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Canada's B.C. government develops app to authenticate identity

Xinhua, July 12, 2016 Adjust font size:

The government of British Columbia in west Canada is developing an app that allows people to tap their new high-tech driver' s licenses against their smartphones to authenticate their identity.

The devise will also allow people to securely log into government websites and services, Monday's Vancouver Sun quoted Bette-Jo Hughes, B.C.' s chief information officer, as saying.

"You download the app, you put your card on your phone and it reads it," Hughes, said.

The goal is to one day have a system where B.C. residents can tap their cards, type in a PIN number, and instantly access secure government services like their personal eHealth medical records, drug prescriptions, driver' s license histories and school records, he added.

It would also allow access to government records like land title documents and court services. It has also been touted as a possible way to verify someone' s identity if the province considers electronic voting in the future.

The cards combine a driver' s license and Care Card into one piece of ID, and contain internal chips similar to those used by debit cards to tap at stores for payment. So far, the province has distributed 3.4 million cards, with the goal to have full enrollment within another year.

The government said that one of the main goals of the cards has been to reduce fraud in the health care system by eventually making the new card mandatory, in the process effectively re-enrolling everyone in the medicare program. There are nine million Care Cards issued in B.C. for a population of 4.5 million. Endit