India Begins Exposing Its Citizens’ Biometrics to Just Anybody

From the how-shortsighted-can-they-be dept.:

Daniel Stacy reports:

India is leapfrogging into the digital future by offering the world’s largest biometric-identity database for use by tech firms, health-care providers and novice app developers—an opportunity that excites fans of cyber transactions but worries privacy advocates.

The Indian government has gathered digital-identification records, including fingerprint impressions and eye scans, of nearly all of its 1.2 billion citizens. Now a government-backed initiative known as “India Stack” aims to standardize ways to exchange the data digitally to facilitate the transfer of signatures and official documents that citizens need to get jobs, make financial transactions or access government services.

By allowing developers to incorporate use of government identification records in their commercial websites and apps, the initiative envisions Indians—with mobile phones in hand—using iris and fingerprint scans to sign up for insurance, invest in mutual funds, receive health-care subsidies and verify their identity for school examinations.

Read more on WSJ.

So they’re allowing just anyone to get access to the production database or to get the real data? No test database for development purposes? And where are the background/security checks on the businesses/individuals to whom they’re granting access to real data?

Seriously??

WSJ’s headline for the story was “India Begins Building on Its Citizens’ Biometrics.” I changed it to, “India Begins Exposing Its Citizens’ Biometrics to Just Anybody.”