After the implementation of FranceConnect, in 2016, and then the Alicem experiment in 2019, there are plans to deploy an electronic national identity card (CNIe) from 2021, which will gradually replace the identity card that has been known until now.
An information mission of the National Assembly wished to "deepen the advantages of this project for the citizens and the safeguards to be implemented if necessary".
In order to prepare this report, the information mission on digital identity heard from many experts, but it also called on citizens by launching an online consultation. The rapporteurs received about 500 contributions.
The fact-finding mission focused on " the conditions for the successful deployment of digital identity in France". Three important elements emerged from the discussions with various stakeholders : "the ability to raise awareness of digital identity, the need to explain how it works and the protections offered to users, and finally the need to mobilize local authorities, who are partners on the ground in the delivery and use of digital identity.
This report of the information mission presents 43 recommendations to allow the rapid deployment of a regalian digital identity in France.These recommendations are organized around six areas.
- Rapidly and massively deploy a government digital identity solution based on FranceConnect
- Mobilize economic actors to ensure the success of digital identity
- Creating the conditions for trust
- Giving a real place to local authorities to inscribe digital identity within the territories
- Putting training and inclusion at the heart of digital identity
Référence :
The risk of exclusion of a part of the population
"Digital identity solutions, if they are practical and easy to access, can contribute to facilitating access to citizens' rights, and thus be a real factor of social inclusion," observe the authors of the report, who nevertheless point out the "risks of exclusion of a significant part of the population, still cut off from the digital world. The information mission draws attention to the difficulties raised more specifically by Alicem, a digital identity solution that requires the possession of a smartphone and implements facial recognition techniques. "The cost of acquiring a smartphone, as well as the cost of a phone plan and the electricity needed to operate it, may be a barrier to using the device as it stands...Another specific difficulty relates to the need to hold a biometric passport in order to use Alicem. Unlike the national identity card, this identity document has to be paid for and its cost is quite high, which explains the fact that part of the population does not have one.The information mission points out that questions " concerning the support of people who are the furthest away from digital technology have also arisen, with associations fearing that these people will not benefit from such solutions and will ultimately be victims of the dematerialization of public services", which reminds us that "recourse to this solution is by no means mandatory".
Making tomorrow's digital identity a factor of inclusion
Solutions that must be accessible: " To enable digital identity to become a factor of e-inclusion, it is important to ensure that the solutions developed remain understandable to the greatest number of people (...) The use of terms such as "login" or "identifier" may seem harmless, but it dissuades some users who are unfamiliar with the lexical field of online navigation (...) These solutions must also be accessible to people with disabilities.Allow users to better visualize the path of their personal data. In this respect, the information mission highlights the interest of the "citizen digital file " project carried out by the Interministerial Digital Directorate (DINUM). "It could allow users to "consult the list of information that administrations have on citizens; follow the data exchanges that administrations carry out between them to facilitate procedures; develop a notification function to inform citizens of the progress of the processing of their files.
In this regard, the fact-finding mission recommends"the rapid development and implementation of this initiative, which is firmly in line with the movement for citizens to take control of their personal data, and as such contributes to the creation of a healthy and empowering ecosystem for managing this data. The fact-finding mission also believes it is necessary to go further by allowing users, regardless of the solution they use, to know which identity provider is using their data and the conditions under which this data is shared with third parties.
Putting training and inclusion at the heart of digital identity
These findings and analyses lead the fact-finding mission to make 11 recommendations (out of 43) to " make tomorrow's digital identity a factor of inclusion".- Deploy trainers throughout the country, especially in places where digital identity is issued.
- Continue efforts in digital education in schools, including in moral and civic education programs, with specific mention of the issues of personal data protection and identity theft raised by digital identity.
- Strengthen ongoing training in digital tools, including issues related to digital identity, and implement a digital component in all career paths and professional assessments.
- Ensure the training of associations and digital helpers in order to guarantee quality digital support for vulnerable people. Recommendation 35: Extend the use of the Digital Pass.
- Raise the level of all public service personnel on digital subjects through a vast training plan.
- Valorize the feedback from the AidantsConnect experiments and deploy this service before the end of 2020 throughout France.
- Guarantee the transparency of decisions made on behalf of the person being assisted by the caregiver. Increase funding to associations that provide digital support to vulnerable people.
- Offer the delivery of a digital identity at all key moments in the life of the citizen, including the universal national service.
- Launch an interministerial reflection on minors and digital identity.
- Develop inclusive digital identity solutions that take into account the needs and vulnerabilities of the most digitally excluded.
- Maintain physical alternatives to the dematerialization of public services.
In a report report published in June 2020, the French National Digital Council (Cnnum) called for "a public digital identity service that is inclusive and accessible to all citizens", designed "as a public service in its own right, and no longer just as a gateway to digital public services".
