The 7th of May marked the six month anniversary of the official launch of the Biometric Identification System (SIBIOS) which is run by the Ministry of Security in order to allow the perfect identification of people and distinguishing characteristics for the purposes of public safety and legal investigations and to improve investigation techniques.
According to Decree 1766/2011 the system’s objective is to provide a centralized computer system for individuals’ biological and personal records.
The record – whose creation was announced on the 7th of November 2011 by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner – provides the necessary biometric information for the Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) and as well as faces for the Federal Police of Argentina to satisfy the identification requirements of different SIBIOS users.
PuntoGov spoke to Eduardo Thill, an expert in technological affairs specializing in biometric technology who is also the ex-Undersecretary for Administration Technologies at the Cabinet of Ministers and Pedro Janices, the national director of the Office of Information Technology (ONTI), about half a year with SIBIOS and the development of State biometrics.
Task Profile
“SIBIOS is implemented according to standardized guidelines and profiles to which some jurisdictions (provinces) already adhere while others are striving to do so,” explained Thrill with regard to the system’s functions.
“This year the aim is to get the identity pattern search and processing system functioning on a single interface, removing the need to access each of the systems that have already been installed and definitively avoiding manual searches through records,” he stated.
In order to achieve this “the data which currently only exists on paper must be digitalized and implemented. It is thus very important,” he noted, “to have more people applying for the new DNI (National Identity Card) as this also constitutes the National Record of Individuals, the only record with the legal power to identify an individual.”
“Given the digitalization process involved in applying for the DNI, this will naturally increase the quantity and quality of biometric pattern records used to identify clues in criminal cases.”
Organizations with SIBIOS
How far has each of the bodies which register individual’s patterns for their procedures advanced? According to Thill, there are sections which are increasing their level of technological implementation such as the National Registry of Criminal Records, the Automobile Property Record and the Department of Immigration.
The latter case reached public attention when the biometric patterns of passengers in transit in Ezeiza airport began to be recorded, a procedure which will be expanded to all border posts.
Thill also mentioned other organizations making more use of SIBIOS for the National Registry of Individuals, for procedures involving both the DNI and the new Argentine passport, such as provincial police forces in Mendoza, Santa Fe, and Córdoba, amongst others, and new digital procedures for records and monitoring at ANSES and AFIP.
Advantages
With regard to the benefits of SIBIOS for State administration, the ex-bureaucrat said that “having a system like this will undoubtedly be a major advantage with regard to security, given the possibility of creating automatic procedures for identification and verification of individuals.”
For example, he noted that “the ability to take evidence from a crime and compare it with the information in the system will achieve the rapid and effective identification of possible suspects. By the same token it will be very important in ensuring the safety of our identity, preventing others from assuming it on the internet, for example during ecommerce transactions, thus making it impossible to commit fraud, scams or apocryphal transactions in my name.”
Biometrics in Argentina and the Region
With regard to the application of State biometric solutions in comparison to the rest of Latin America, Janices observes “significant growth throughout the region”. According to the director of ONTI, Argentina “has seen very significant development as the national Government has been working with automated biometric systems for over 16 years”.
But it is not just the national government which has worked with these tools. “There are now 10 provinces with automated search systems for fingerprints and other biometric techniques,” said Janices.
In Latin America there are now systems in Venezuela, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and others which hold over 386 million biometric records in total.
“Argentina is undoubtedly an important leader in the area due to the plurality of systems, personnel trained in different biometric methods and because since 2011 we have worked together with the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology – USA) which has contributed to the development of standards in the sector,” he said.
Biometrics and Digital Inclusion
Janices noted that biometrics are seen by “many people” as “panopticons” because “the first versions were aimed at the security sector,” and he emphasized that today “not only in Argentina but across the world we are seeing that having more than one surveillance tool is a great defense of a critical right of every human being; their right to a unique and unrepeatable identity.”
In this regard, he said that “Biometrics are today a tool for social and digital inclusion, helping to guarantee G2C and B2C processes and actions.” He thinks that the healthcare, banking and other sectors will take “the third important step towards biometrics by converting it into a tool for the improvement of administration and efficiency in the service provided by these kind of companies.”
They will thus be able to guarantee that their customers “are who they say they are”, and be able to reduce identity theft and associated losses greatly.
Obstacles
What are the main obstacles encountered by SIBIOS? To Thill, the challenges are socio-cultural in nature. “The technology exists and is permanently advancing at ever-decreasing cost, so there is no obstacle in that regard, and the government has taken action to achieve better conditions such as having signed a general agreement with a manufacturer of fingerprint scanners (Cross Match)”.
With regard to the hindrances to biometrics, Janices rejected the idea that they are legal: “From 1968 to the present day, over 10 legal regulations have been issued in favor of the use of these tools and searches to guarantee identity and privacy. Neither are they cultural. All Argentinians have requested their DNI and plenty more have acquired passports and providing one’s fingerprints is part of both these processes. Technological concerns are even less relevant. We are recognized internationally for our trained human resources plus the quality and quantity of our systems in operation in the area.”
The director of ONTI added a fourth factor as an obstacle: “The lack of information. This risk is associated not only with biometrics but any project or tool, and will only be eliminated with the spread of education, awareness and provision of information for citizens, accompanied by privacy policies which ensure that they are used correctly.”
Big Brother?
Some sectors criticized SIBIOS due to the assumption that it would constitute the basis of a ‘Big Brother’ style system (see more in the Column section of this edition of PuntoGov). “I don’t agree that the term applies to this system,” replies Thill. “It is incumbent on those who have responsibility for and participate actively in the system, both socially and politically, to ensure that the tool is used properly.”
The ex-bureaucrat believes that “These factors arise in a democracy like ours in which we should improve our participation as it is very easy for some sectors to sit and watch what is happening in order to criticize it and not participate in its creation for the common good, striving to ensure that it has the necessary guarantees.”
Thill also stated that “We should be very clear that when it comes to security, which should be about creating more and better controls that always result in an improvement in the wellbeing of the majority, we cannot just stop every time a minority objects or in the worst case because it affects the interests of a selfish special interest from a different social class. In security, we collaborate, we don’t compete.”
Source: www.puntogov.com
