Thread by @privacyint

Pakistan's ID system NADRA is yet another eye-opening example of how ID systems can be exclusionary by design, specially when adherence is made compulsory & when such systems are used as gatekeepers to access a wide range of essential goods + services.

👉 privacyinternational.org/node/4656

But what could go wrong when socio-cultural patriarchal expectations are hard-coded into a one-size fits all foundational digital ID system? And what happens to those that don't fit the standard on the eyes of the state?

privacyinternational.org/node/4472/

NADRA relies on the assumption that people belong to families that fit a fixed and traditional state-defined pattern, and automatically excludes all that don't. Social expectations as defined by the state have become embedded into its database.
Via @WIRED
wired.com/story/pakistan…

@WIRED What is occurring is that the issuance of ID cards is being refused when the system doesn't have marital records of people's parents for example, and this exclusion of access then propagates to all people further down the genealogical tree becoming a multi-generational issue.

@WIRED The same happens if a single or widowed mother is trying to register her children, as the system demands a child needs to be appended to two married parents and have a living father pinned as 'head of the family'.

@CodaStory 👉 codastory.com/authoritarian-…