including United National Party, the Tamil National Alliance and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna claim that the collection of data is a threat privacy, and that the Government should ensure security of data gathered from  the public.
• The privacy concerns of the opposition are justified, as the controversial Divi Neguma bill brought in earlier also has broad legal provisions to gather informational from the public, but has strict conditions on what the staffers of the state bodies can disclose.
• A spokesman for the Registrations of Persons Department told the BBC that the final list of data that would be collected for the new identity cards have =not been finalised. The spokesman added that the new identity cards would be in place in two years. Parents of adopted children are expected to submit that information.