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Law Enfocement capabilities topic 5: Identity Management

 

Specific Challenge:

New means and technologies of communication the growing interactive usage of the internet, the rise of social media and the internet of things lead to a change in handling identity related data for law enforcement agencies and border management. These circumstances and the general digitalisation of society result in a significant qualitative and quantitative revaluation of the subject identity. As  identity trust and security are central drivers for economic and societal development a framework for a reliable e-identity ecosystem needs to be set up. Such an e-ID ecosystem would safeguard the fundamental parameters of identity management: security – efficiency – user friendliness – trust – privacy and data protection. Enhanced public security and better (digital) privacy protection will become part of the same consistent European identity strategy.     

Identity Management will play a pivotal role in this system.

Identity Management starts with proper breeder documents, other identity documents including their lifecycle and goes to identification and verification for physical and virtual access as well as virtual identities in secure applications and social networks. In all these areas of identification, security is severely endangered, if identity fraud has taken place. It is very well known, that cases of identity fraud and wrong identity are heavily involved in people trafficking and organized crime. Additionally, identity fraud in virtual places leads to theft, misuse of information and cyber-mobbing. Therefore, new processes, technologies and security features needs to be developed to increase or hold the high level of quality of security documents and corresponding processes..

Scope:

Technological, organizational and societal means necessary for a European electronic identity ecosystem will be identified, researched and tested:

  • New security features with corresponding quality control and checking technologies
  • Enhanced document lifecycle processes
  • Harmonized document processes and security features
  • Technologies for linking physical and virtual identity
  • Combination of biometric technologies and administrative processes for identification management
  • Identification of the necessary legal and societal steps to safeguard trust and data protection
  • Identify patterns in identity fraud and highlight associated social networksn
  • Take into account and build upon results and findings of existing research projects that potentially may contribute to an European electronic identity ecosystem

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of between €1m and €2m would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

Expected impact:

A European e-identity ecosystem (potentially tested on a national test-bed level) would create a decisive competitive advantage for Europe on the global level. New technologies and processes in identity management will ease the work of border management and law enforcement authorities as the identity verification becomes more reliable. The personal security increases dues to reduced risk of identity fraud and cyber mobbing. Finally, improved id documents will make people trafficking and organized crime more difficult. A European e-identity ecosystem should make use of existing research results in this field to the highest possible extent to optimise funding impact.

The outcome of the proposal is expected to lead to development up to Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 4; please see part G of the General Annexes.

Type of action: Research and Innovation Actions