The Tribune

By ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

The Government’s parliamentary secretary responsible for digital development yesterday said it was critical to improve trust in technology with Bahamians concerned about switching from manual voter registration to a biometric voter identification card.

Wayde Watson, also MP for Bain and Grants Town, voiced the importance of persons becoming comfortable with digital systems. He said there is a phobia when it comes to this, and some Bahamians would rather continue with manual voter registration versus the biometric voter registration. 

“From a government's perspective, when you look at digital trust, we want to take into consideration the parties involved in the transaction itself,” he said. “You have the person accessing or trying to access a particular system, and then you have the systems provider or the applications provider. And we want to make certain that… those persons are who they say they are or purport to be who they say they are. 

“And I think that's very important to ensure that persons are comfortable interacting with these systems, and the systems responsible are providing the right information or the right service or the right transaction that they are required to perform, are responsible to perform. So digital trust is basically based on trust, and it's based on ethics as it relates to these systems, and the transactions that we expect to happen with regards to these systems. 

“And mitigation of phobia as it relates to the use of these systems is very, very critical, because we have some people who have a fear of using these new systems. As a matter of fact, we’re talking about the implementation of a biometric voter registration. And so we have a lot of persons who are concerned, and we have a lot of persons who would like to stick with the manual voter registration. And, again, that's based on the trust and ethics of the system. They want to make certain that those things are in place.”

Mr Watson pointed to The Bahamas’ Cyber Security Strategy and the Data Protection Act, which is now enacted, as measures the Government has looked into as it pertains to cyber security. 

“Just Monday night, the Prime Minister spoke about his mandate, which is to look at the enhancement and the regulation of artificial intelligence, not so as to pigeon-hole the country as to what it can do, but also to take into consideration the economical benefits associated with artificial intelligence,” Mr Watson said. “But we understand and we appreciate that artificial intelligence can both be good or bad. 

“And so therefore we are ensuring that this government, in this country, is placed in a position where we can manage digitisation in government, ICTs and artificial intelligence. And again, I want to go back to the issue as it relates to being comfortable, users being comfortable with systems, and utilising these systems, and again, not only within government, but also within the private sector. Identity is key, and we want to make certain that we put policies in place to make certain that once we transition from our manual systems to our digital systems, that identities are protected on both sides.”