Loop Jamaica published an article on December 21, 2020, about the Parliamentary Committee examining the new NIDS Bill. Here’s a summary:
- The Government is pushing to have a joint select committee tasked with examining the legislation wrap its work early in the near year. The committee will begin meetings on January 5, 2021, and various groups, organizations, and individuals have until January 29 to make submissions.
- The Bill will serve as the legal basis for establishing a robust, efficient, and effective national identification system underpinned by a legal and regulatory framework that supports safe, secure, and reliable verification of identity information for citizens of Jamaica and persons ordinarily resident in Jamaica.
- Previously, NIDS was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme court and the Government has taken steps to revise the Bill in compliance with the ruling.
- The policy provides for voluntary NIDs, only collects biographic and biometric data necessary to ensure the efficacy of the process to be taken and restricts unauthorized access by third parties.
- The Bill seeks to improve the efficiency in establishing and verifying identity which in turn improves business processes and enhances the government’s ability to implement a coherent e-government strategy and support national security.
- The Act will contribute to the achievement of Vision 2030 goals, ensure the rule of law is observed and the rights of people are protected.
Source: loopjamaica.com
Contributed by Racquel Bailey from Jamaica. Racquel is a member of our Women in InfoSec Caribbean (WISC) initiative on Discord. WISC is a non-profit initiative supporting Caribbean women and girls to develop a career in Information Security. Learn more about WISC at wiscaribbean.org.