World Privacy Forum named as a top ten digital identity influencing organization globally

WPF has been recognized as one of the leading organizations globally influencing privacy, security, inclusion, and fairness in digital identity systems. Goode Intelligence, which produces an annual report on digital identity around the world, has named WPF as a top ten globally influencing organization, as well as ID4Africa, Women in Identity, and others.

WPF has conducted substantive research regarding identity and privacy for nearly 20 years, including original research on India’s Aadhaar biometric system that was cited in the India Supreme Court landmark Aadhaar privacy decision. WPF is actively researching identity system architectures and privacy, as well as safety guardrails for biometric systems, and has been undertaking multi-stakeholder work to find solutions to the pressing privacy challenges that biometrics pose. In 2019, WPF Executive Director Pam Dixon was named by OWI as a “Top 100 people to know in 2019: pioneers who are leading the charge to improve identity.”

Here is a selection of WPF’s work on privacy and identity systems:

Multistakeholder work: Roundtable on Biometrics at the International Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners Conference, Albania, October 2019, WPF co-hosted and co-moderated with Brookings Institution. Data protection authorities, law enforcement officials, civil society, and industry stakeholders gathered to engage in a Chatham House discussion regarding significant challenges in biometric systems and how to map and mitigate those challenges.
WPF Webinar: Webinar for National Network to End Domestic Violence trainers (US): Privacy & Biometric Myths and Realities for survivors of domestic violence, stalking, and sexual assault, July 2019: https://www.worldprivacyforum.org/events/wpf-presenting-privacy-biometric-myths-and-realities-webinar/
Rapporteur’s Report, RADPA: Proceedings of the first Roundtable of African Data Protection Authorities: Status and response to privacy risks in Identity Systems (English and French) 2019. https://www.worldprivacyforum.org/2019/07/roundtable-of-african-data-protection-authorities-radpa-wpfs-report-now-public/
Paper: Digital Identity Ecosystems, presented at Harvard’s Kennedy School February 2019 at a multistakeholder identity event. https://www.worldprivacyforum.org/2019/02/digital-identity-ecosystems/
Multistakeholder work: OECD Principles on Artificial Intelligence, May 2019. WPF was a member of the OECD’s AI Expert Group and participated in the multi-year crafting of the OECD Principles on AI. These principles have direct applicability to digital identity systems and components, as biometric systems are a subset of AI. https://www.oecd.org/going-digital/ai/principles/
Original Research: A Failure to Do No Harm: India’s Aadhaar biometric ID program and its inability to protect privacy in relation to measures in Europe and the U.S. (2018) Pam Dixon, Springer Nature, Health Technology. DOI 10.1007/s12553–017-0202-6. http://rdcu.be/tsWv. Open Access, via Harvard-Based Technology Science: https://techscience.org/a/2017082901/.
Original Research: The Geography of Medical Identity Theft (US) (This report is from 2017. An update to this report is publishing in December 2019.) https://www.worldprivacyforum.org/2017/12/new-report-the-geography-of-medical-identity-theft/
Original Research: Medical Identity Theft Data Mapped by State, 2013-2017 (Data Visualization) https://www.worldprivacyforum.org/2017/12/medical-identity-theft-reports-to-the-consumer-financial-protection-bureau/
Data Visualization: National IDs Around the World, interactive map: https://www.worldprivacyforum.org/2017/07/national-ids-around-the-world/
Data Visualization: National IDs Over Time, interactive chart: https://www.worldprivacyforum.org/2017/08/national-ids-over-time/
Original Research: One-Way-Mirror Society: Privacy implications of the new Digital Signage Networks, 2010. This report was the first report to be published about early facial detection and recognition systems in commercial systems with respect to privacy impacts. https://www.worldprivacyforum.org/2010/01/report-one-way-mirror-society/
Original Research: Medical Identity Theft, 2006. This report coined the term medical identity theft and was the first report to written about the crime. The report led to meaningful changes in law and policy in the US. https://www.worldprivacyforum.org/2006/05/report-medical-identity-theft-the-information-crime-that-can-kill-you/

Posted December 5, 2019 in Aadhaar, Biometrics, Digital Privacy, Digitial Identity, ID Ecosystem, Identity, News, Press, and Media

New Report: Risky Analysis: Assessing and Improving AI Governance Tools

We are pleased to announce the publication of a new WPF report, “Risky Analysis: Assessing and Improving AI Governance Tools.” This report sets out a definition of AI governance tools, documents why and how these tools are critically important for trustworthy AI, and where these tools are around the world. The report also documents problems in some AI governance tools themselves, and suggests pathways to improve AI governance tools and create an evaluative environment to measure their effectiveness. AI systems should not be deployed without simultaneously evaluating the potential adverse impacts of such systems and mitigating their risks, and most of the world agrees about the need to take precautions against the threats posed. The specific tools and techniques that exist to evaluate and measure AI systems for their inclusiveness, fairness, explainability, privacy, safety and other trustworthiness issues — called in the report collectively AI governance tools – can improve such issues. While some AI governance tools provide reassurance to the public and to regulators, the tools too often lack meaningful oversight and quality assessments. Incomplete or ineffective AI governance tools can create a false sense of confidence, cause unintended problems, and generally undermine the promise of AI systems. The report contains rich background details, use cases, potential solutions to the problems discussed in the report, and a global index of AI Governance Tools.
National IDs Around the World — Interactive map

About this Data Visualization: This interactive map displays the presence...
Report: From the Filing Cabinet to the Cloud: Updating the Privacy Act of 1974

This comprehensive report and proposed bill text is focused on the Privacy Act of 1974, an important and early Federal privacy law that applies to the government sector and some contractors. The Privacy Act was written for the 1970s information era -- an era that was characterized by the use of mainframe computers and filing cabinets. Today's digital information era looks much different than the '70s: smart phones are smarter than the old mainframes, and documents are now routinely digitized and stored and perhaps even analyzed in the cloud, among many other changes. The report focuses on why the Privacy Act needs an update that will bring it into this century, and how that could look and work. This work was written by Robert Gellman, and informed by a two-year multi-stakeholder process.