European Electronic IDs May Result in Increased Errors and Inconvenience Due to Record Matching Issues
The Czech presidency of the EU Council has presented a new draft of the European Digital Identity proposal, which suggests the use of record matching instead of unique identifiers to authenticate eID users. However, experts and researchers have raised concerns about the potential drawbacks of this approach.
Record matching, or record linkage, is a method that compares data points in two or more data sets to find data that belong to the same person. While this technique can be useful in certain circumstances, it is generally less effective than using unique identifiers for ensuring data security and privacy in the context of European Digital Identity (eID) proposals.
Record matching systems attract hackers because they rely on using sensitive information like addresses, making them more error-prone, more likely to attract cyberattacks, and less precise compared to unique identifiers. Unique identifiers, especially those designed as pseudonymous or cryptographic identifiers, provide a more robust basis for privacy by enabling clear and secure re-identification only under controlled conditions, aligning better with GDPR requirements.
Researchers find that record matching can expose more indirect identifiers and behavioral patterns, increasing risk vectors for re-identification, especially when combining multiple datasets. In contrast, unique identifiers offer a stable, consistent linkage mechanism, bypassing complex computational problems often associated with record matching.
The Estonian government, which implemented eIDs and electronic government services for citizens as early as 2002, provides a practical example of the benefits of using unique identifiers. Citizens and residents in Estonia can access the nationwide e-governance system via their physical ID cards and an individual National Identification Code. The Estonian government relies on blockchain technology and on X-Road, an open source, decentralized system for saving and exchanging encrypted data.
The Estonian authorities estimate that they save over 1,400 years of working time every year by allowing their citizens to identify themselves and take care of most administrative issues online. This efficiency not only saves taxpayers' money but also decreases the administrative burden across the EU.
The Czech proposal of relying on record matching for the EU's eID instead of assigning a unique identifier to every citizen is motivated by political reasons. The Czech representatives at the Council are prioritizing accommodating cultural attitudes on data privacy over championing a technical solution that is practical, secure, in the citizens' interests, and supported by all other member states.
It would be much better in the long term if the EU member states agreed on using unique identifiers for EU eIDs. This approach would provide a more secure, privacy-friendly, and efficient solution for eID authentication, addressing security concerns and saving taxpayers' money by reducing administrative burden across the EU.
References:
[1] GDPR and Pseudonymisation. (n.d.). Retrieved March 15, 2023, from https://www.privacy-regulation.eu/en/article/gdpr-and-pseudonymisation
[2] Record Linkage. (n.d.). Retrieved March 15, 2023, from https://www.statistics.gov.uk/guidance/record-linkage
[3] Record Linkage and Data Privacy. (n.d.). Retrieved March 15, 2023, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3398175/
[4] Multi-file Record Linkage. (n.d.). Retrieved March 15, 2023, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3836910/
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This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union or its member states.
- The Czech presidency's proposal for the European Digital Identity (eID) uses record matching instead of unique identifiers, but concerns about data security and privacy have arisen among experts and researchers.
- Record matching, a method that compares data points to find matches, is less effective than unique identifiers for ensuring privacy in eID proposals, as it can expose more indirect identifiers and behavioral patterns.
- Unique identifiers, such as pseudonymous or cryptographic identifiers, provide a more robust basis for privacy by enabling secure re-identification only under controlled conditions, aligning better with GDPR requirements.
- The Estonian government, which implements eIDs and electronic services, uses unique identifiers and benefits from this approach, with citizens saving over 1,400 years of working time annually and decreasing the administrative burden across the EU.
- The Estonian government relies on blockchain technology and X-Road, an open source, decentralized system for saving and exchanging encrypted data, for their e-governance system.
- The Czech proposal to use record matching for the EU's eID may be motivated by political reasons, with representation prioritizing cultural attitudes on data privacy over a practical, secure, and efficient technical solution.
- Agreeing on using unique identifiers for EU eIDs would provide a more secure, privacy-friendly, and efficient solution, addressing security concerns and saving taxpayers' money by reducing administrative burden across the EU.
- In discussions on the European Digital Identity, it's crucial to consider the impact of policy-and-legislation, politics, general-news, technology, data-and-cloud-computing, finance, business, AI, blockchain, regulation, and privacy on the development and implementation of secure and effective eID systems.
