By DENISE MAYCOCK
Tribune Freeport Reporter
dmaycock@tribunemedia.net
THE government intends to create a single digital ID for citizens of The Bahamas to make online access to services seamless and more efficient to reduce government cost, Deputy Prime Minister Peter Turnquest revealed.
The government will be seeking assistance from new tech firm GIBC Digital to assist it with putting in place a cybersecurity system to ensure data privacy and security of the ID system.
Mr Turnquest's comments came during the official launch of GIBC's office in the Jasmine Corporate Centre yesterday.
GIBC Digital, operated by CEO Greg Wood, is the first tech firm approved under the Commercial Enterprises Act, which targets specialised businesses in captive insurance, nanotechnology, computer technology, software design, data storage, maritime trade, aviation registration, wealth management and manufacturing enterprises.
Cyber technology and fraud is one of the company's five interconnected areas of competency.
Said Mr Turnquest: "Greg has some products that we will certainly take advantage of. One of them is that we are looking to create a single ID that will identify you as a citizen to the government for everything that you do."
He explained that rather than having to request the service of the government, the government will make the process seamless for citizens and interactive from the office or the comfort of their home.
"That requires a lot of data. In order to ensure that that data is secured requires we have a very robust cyber security system. And that's one service GIBC offers its client.
"We look forward to leveraging that knowledge in our own effort to ensure that whatever we do, we protect the integrity of the system, so it engenders the trust, and the use as we anticipate and we would like to happen."
Mr Turnquest explained that GIBC is about facilitating change management for clients, understanding the process and then applying technology to improve processes.
"As you have seen this budget (exercise), the cost of doing business as a government is expensive and inefficient. And if we are going to remain competitive with the rest of the world, we are going to have streamline our processes and become more efficient, so we reduce the burden on average citizens.
"We believe all of us together are going to be able to cause some amazing things to happen in the next two to three years. And certainly look forward to cooperation and the participation of all the stakeholders in this process," he said.
Comments
BahamaLlama 5 years, 10 months ago
So they didn't choose to move to Freeport. Starting a new office there was a precondition of winning the ID contract. And once it's done, the "move" will assumedly be rolled back - apart from a skeleton support staff.
A project of this enormous size is basically impossible to manage even for the largest and most developed Western countries. Bearing in mind the government is unable to implement even the smallest IT project without disaster, how much is this going to cost, what protections will be available to safeguard against abuse, and who is going to be fired when it goes appallingly wrong?
OldFort2012 5 years, 10 months ago
LOL. Impossible to manage for the largest and most developed western countries? What do you think a Social Security number is in the USA, if not the single number they talk about. And that has been around since before computers. There isn't a single western country that does not have this system. The UK is 100% online. The difficulty will not be in setting up the system, it will be in running it. The government simply does not have trained staff. They should outsource everything.
DWW 5 years, 10 months ago
and easier to steal identity...
TalRussell 5 years, 10 months ago
New company startup - comrade finance minister, doesn't even keep under wraps promises multiple million dollar "untendered" contract.... all designed, conceived in sole mind minister. {No need make this up }. Isn't this what he preaches - HAD corrupted (note even allegedly) the former PLP government?
sheeprunner12 5 years, 10 months ago
Peter Turnquest is clearly the instrument of Satan the Devil ...... KPT is creating a paperless currency economy and digitizing the citizen's identity ........... He is the Mark of the Beast #666 chief representative in Paradise .......... Beware!!!!!!!!!!!
banker 5 years, 10 months ago
LOL.
observer2 5 years, 10 months ago
Hey, des foreign carpet baggars almost as slick as Oban's dem. Check out dey website. Dey come from no where and land big big contract wit gullible Minnis & Co.
Come on bloggers lets do our due diligence and find out actually what Greg has actually accomplished in his life. I don't see one single proven project to his name. Yet he will now gather all the private information of every last Bahamian.
Fred Smith need to stop him collectin we data. I ain know what he ga do wit dat. He ain even got no address on his website or phone number. At least Oban's dem had shared office space somewhere.
https://gibcdigital.com/">https://gibcdigital.com/
ThisIsOurs 5 years, 10 months ago
These guys are open to ever scammer in the world they're do desperate. I wonder if Cambridge Analytica has moved offices yet
PastorTroy 5 years, 10 months ago
This is DANGEROUS!!! This is very, very, very dangerous! We trust our oppressors/enemies too much. Do you know what a private company can do with all of the country's citizens private identity and information in its database?? This is a trifling slippery slope, the benefits do not outweigh the risk. THIS IS VERY DANGEROUS!
OldFort2012 5 years, 10 months ago
It will not be a "private company's" database, it will be the government's. The private company will set up the system and database, the government will populate it.
All this information the government already has. It is just in different departments and in paper format. You can't add to a database anything you don't already have.
It exists everywhere in the civilised world and operates with minimal dangers, if well protected and run.
So, unless the argument is that Bahamian civil servants are a bunch of useless...wait, you are right!!
observer2 5 years, 10 months ago
OldFort2012. Please don't obfuscate an Electronic ID with a passport #, national insurance # or social security security #.
The Eletronic ID, coupled with block chain and an electronic currency is virtually Orwellian ("1984") in its concept. Under these technologies a centralized government database will have every piece of data on every Bahamian linking every asset, every certificate, every license, every transaction into one database. GIBC Digital will create the database so I believe it is naive to think they will not have access to the information.
No government on earth puts all the pieces of an individuals identity into one place...it will be difficult for it not to lead to abuse. Especially to persons who may think differently from the status quo.
Just look what happened to Travis. He was not consulted when they put the budget together, he was not consulted to comment on the completed budget. He had one alternative. Vote yes to a budget he had no input into or be fired. Travis represents the next generation of Bahamian and look how badly he has been treated. GIBC Digital represents the next generation of government technology. Dare not critize whomever has all of your data... or do so at your own peril. Remember with Block chain everything you have and have transacted will be centralized.
TorontoGal 5 years, 10 months ago
It's no wonder the Bahamas is where it is today with such old fashion, backward thinking. Get into the 21Century folks!
ThisIsOurs 5 years, 10 months ago
Performing analysis of the risks inherent in storing your entire identity in one location is not backward thinking.
Every few months another major database gets hacked. NOTHING is 100% secure. The hacker just has to have sufficient incentive/returns to invest the time to break the system. And don't even start on Bahamians who have no respect for data, what happens when they start stealing and selling IDs instead of money. Wait they're already doing that, with the paper ones, won't be any different if they go digital. And anyone who believes block chain will solve all the issues is foolish indeed, those systems are being hacked on a more frequent basis now that their value has been elevated
we've all heard about the hell people go through n the US when their social security number is stolen.
ashley14 5 years, 10 months ago
Tracking device.
ashley14 5 years, 10 months ago
At one time the US was talking about putting a device under our skin, like you tag a dog. Obviously it met opposition. These guys in high political positions just want power. All of which is predicted in the last days. It's scary everything in which we might have to live through.
Well_mudda_take_sic 5 years, 10 months ago
What a daft statement by this tub of lard (Turnquest). He should not be looking to a new startup tech firm to assist in any significant way whatsoever with meeting the cybersecurity needs of the government's critical information systems. Besides, any kind of new digital I.D. for Bahamians would quickly become no more secure than the currently required national insurance I.D. number. Also, the idea of a hacker possibly needing only one digital I.D. to gain access to all of the government's records on a Bahamian citizen and/or other resident of the Bahamas is a most frightening thought.
It's all too obvious that Minnis and Turquest are anxious to piss away the 60% increase in VAT that they have recently decided to impose on already over-taxed and suffering lower and middle class Bahamians.
banker 5 years, 10 months ago
Oh my fellow Bahamians, you are so backwards and naive. And all of this Jesus and religious talk when it comes to technology. The only thing that your comments prove is that perhaps Jesus was a Bahamian -- a dark-skinned man who was the product of an unwed teenage mother who didn't have much schooling. It's amazing the way that the ignorant react to technology -- prolly cuz it pierces their bubble of a narrow world view. These comments are embarrassing as to the level of enlightenment of my fellow Bahamians.
by banker
ThisIsOurs 5 years, 10 months ago
It may be embarrassing for you, but it's costly for us. Something isn't right about the way these projects are moving forward. Did you hear about any bidding process? These guys "may" have a solution, but is it the best that could be had? The last multimillion dollar national ID scheme we deployed was the "new" NIB card. It's useless. It would be prudent not to go down that road again
banker 5 years, 10 months ago
I was pontificating on the Jesus talk, not the benefits of digital ID. Digital ID, micro-chips, spying -- nothing to do with the Bible. The only End Times coming are in 30 years when the Bahamas is underwater due to climate change and rising oceans.
ThisIsOurs 5 years, 9 months ago
Ah, I like Jesus.
TalRussell 5 years, 10 months ago
Sad Day how contracts awarded!
ohdrap4 5 years, 10 months ago
I do not see why the concern about privacy.
There is no privacy in the Bahamas.
One time I was gossiping to two individuals about a trouble making neighbour-- telling the truth, so it was not libel. One individual replied ;"He goes to the office where my sister works, he has diabetes, that is why he is miserable". The other one said: "He dates my aunt and he is a miser". I found that quite plausible.
But I say this to say the following: every time you present some documents at a govt office, a doctor's office, or a bank, it is quite plausible an employee will make comments to others about those documents as soon as you leave. " Look here, the tribune blogger just bought hemorroid ointment."
Now it is just going to be published on facebook.
joeblow 5 years, 10 months ago
The government cannot be trusted to ensure that those with Bahamian passports are really Bahamians and I should trust them with a national ID and personal information? I think not!!
DDK 5 years, 10 months ago
" for citizens of The Bahamas to make online access to services seamless and more efficient"
Oh goodie! Now would the Deputy PM be kind enough to instruct Bahamas Customs how to clear incoming shipments for merchants selling clothing and shoes as they "have no clue" and apparently have received no instruction, nor does the Bahamas Government website. Merchants are rather upset as this was one of the crumbs thrown to The People in THE BUDGET.
Islandboy242242 5 years, 10 months ago
That's a helluva welcome to the Bahamas. Paint ain't even dried on the building and "here ya go, huge contract to wet your whistle." I hope the government has some staffers smart enough to project the compounding costs of IT Infrastructure and maintenance. IT starts expensive and stays expensive with annual maintenance contracts, software and hardware upgrades, data backup and recovery contracts; God forbid we get some major flooding in a datacenter in the low lying GB and you have to replace some of that hardware and data...
ThisIsOurs 5 years, 10 months ago
Exactly...something is right here, they show up out the blue and contract...who else bid for the work, where's the tender process?
bcitizen 5 years, 10 months ago
How much is this going to cost? How many new people will need to be hired? Nothing should be happening that is growing the size of the government in this country. They cannot even keep the printers running for driver license. How will this system be stable? Why cannot the new NIB cards/numbers with the chip in them be used instead of something completely new? I am sure they were not cheap.
PastorTroy 5 years, 10 months ago
I built my first personal computer in 1998, [Windows 98 Pentium III 700Mhz with 256 MB RAM] this was a great achievement for me, it was expensive, the Pentium III chip alone in the U.S was $200+ then a few months later Pentium came out with the 900+ - 1Ghz chip for almost twice the price of the 700Mhz I had purchased just a few months ago! I was pissed! Today, being such a black backward Bahamian I decided to just stick with books with the great discoverer stories of Christopher Columbus and my timetables and with my Colonialist adulterated religious mind control manual.
(convert this to understand my frustrations with know-it-alls) 01000110 01010101 01000011 01001011 00100000 01001111 01000110 01000110 00100000 01000001 01010011 01010011 01001000 01001111 01001100 01000101 --- Ignorance in Government is a danger to its people...
ThisIsOurs 5 years, 9 months ago
I'm a little backward myself I guess, cause I don't get the point, but why even do that? Writing something in base 2 to tell other people they're dumb is not the way to go. (I didn't translate, so I hope you not cussing us lol).What we need to be doing is breaking things down so people understand it and we bring as many people up with us as we can. I submit to you that there's no principle that you know that you couldn't teach the boy sitting under the juju tree who failed out of school. You just need to find a way to make the link between what he knows and what you know. It'll take more time with some people but linking info is what the brain was made to do. This is what the government should be doing. But someone's convinced them that only. foreign white people or "smart Bahamians abroad" understand computer lingo and it will take 8 years to teach anything of value to a "critical mass" of Bahamians. Talk about religion, the Bahamians can't do it gospel is the great deception.
birdiestrachan 5 years, 10 months ago
Much fanfare about nothing, All dress in blue.. I never ever thought I would agree with sheeprunner. But I think he got Turnquest right.
sheeprunner12 5 years, 10 months ago
Yeh ........ Birdie .......... We are staring into the face of Satan's lieutenant.
actusreus 5 years, 10 months ago
Yep, all a sign of the end times. The FNM won so that certain things could be put in place according to biblical prophecy.
ohdrap4 5 years, 10 months ago
yes it is the end of time, sheeprunner and birdie agreed.
Alex_Charles 5 years, 10 months ago
lol @ people worrying about privacy. Get real and go read about how the US still surveils all electronic communications within our borders.
I applaud this move so long as there is some oversight and also policy/regulations in lace to safeguard the people and the government. Security is a big deal. .
killemwitdakno 5 years, 10 months ago
Was this not the licenses, NIB card, or the e-passports?
sheeprunner12 5 years, 10 months ago
Yes I agree with you, Killem ........ We have several "fancy" new e-cards introduced by the Government in the past 20 years ........ But they are all done in isolation, so there are still national security loopholes, despite the "computerization" process ........ We need a truly "National I.D. card" that can tie our D/L, passport, work permit, civil service ID, NIB, etc cards into one database (the 666 e-card)
ThisIsOurs 5 years, 9 months ago
There are any number of solutions they could find. For example, they could use a federated system where each ID is split over several databases it makes it more difficult to steal identities. But these guys just listen to the one solution that is being sold to them probably at an overpriced rate.
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