Promoting Global Identification: Corporations, IGOs and ID card systems

The international growth of schemes for national registration and identification systems has been very rapid and touches rich and poor countries alike. Where such systems are established their use of multiple sources of personal data contributes to a major expansion of surveillance capacities, whatever their specific functionalities. The speed and spread of ID card proposals and schemes suggests that other factors are involved than endogenous governmental aspirations to streamline administrative arrangements. In this paper the role of transnational corporations (such as Sagem, Oracle, SmartMatic), government representatives (such as ambassadors, trade missions) and intergovernmental organizations (such as the IMF and the UN Development Programme) in promoting the deployment of ID systems is traced in case-studies from Latin America, Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. Such schemes employ various rationales, often in combination, including national security, voting, banking, e-government and travel, in which once again both commercial and governmental interests are plain. The idea and implications of such ‘card cartels’ (involving government departments, corporations and technologies) for surveillance and governance are explained and explored. The international phenomena described do not amount to a conspiracy and the effects of establishing ID systems may be to foster as well as to threaten civil liberties. However, the current political climate in many countries and the relative lack of experience with systems using biometrics, RFID and the like does raise critical concerns about power, freedom and dignity.