The Hon. Mujibur Rahman
Mujibur Rahman supported the shift to a digital economy, particularly in finance and revenue administration, to reduce fraud, corruption, and cash-based transactions. While accepting the digitization of the National Identity Card and basic biodata, he raised concerns over the collection of biometric data such as fingerprints and facial features, warning of risks of leakage, misuse, sale of data, and AI-enabled abuse. He called attention to the need for clarity on how and when such sensitive data would be used.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Perhaps time from Hon. Amila Prasada may be available—please consider.
¶ 02 Hon. Presiding Member, I wish to speak on the Committee Stage of the Budget regarding the expenditure heads of the Ministry of Digital Economy and the Ministry of Science and Technology. We all agree the country needs a digital economy—there is no dispute. Especially in finance, we need digitalization to reduce fraud and corruption and minimize cash transactions. The Inland Revenue Department must have access to necessary data and information systems.
¶ 03 We see steps to digitize our National Identity Card. There is no issue with digitizing the NIC or with biodata. We have no objection. But the previous Government, in the name of digitalization, began collecting biometrics—fingerprints, facial features, and bodily markers. The Government is now setting up centres for this. Globally, this is debated because such data can be sold; if leaked, it creates huge problems. If my fingerprints leak, others can use them. If facial features leak, others can use them. With AI advancements, many misuses are possible. Therefore, questions arise about when and how such data are used.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Tuesday, 11 March 2025 ·No. 1743759139093629 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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- not yet extracted — page/column anchors are not in the current dataset; the source PDF is the citable location.
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/lk/speeches/19017
Cite as: The Hon. Mujibur Rahman. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 11 March 2025. No. 1743759139093629. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/19017