Adams Amy: Electronic Identity Verification Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Adams Amy: Electronic Identity Verification Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 07 February 2012. Volume:677;Page:138. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon AMY ADAMS (Minister of Internal Affairs) 
: 
 I move  
That the Electronic Identity Verification Bill be now read a first time. 
 At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be referred to the Government Administration Committee for consideration and that that committee report finally to this House on or before 29 June 2012. This is an important bill. It is part of the Government’s framework to put tools in place that make it easier for individuals to interact with government and at a lower cost for those individuals and for the agencies concerned.  
Specifically the purpose of the Electronic Identity Verification Bill is to regulate and enhance the operation of the igovt identity verification service. Once it is fully operational individuals will be able to use that service to verify their identity via the internet for interactions where it is necessary for an agency to know who it is dealing with. Those might for example be transactions involving the paying out of money or the exchange of personal information. Currently for those types of transactions agencies usually require individuals to provide multiple documents as evidence of their identity such as passports and drivers’ licences. Individuals have to bear the cost and the time burden of applying for and supplying those documents and individuals whose identities have been wrongly used can face significant inconvenience distress and cost to rectify matters. There are costs for agencies to check copy and return those documents. In addition the use of false lost or stolen identity documents can impose considerable further costs on agencies. Another bill before this House the Identity Information Confirmation Bill will go a long way to combat the risk of fraudsters presenting false identity documents to agencies. While that bill will help with face-to-face transactions the current bill and the identity verification service within it provide a complementary role for the online environment.  
The igovt system will provide agencies with a ready-made secure process to support the provision of online services that would not otherwise be possible because of the potential fraud risks involved. It will allow individuals to avoid repeatedly having to provide physical documents to multiple agencies in order to use online services should they choose to use the service. The igovt identity verification service has been operating successfully but in a limited form since the end of December 2009. Individuals have for example been able to use the service for the online ordering of certificates and copies of records from the Births Deaths and Marriages registry which requires proof of identity. In this way the identity verification service use has to date been limited to a small community of eligible individuals for a single type of transaction. It is now time to expand the service for use by all members of the public and for the widest possible range of services so that individuals government and businesses can all realise the benefits that internet technologies offer. The Electronic Identity Verification Bill will enable this to happen.  
The bill will enable individuals to choose to verify their identity via the internet with approved agencies with appropriate controls and safeguards while also providing operational flexibility for the service to be developed over time to respond to changing technology. It is important that this significant Government service as it is expanded is duly authorised by legislation. The bill will ensure that the service can operate effectively and that appropriate safeguards are put in place and maintained. It is vital that the bill is progressed quickly. This will ensure the best use of the investments being made to develop the service and individual agencies’ online services that will rely on it.  
Clause 4 of the bill is particularly important. It sets out the principles around which the service’s operation is based. Those principles emphasise that the use of the service is optional and that individuals have control over the personal information that the service holds. Individuals will not be required to join the service. If they do choose to do so they can decide whether or not to use it for any particular transaction and agencies are expected therefore to ensure that individuals can still access their services by presenting other forms of evidence of identity should the individual wish to use that option. The bill does not impose any mandatory obligation on New Zealanders. Individuals can cancel their membership of the service at any time. The identity verification service provides authorised agencies only the minimum amount of information necessary to verify an individual’s identity through a record referred to in the bill as an electronic identity credential. The credential may be provided to an agency only with the individual’s consent. An individual may check the information before it is sent correct it or update it as necessary and monitor where the information has been sent. An individual’s identity is verified using an identifier or code that is unique to each authorised agency and this prevents the unauthorised sharing of information between agencies.  
The bill will allow anyone to use the service once his or her identity is verified to a high standard comparable to that used for the issuing of New Zealand passports. That may occur for example through checking that an individual’s identity information which includes his or her photograph is consistent with information held in other official records. The bill authorises information-matching programmes and other processes for that purpose. Children will be able to apply but those under 14 will need their parents’ or guardians’ consent. 
The bill also provides a number of other safeguards that will ensure the service operates securely and protects people’s privacy. Those protections are vital. If the public loses trust in the service it will fail. The first key protection in the bill is that it provides that agencies must be authorised through regulations to use the service. Those agencies may be in the public or the private sectors. Approved agencies must adhere to the standards for the use of the system. Secondly the bill strictly regulates access to photographs and other personal information held by the service. Thirdly the Privacy Commissioner will be able to require reports on the general operation of the service rather than just reactively dealing with complaints about privacy breaches that may be associated with the service. I am pleased that the Privacy Commissioner and her staff have been closely involved in the development of the service and this bill and that this involvement will continue. Finally the bill creates specific offences and penalties to deter abuse of the system. Courts will have the ability to ban offenders from using the service and to determine the validity of any transactions that have been undertaken using false information. Agencies will be notified if a false electronic identity credential has been used for their online services so that they may take immediate action.  
This is an important bill. It will enable individuals and agencies to realise the benefits of being able to easily verify individuals’ identity information via the internet for a wide range of services. There will be appropriate safeguards in place to ensure the service continues to be secure protects people’s privacy and is easy to use. I commend the bill to the House.