Sri Lanka’s digital identity card project funded by India will not be allowed to access personal data by any other country, Public Security Minister Tiran Alles said.
The decision to award the tender to print digital ID cards for an Indian firm has raised concerns over data privacy of Sri Lankan citizens and protection of personal data.
India has already given an advance aid of 450 million Indian rupees to President Wickremesinghe’s government to fund its digital identity project, which aims to collect biographic and biometric information, including facial, iris, and fingerprint data.
The Department of Personal Registration comes under the purview of Alles’ Ministry of Public Security.
“I don’t know exactly because it is not under my ministry. It is done by the Ministry of Technology. They will go through and finally it will come to us,” Alles told reporters in Colombo when he was questioned over the project.
“I have told only one thing and I have told this to the president as well that I will never ever agree to a system which could be used by another country to access our personal data.”
“We can’t allow that to happen. If that happens anybody can see even your blood group. This will be looked into.”
The project is expected to store the personal data of every individual in a centralised system to issue identification cards as per the standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), government officials have said, to effective and efficient delivery of government services, financial inclusion, and poverty reduction.
An Indo-Sri Lanka Joint Project Monitoring Committee (JPMC) has already been appointed to oversee the progress of the project.
Wajira Abeywardena, a legislator and close ally of President Wickremesinghe last week said the project would not pose a threat to national security despite the implementation being done by an Indian company.