PACT pursuing PPM’s ID card project

| 14/10/2021 | 88 Comments

(CNS): The PACT government has approved the design of the Cayman Islands’ first national identity card, according to the summary notes released by officials from the Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday, 6 October. The notes say that testing of the “digital identity solution” by the ministers, parliamentary secretaries and civil servants has also been approved. A request for proposals to develop the programme was issued in January but there has been no news about the project since.

Former commerce minister Joey Hew, who was spearheading the project under the last administration, had said that the card would not be mandatory but that its success depended on the creation of a comprehensive single database of all the people living in the Cayman Islands.

It will also require its own legislation, which has not yet been released. The proposal has been met with a mixed response from the public because of concerns relating to privacy and security, as it is not clear what data will be held and by whom.

Officials have previously said it will be a formal government-issued, wallet sized, photo-identification card that will have a holder’s current Cayman immigration status and a digital signature feature that will allow holders to confirm their identity online or sign documents digitally.

Last summer Hew told the then Legislative Assembly that the public would be able to choose what they share with government and which entities they share it with. The card was also promoted as a way to increase efficiency and make life easier for people interacting with government.

The ID card is expected to allow government departments to cross-check accurate basic information with each other rather than residents having to provide information every time they need some form of public service.

See the Cabinet notes here.


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Category: Politics

Comments (88)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Waste of money for something that CIG could achieve by joining up a few databases in the background, without then having a single point of failure. Stupid waste of money that politicians keep thinking will make them look effective. Maybe whichever Minister gets it to reality gets to sign the cards, like the signature on the money.

    • Anonymous says:

      Part of the challenge though is that by law Govt can only use the information collected by an agency to do what it said it will use it for. Additionally, each department required different information so setting up a ground up system ensures that all the info needed is collected at go time rather than the convoluted mess of integrating multiple systems that may not be able to speak to each other if even drawing a band of SQL protocols to extract, what information? If even they were merging they would still an external entity to do the work as the scope exceeds doing CIG day to day as well as the project. Comp Svrcs will be engaged in project implementation…

  2. Anonymous says:

    So. the problem this solves is deep siloed interdepartmental non-cooperation, is that it in a nutshell? Why can’t government agencies merge their collective databases, with oversight from Office of Ombudsman, where every important agency has an input field, and purge the duplicate record fields? We all have apps on our phones that sort through thousands of contacts and seamlessly merge duplicate records without any RFP tendering process whatsoever. Most current data wins, and it’s completed in about 45 seconds, and then we go to lunch. No special card required to demonstrate information competency.

    • Anonymous says:

      Oh, (most of) the civil service has asked this question. The politicians have yet to give us an answer.

    • Anonymous says:

      You still need a single identifier to serve as the link. Hence an individual National ID number. Then people need to have the number available to them to be able to access services online – hence the card. Please stop thinking you are smarter than everyone else. There are many advantages that flow from this – including linking your passport & Immigration status to your national ID. Enter the country and swipe your passport through a kiosk and if you have no duty to pay you then walk through CBC checkpoints. You can use the national ID card to establish your identity when opening a bank account and more. Let us enter the 21st century.

      • Anonymous says:

        There are always those who are slow to embrace technology, but I saw the presentation on this at a conference and I think it’s a great idea. Let Cayman enter the 21st Century indeed!

    • Anonymous says:

      This isn’t like combining a couple of access databases, there will have to be a corresponding investment in security, redundancy, resilience and the data mining and restructuring will require thousands of man hours. Not a $100 project more like several million. I say this because I am a trained database expert not some armchair expert. Decades of data can’t just simply be copied and pasted haphazardly.

    • Anonymous says:

      A collective data base would run afoul of the Data Protection Law. Different departments need different kinds of data from people to provide service. The DVDL needs different personal data than the HSA, which needs different data than the Immigration Department, which needs different data than Land Registry etc. A central data base would compile all that data and the DPL says you can only hold the personal data you need. The DVDL does not need the information the HSA has on a person. A central data base can’t work – this project needs a different solution.

  3. Anonymous says:

    It’s an ID to differentiate nationality, as far as I’m aware. As a Caymanian born at GT hospital and raised in Savannah, neither my passport nor my birth certificate proves that I am in fact a Caymanian unless I have the passport stamp from immigration. Whereas an expat who has acquired status is considered a bona fide Caymanian. This national ID is supposed to rectify this nationality mess and clearly define who is from what country.

    • Anonymous says:

      So it does exactly the same job as an existing stamp. And costs how much more? This whole thing just stinks every time anyone looks at it logically.

    • Anonymous says:

      Yes, but it’s more than that because it will be digitally scannable Ian Tibbetts talked about it at length at the CTEC conference earlier this year. It sounds like good progress to get Cayman up to speed with other countries as far as e-government is concerned. Of course, the devil is in the details and I’m interested to find out who will implement this and how. But on the surface, I think it’s a good idea.

  4. Anonymous says:

    I guess a certain Lodge-connected security firm will be the winning bidder…. Say no more!

  5. Anonymous says:

    Could be a good thing., if we get a number to go along with it and that can be tied to credit and borrowing but by that time Bitcoin and defi is going to destroy all the banks. Better just to move our land registry on to the block chain and have smart contracts etc.

  6. Anonymous says:

    The only people who should have ID cards and be named are members of “The Ex-pat Association of The Cayman Islands”

    I am a North American expat and I think these people are disgusting.

    If you don’t like the policies in a foreign country, GO BACK TO WHEREVER YOU CAME FROM!!

    • Anonymous says:

      I got my hopes up a bit when I heard the news and then watched the press briefing. No opening date. No info on quarantine. Only dropping digital restrictions for Caymanians and residents. Guess I will go forward with my plans to book elsewhere for my Christmas holiday. JOKE!!!

      • Anonymous says:

        CIG/CMO/Gov are setting a firm reopen date and related policy at a press conference early next week, giving people “at least one month’s notice” and “reuniting families” for US Thanksgiving. Reading between the lines, that sounds a lot like Nov 19 +/- a couple days.

        In the end, this was a slight reopen delay of 3-4 weeks over earlier pre-delta projections, but well worth it to get booster supplies and lateral testing supplies on island. CIG/CMO/Gov have effectively saved dozens of lives by doing this, though I doubt many will recognise that aspect. Too busy being narcissists.

    • Anonymous says:

      Agreed.

      Who do these people think they are?

      Send them back!!

    • Anonymous says:

      Cayman kind 👆🏼

    • Anonymous says:

      You are a suck up. If you really need the tip of your nose brown, just go to Marl Road on the FB post about it and comment with all the rest of the ex-pat suck ups. That way, you name can get points too.

      Not everyone has the same experiences here and it’s worse for expat women. Just ask a few. IF they trust you they will tell you…

  7. Anonymous says:

    Summary notes link to documents seems to be broken, getting a page not found at the moment.

    CNS: Sorry. This is why I put things in the CNS Library. I’ve created a page here with all the Post Cabinet Meeting Notes we have received so far.

    • Anonymous says:

      Thank you!
      Do you know if there are any information about the contractor or the budget or the technology that will be used? Absolute silence since the RFP…

  8. Anonymous says:

    Unnecessary waste of money.

    There is nothing that this accomplishes that current information held by the CIG does not. Other than put it all into a single database that if hacked means that all of your personal information is known not just a portion of it.

    So, who benefits?
    Not you and I.

    • Beaumont Zodecloun says:

      We have passports, driver’s licenses, and voter ID cards.

      I am trying to think of citizens who fall between the cracks which require an additional identification, and I’m not coming up with anything.

      I didn’t understand why we needed this in the previous administration and I don’t get it now. Maybe someone can explain it to us without all the ire that is so common in posts on this forum.

      • Anonymous says:

        So they can sell your data

        • Anonymous says:

          DMS essentially procured the entire HSA Cayman Islands vaccination database for $100,000. Vaccinated are “automatically entered” by HSA. Seems the Office of the Ombudsman might want to look into that one.

      • Anonymous says:

        In the CIG’s defence there are some people without driver’s licence (no car, etc.), passport (don’t travel), voter’s ID (don’t want to vote or be called for jury duty or whatever asocial excuse they have). So they could qualify for this card.

        Obviously that’s a dumb reason to spend loads of money to create a mandatory national ID system for everyone else who already has an ID instead of just having one of the various CIG departments with ID issuing equipment (DVL, HMCI, etc.) issue them an ID once they’ve proven to someone who they are.

        That issue of proving your identity & nationality, etc., is the real problem for this small group of people (news search for Ghost Caymanians for more details). But a mandatory national ID for everyone else doesn’t actual solve that problem. It just wastes a lot of money to force someone to deal with these persons in some way (hopefully) rather than waiting for them to come forward themselves when they need a driver’s licence / passport / etc. Of course whether the new Department of Unnecessary National ID Mandate will actually be able to do so is another question. (Doubtful, since their job is just to print the ID, not manage the original databases, so you’re back to the existing problem if someone isn’t already in the database.)

      • Anonymous says:

        And they’ve tried this before. Been banging on about it for a while.
        Go ahead CIG, waste some more money. I will not be signing up for one!
        Not interested in the HSA one either.

        Big Brother is here…

  9. Anonymous says:

    The thought that the Cayman Islands Government would be responsible for securing a central database with information about every resident in the Cayman Islands is scary at best.

    I see a lot of benefits from the use of a digital ID but I simply can’t get onboard with the CIG being responsible for the security of a central database with data on every resident in the Cayman Islands.

    The CIG has not demonstrated the level of competence to suggest that this is workable.

    • Anonymous says:

      I guess the Cayman private sector would be better placed to run this database.

      LOL, jokers the lot of you.

  10. Anonymous says:

    If they hadn’t started issuing passports to non-Caymanians, there would be no need to prove immigration status. That stupid policy needs to end….retroactively! When current passports of non-Caymanians expire, don’t renew them. Everyone should have a passport from the country/countries of their citizenship. Nowhere else in the world grants passports to non-citizens.

    • Anonymous says:

      But Cayman passport holders are a B.O.T.C Naturalized citizen in order to apply for being a status holder. Irrespective of place of birth. Deemed citizens by qualifying under the Naturalization Act & granted that belonger status by Immigration. Also Queen Elizabeth II has a nice letter in the front page , just like my British passport has a similar letter.
      But as you point out ( in your mind…) a stupid policy

      • Anonymous says:

        Ones citizenship is granted, THEN issue passport. Doing it in any other order doesn’t make a lick of sense. I didn’t specify citizen by birth.

        • Anonymous says:

          Son, you must have been sick on the first day of civics class: the Cayman Islands is not an independent country, it is a dependent territory of the United Kingdom and the passport is a British Overseas Territories Passport, issued from the UK, and in accordance with UN Charter on Human Rights. It’s just a travel document, and it belongs to the UK.

          Applying for Cayman Status remains a completely different subsequent application process, after 15 years, investments, health screening and other hoops.

          Neither of these things has anything to do with a national ID card.

        • Anonymous says:

          You do know that the Cayman Islands doesn’t actually have a true passport of its own, right? The passport issued to those who are naturalised as a BOTC citizen is a BOTC passport that happens to have “Cayman Islands” on it. It is similar to the passport issued by other overseas territories. That passport is issued once people are granted BOTC citizenship. That does not mean that a person is Caymanian until they are granted citizenship and the BOTC passport is endorsed with a Caymanian status stamp. Now, I do agree with you that a BOTC passport is basically useless without that stamp – as far as I know, it doesn’t confer any benefits anywhere in the world except for recognising that a person has the right to reside in the Cayman Islands for the rest of his/her life.

    • Anonymous says:

      You do realize that Cayman is not a country with citizenship, but a dependent UK territory.

      • Driftwood says:

        Um, no people do not realize that, certain politicians started speaking about Cayman as a country and it has taken hold.

        I’ve been here a long time and like to joke with friends that I moved to an island and then one morning I woke up and we were a country.

    • Anonymous says:

      Except they are not issuing them – the British government is. Because Cayman is not a sovereign country. Get independence then you can issue passports to whoever you like. In the meantime you don’t get to decide who the UK issues BOTC passports to ( and BTW the only difference in rights between a Cayman BITC passport and any of the others is the word Cayman on the cover).

  11. Anonymous says:

    For goodness sake don’t put the guy in charge of the RFID vehicle plates in charge of this!

    • Anonymous says:

      No kidding! But in fairness there is a new DVDL website along with all new CIG sites, and finally and my pre-Ivan plate is ready for collection! Only took 4 years! At least the RFID plates have a purpose.

    • Anonymous says:

      still waiting on mine from when they were first rolled out

  12. Anonymous says:

    Not opposed to the government having my information, since they have all of it anyway at this time but I believe its time for Cayman to step up in the world. Banking solutions and almost every other public run institution appears to be decades behind in terms of efficency and scalability. This archaic approach needs to be reconsidered. The world is moving to decentralization and Cayman could be the beacon for the caribbean, though I highly doubt anyone wants to put in the work to get there, despite every project we undertake is outsourced and done by consultants anyway.

    The idea of another centralized service that collects our data is off putting consiering. Blockchain can afford a decentralized solution that will provide a properly secure system which can be piggy backed on in the future in order to provide more and more services including a digital currency (this might freak some of the older folks out but this is where it is heading for the world, its time to face that fact).
    Singapore is a great example of a nation that is looking to use technology to solve its problems but also factoring decentralizing. As we have seen in the last few weeks, centralized banking services were under attack and brought down all over the world. People could not access their funds. A blockchain solution would prevent this and ensure that people have access to the service/resource at all times, failing a full internet catastrophe.

    Either way, I know my country will always be years behind. They will invest millions of dollars into a project only to force themselves to use it in order to justify the cost, keeping us stagnant and dependent on legacy infrastructure for another decade to come.

    • Anonymous says:

      eg. Like the physical border control kiosks they’ve now installed at Owen Roberts inbound immigration hall, that spit out a thermal paper receipt like it’s 2005.

  13. Anonymous says:

    What pisses me off is that my kids, born in Cayman to Caymanian parents have been issued with a Cayman passport that doesn’t make them Caymanian. For that I have to pay extra to have a stamp in their passport saying they have a right to be Caymanian. It doesn’t get any dumber than this! If the card is free and shows immigration status, why do I have to pay for the ‘right to be Caymanian’ entry?

    • Anonymous says:

      Hmmm… strange. I just got a Caymanian status stamp in my passport last month and it didn’t cost me anything but about 10 minutes of waiting time at the location on Mary Street. I think you must have paid for something else.

      • Anonymous says:

        They gave me a bunch of forms. I don’t think it is the same thing. My kids are Caymanian by birth and it is a birth right. You can lose status.

        • Anonymous says:

          You need to read and understand the law. Being born in the Cayman Islands does not make them Caymanian. Being born there does not give them any “birth right”.

    • Anonymous says:

      i didnt pay a dime lmao you should look into that sounds like you got scammed or paid fro soemthing else..

      • Anonymous says:

        You need to learn to read and spell. Read the post again.

      • Anonymous says:

        It is a $50 fee, says so right on their website.

        • Anonymous says:

          I assure you – I didn’t have to pay anything to get my stamp. But, it wasn’t my first one. I had to get a new stamp in a passport that replaced one that had expired, so maybe that’s the difference?

    • Anonymous says:

      Kids still have to apply for continuance at or before their 18th birthday (emancipation age into adulthood), or get lost in the machine as ghost Caymanians. Believe those fees have been waived and the passport stamp has always been free, save for the two hours of productivity wait time in immigration “now serving” hell.

  14. Anonymous says:

    Nope, not having one. I’ve got a drivers license, voters id and two passports.
    This is a pointless waste of time

    • Anonymous says:

      I think the idea is to add a further layer of due diligence to audit people that have none of the forms of identification you’ve just mentioned, or worse fraudulent ones. Not necessarily to make your law-abiding life any more complex.

      • not so fast says:

        Except for the fact that government will be in charge of it. Do I really need to explain further???

      • Anonymous says:

        But the only people who will bother to get one are the law abiding people, so yeah, it will really.

        • Anonymous says:

          1.38pm Not so criminals are sent to NAU by MPs all the time but they need ID to get assistance.

    • Anonymous says:

      Doesn’t matter if you get one or not. The contractor will still get paid, which is the purpose of the exercise.

    • Anonymous says:

      lmao you sound dumb lmao but ok

    • Anonymous says:

      …don’t forget myHSA account and library card. Cayman Revenue Service/Disservice soon come.

  15. Anonymous says:

    Which group started any public initiative, is irrelevant to me; we the People pay for it, so I only care that it is completed. I am SICK of seeing good initiatives thrown away just because they were proposed by a previous group. As long as the country will benefit from it, bring it. Fine-tune it if necessary, but carry it out. It is time we stop cutting our nose to spite our face.

  16. Anonymous says:

    what go wrong when this is being handled by our ‘world class’ civil service…….zzzzzz
    hope it goes better the car number plate fiasco….

  17. Anonymous says:

    I had an immigration ID card when I got here in 1995, what great progress……………..

  18. Anonymous says:

    If we must get them then they should also have the ability to endorse them so you can show you have a driver’s licence.

    • Anonymous says:

      Why do you need it if you already have a drivers license?

      • Anonymous says:

        Well, if we must get this card eventually then I also don’t want to carry a driver’s licence.

        • Anonymous says:

          11:32am

          Because many of the “drivers licences” out there are fraudulent, paid for by corrupt people to corrupt CIG officials.

          Have you not the read the Court cases in recent times?

          Do you not drive on Cayman’s roads?

  19. C'Mon Now! says:

    Will these actually indicate who is Caymanian, as we don’t really know that…

    and who is getting the contract for this.

  20. Anonymous says:

    80% of the population is already chipped though.

  21. Anonymous says:

    Soon come in 2043

  22. Anonymous says:

    Yes! ID cards are such a priority for the Govt given the financial crisis! Tourism? Who needs it when we have ID cards 🙄

    • Anonymous says:

      These ID cards are part of the eGovernment initiative that has been discussed for a couple of years. It’s actually a good thing … assuming they work!

      • Neverwannabeacivilservant says:

        Manderson needs a system that identifies how many times a civil servant’s incoming calls go to voicemail, better still, he should have video surveillance to evidence how long they are actually sitting at their desk during office hours.

    • Anonymous says:

      I think you will generally find that people can walk and chew gum at the same time.

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