Prior to a life in public policy, Amber worked as a corporate lawyer. He started his career at Mindtree Ltd., where he helped build their free and open source software policy, and handled copyright and patent licensing. Amber also worked at Novojuris, where he led the startup advisory practice.
- 17 Nov. 2021
- 13:30 GMT
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- English & French
- Free of charge
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Previous episodes:
EP 21: Morocco & Lesotho Reports
EP 20: South Africa & Lesotho Reports
EP 19: Nigeria & Rwanda Reports
A Positive Dialogue to Combat Negative Outcomes
Digital identity systems are generally accepted as positive tools for social good. Nevertheless, they can pose several dangers and cause significant concerns.
In this 3-Part LiveCast series, ID4Africa aims to give voice to the broadest spectrum of opinions on the risks and harms of ID systems and to start a positive dialogue on how to best guardrail these systems so that they are rendered responsible and resistant to exploitation and abuse from potential nefarious actors.
On Wednesday, Nov 17 we launch Part 1 of this Trilogy with a very strong 5-segment program that sets the overall stage for in-depth, well-balanced and factual dialogue. The aim is to not only sensitize the Community to the potential risks of ID systems but to identify concrete ways to mitigate them so that ID systems can only contribute to social good.
This latest multi-segment, multi-format LiveCast developed by Dr. Joseph Atick and the ID4Africa Production team, will feature the following segments:
Dr. Joseph Atick
Executive Chairman ID4Africa
Dr. Joseph Atick is a recognized world renowned advocate and expert on identity matters. Having been one of the founders of the identity industry nearly 30 years ago, he led several companies in that domain and developed some of the foundational algorithms underlying secure digital identity today, including the first commercially viable face recognition algorithm.
Dr. Atick retired from the industry in 2010 to focus on promoting identity for social and economic development around the world. In that mission he partnered with the World Bank and other UN agencies, and was heavily involved in the development and field testing of the methodology and analytic tools that would guide the subsequent activities in that space, and would lead to the launch of the ID4D initiative at the World Bank.
In 2014, he co-founded ID4Africa as a pan-African Movement to promote responsible digital transformations through digital identity in Africa. He is a staunch defender of privacy, data protection and human rights and continues to provide counsel to governments and international organization on the use of identity for public good. Dr. Atick holds a Ph.D. in Mathematical Physics from Stanford University.
Pam Dixon
Executive Director
World Privacy Forum
Theme: “When ID Systems Raise Concerns”
Pam is the Founder and Executive Director of the World Privacy Forum. An author and researcher, she has written respected and influential studies in the area of privacy, identity, biometrics, AI, data brokers, health privacy, and other topics.
Pam conducted substantive biometrics research in India, which formed the basis of a scholarly article analyzing India’s Aadhaar, biometrics, and EU-US data protection policy. Pam has written 8 books and is an expert advisor to OECD on AI.
Amber Sinha
Executive Director The Centre for Internet and Society
Yesha Tshering Paul
Programme Officer The Centre for Internet and Society
Rights & Risks Assessment of 10 African ID Systems
At the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), Amber has worked on multiple case studies on the potential use of big data in governance in India, and the challenges it may pose in the future. He has also led the work on privacy in India at CIS over the last two years, and written extensively on the Aadhaar case and the Puttaswamy judgement.
Yesha Tshering Paul is a Programme Officer at the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), where she works on issues around digital identity. She studied Law at ILS Law College, Pune, and has a Masters in Regulatory Governance from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She has previously worked in criminal law, parliamentary research, and policy research on the interplay of emerging technologies and civil liberties such as privacy, surveillance and misinformation in India.
Dr. Yevgeniy Sirotin
Technical Director SAIC’s Identity and Data Sciences Laboratory
The Impact of Race & Gender on Biometric Performance
Yevgeniy Sirotin, Ph.D., is the Technical Director at SAIC’s Identity and Data Sciences Laboratory (IDSL), supporting the Department of Homeland security Science and Technology Directorate (DHS S&T). His work at IDSL focuses on measuring biometric technology performance.
Dr. Sirotin holds a doctorate in neurobiology and behavior from Columbia University and has published in the fields of mathematical psychology, neurophysiology, psychometrics, human factors, and biometrics. His current research focuses on optimal human-algorithm teaming in biometric workflows and evaluating demographic effects in biometric performance. He is currently a co-editor of a standard for measuring demographic effects in biometric systems (ISO/IEC 19795-10).
S4 PANEL 1: EXCLUSION
Understanding the Root Causes of Exclusion
Dorothy Mukasa
CEO & Team Leader Unwanted Witness, Uganda
Katelyn Cioffi
Research Scholar, Digital Welfare State and Human Rights Project
NYU Law
Christiaan van Veen
Director, Digital Welfare State and Human Rights Project NYU Law
Rosemary Kisembo
Executive Director
National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA)
Rosemary Kisembo is the recently appointed Executive Director of Uganda’s National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA), since May 15, 2021. She is an experienced software engineer and prior to her present role was Head of ICT at the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA), a role she served in between 2016 and 2021.
At UNRA she also served as Manager for the Software Engineering department for 5 years. Before joining UNRA, Rosemary worked at the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) for over 20 years, serving in the Corporate Services department.
Lessons from 3 organizations working on the frontlines with the excluded
Cy Winter
Senior Immigration and Border Management Specialist, Southern Africa International Organization for Migration (IOM)
Mr. Winter is an international migration management and emergency specialist with over 20 years’ experience dealing primarily with irregular and emergency migration issues. He has extensive expertise in identity solutions, crisis response, situation analysis, policy recommendation, system development and implementation for emergency migration and camp management operations. He has thorough knowledge of biometric identification supported processing systems, mechanisms of international law enforcement cooperation and enhancing national border management measures.
Janaina Costa
Senior Researcher Institute of Technology and Society (ITS), Rio de Janeiro
Institute for Technology & Society: The mission of the Institute for Technology & Society (ITS) is to ensure that Brazil and the Global South respond creatively and appropriately to the opportunities provided by technology in the digital age, and that the potential benefits are broadly shared across society. .
Mustafa Mahmoud
Senior Program Manager Namati, Kenya
Previous episodes:
EP 21: Morocco & Lesotho Reports
EP 20: South Africa & Lesotho Reports
EP 19: Nigeria & Rwanda Reports