Spain Launches Electronic National Identity Card

The new Spanish electronic National Identity Card aims to provide secure identification and authentication for a variety of online transactions, from e-government services to e-commerce and Internet banking. The card, about the size of a credit card, contains a microchip which will store an electronic certificate to authenticate the identity of the cardholder, as well as a digital signature, a digitized fingerprint and a photograph of the cardholder. The current cost estimate of the card rollout is nearly 150 million euros. Over 40 million Spanish citizens will be receiving the new card before the end of 2007. According to the electronic signature law passed by the Spanish Parliament, an electronic signature is the equivalent in law of a traditional handwritten signature, and the cards will facilitate online transactions through the use of a verifiable digital signature. The security technology, which employs public key cryptography, will be facilitated by the Certification and Registration Authorities deployed in police stations around the country. Opponents are criticizing the use of government decree in passing the law, saying that the government has imposed the electronic ID on citizens without parliamentary or social debate. ANEI, the Spanish association of Internet companies, supports the new card, and says it will foster electronic commerce by increasing security and trust in Internet transactions. Canada has considered implementing a national ID system, but there are no formal plans to date. Critics of national ID cards say that the cards constitute a surveillance tool and can lead to an infringement of privacy, and that the high cost of the system outweighs any potential benefits. For the press release from the European Union, see: http://europa.eu.int/idabc/en/document/2154/343 For a comment on national ID cards in Canada visit: http://www.cippic.ca/en/faqs-resources/national-id-cards/ Summary by: Nyall Engfield