On April 26, Prime Minister Jean Castex and Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin signed a new decree. This authorizes the creation of a new identification and authentication system via the biometric identity cardcalled Digital Identity Guarantee Service (SGIN).
This system will allow users to use a mobile application to prove their identity more securely online.
An upcoming app
The new biometric identity card has been in service throughout France since last year. This smaller, more modern and more secure card is intended to be part of a strengthening of the security of online identification and authentication, actions that are ubiquitous on a daily basis.
The objective of the decree is to create and make available a mobile application that will allow users to identify and authenticate themselves with public and private bodies. With this application, a person will be able to generate an electronic certificate “ containing only the identity attributes which he deems necessary to transmit to third parties of his choice “. Mean by this, a certificate including the surname, the first name(s), a postal address or an email address. On the other hand, it is clearly specified that the digitized images of the fingerprints will not be used or requested.
All this data is encrypted on the servers where it is stored and will only be decrypted when the application is used to guarantee maximum security.
Safety especially for the youngest
This text directly repeals the decree of May 13, 2019 which authorized the creation of the electronic identification means called “Certified online authentication on mobile” (Alicem). This was based on the biometric passport and authorised, among other things, the controversial use of facial recognition for identification or authentication with public or private bodies.
We do not yet know on what scale this application can be used or for what kinds of services, but this new decree has clear objectives: to simplify and speed up online procedures and to strengthen the security of people’s identity. It will simply be enough to use the NFC chip of our smartphone to scan the document and take advantage of the services of the application.
We can understand in this decree the usefulness of such a system, in particular to fight in a secure way against the exposure of minors to pornography. To prove that a person is over 18, it will be possible to issue a certificate with only the necessary information, without having to share too much personal data that could be misused by other people.
Sources: BFM Business, legifrance.gouv
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