By 2021: The Year Of Corporate/Government COVID Passports And Digital ID’s
(by MassPrivatei) – 2021 was a year that saw corporations and government officials worldwide work together to force the public to accept digital COVID health passports and ID’s. From January-February, talk about COVID health passports was relatively quiet, but March-May had an unprecedented effort to adopt COVID health passports and digital ID’s the likes of which the world has never seen.
Organizations like the WHO, who started out opposing COVID passports figure prominently in the push to get people to accept COVID health passports. Big Tech companies like Microsoft and Apple stand to make millions from COVID health passports, while biometric companies like CLEAR, NEC and IDEMIA stand to make millions off of digital ID’s.
It is my hope people will see what I have witnessed this year. Corporations are deeply embedded with governments everywhere in their never-ending quest for profit and global surveillance.
January
Vaccine Passports Are Big Tech’s Latest Dystopian Nightmare:
Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce Developing Rockefeller-Funded COVID Passports:
SITA Aero: Six Technology Trends Set To Transform Air Travel in 2021 (Digital ID’s/Facial Recognition)
IDEMIA Unveils Next Generation (Facial Recognition) Mobile ID’s in Oklahoma:
Biometrics companies rush to launch Covid ‘passports’
World Health Access VAX Passbook:
Vaccine passports: what are they and do they pose a danger to privacy?
“The UK companies are not the only ones working on a solution. A coalition of American organizations, including Microsoft, Oracle and the Mayo Clinic, have launched the Vaccination Credential Initiative.”
The Vaccination Credential Initiative:
“Coalition partners include CARIN Alliance, Cerner, Change Healthcare, The Commons Project Foundation, Epic, Evernorth, Mayo Clinic, Microsoft, MITRE, Oracle, Safe Health, Salesforce.”
You Can Now Get a COVID ‘Passport’ for $19.95
U.S. ‘actively looking’ at mandating COVID-19 testing for domestic air travel:
Airlines push back on potential Covid testing for domestic flights:
IDEMIA, National Security Solutions and StereoVision Imagine work together to use facial recognition and LiDar to ID people:
February
Vaccine passports: path back to normality or problem in the making?
Vision-Box and Airside Mobile work together to accelerate the adoption of COVID health passports:
Tech5 provides biometric proof (facial recognition) of a holder’s vaccination status:
United Airlines To Only Allow “Ready To Fly” Passengers Who Have Been Screened By TrustAssure To Board Planes:
Beginning with U.S.-entry flights, and in partnership with TrustAssure, customers will be able to directly upload and verify their documents at check-in through a new functionality available via Delta channels such as pre-flight emails and Delta.com – making it for customers whose destination requires a negative COVID-19 test. A ‘Ready to Fly’ screen on mobile devices will indicate the customer has provided a verified COVID test.
“TrustAssure”
United Airlines CEO: Mandatory Vaccines “Will Become What Most Companies Do”
American Airlines Expands Its Acceptance Of VeriFLY App (Facial Recognition/COVID Testing) To All Airports:
“Starting Wednesday, Feb. 3, customers traveling from all of American’s domestic airports to eight countries will have the option to use the free VeriFLY app to upload required travel documents such as negative coronavirus (COVID-19) test results, and show those credentials in order to travel on American.”
Vision-Box Sees COVID As An Excuse To Increase Facial Recognition At Airports:
COVID Was Excuse For CBP To Install Facial Recognition At 76 Airports:
Hawaii Airports To Use Clear’s Health Pass (Facial Recognition) To Scan Visitors:
Driver’s licenses are too often used as a tool of oppression:
March
WHO: Countries Should Not Require Coronavirus ‘Vaccine Passports’
Merkel: EU Leaders ‘Have All Agreed That We Need Vaccine Passports’
CBS Declares You’ll Need A COVID ‘Vaccination Passport’ To Travel By Summer 2021:
With vaccinations increasing, CBS travel editor Peter Greenberg says trips, both domestic and international, could increase by the summer. There will be one big difference though – you’re likely going to need proof that you’ve been vaccinated.
Covid vaccine passports are being considered. And health experts and rights groups are deeply concerned:
Vaccination ‘passports’ may open society, but inequity looms:
NEC, Microsoft Executives To Lead The Security Industry Association’s Biometrics Advisory Board:
EU to propose vaccine certificates in time for summer holidays:
Digital Vaccine Passports Being Rolled Out Everywhere to Prove You’ve “Got Your Shots”
State of New York is testing a ‘COVID passport’
Documents Show Agreements Between CBP and JetBlue for “SITA” Facial Recognition Boarding:
“The purpose of this MOU for the Parties is to collaborate on JetBlue’s proposed pilot program to utilize facial biometrics to verify the identity of travelers prior to their departure on JetBlue international flights from Boston Logan Airport and John F. Kennedy Airport in the United States.”
SITA’s airline passenger system hit by a data breach:
Human API and CLEAR work together to ID people who have been vaccinated:
“Today, Human API, announced their partnership with CLEAR and their Health Pass platform. As the availability of COVID-19 testing products continues to grow and while COVID-19 vaccines are being distributed across the nation, organizations and businesses are increasingly looking for ways to securely verify consumer identities along with their COVID test results and vaccination status from accredited medical institutions.”
IBM And Moderna Work Together To Capitalize on COVID Health Pass:
“IBM is partnering with Covid-19 mRNA vaccine maker Moderna to track vaccine administration in real-time through its various blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, and hybrid cloud services. According to a company press release, the collaboration will focus on exploring the utility of IBM capabilities in the U.S., such as a recently unveiled pilot program for a Covid-19 Digital Health Pass in the State of New York, which effectively deputizes private businesses to enforce government-imposed Covid-19 regulations.”
China introduces world’s first ‘virus passport’ program:
UN economist claims biometric vaccine passports should be adopted by developing countries:
“The US, EU, UK and Israel, among others, have announced plans to study the feasibility of vaccine passports that could be carried on a smartphone, while the International Air Transport Association, the World Economic Forum and IBM have versions that are ready to roll out.”
Hyatt Hotels Corporation to use VeriFLY COVID facial recognition and thermal imaging:
“Hyatt Hotels Corporation announced plans to explore VeriFLY + Stay, a mobile health passport for the hospitality industry using the VeriFLY app that provides verification of COVID-19 credentials and travel guidelines.”
IATA “Vaccine” Travel Pass Successfully Trialed On First International Flight:
EU ‘vaccine passports’ will only be valid with EMA-approved COVID jabs
EU Commission proposes a Digital Green “Vaccination” Certificate:
Europe’s rush for a COVID-19 ‘digital pass’ stirs privacy concerns:
Why You Should Question Vaccine Passports:
Vaccine Passports and Medical Martial Law:
Vaccine passports pose ethical thicket for Biden administration:
Walmart And Sam’s Club To Give People CLEAR Digital Vaccination Cards:
Why you don’t want to post a selfie with your vaccine card:
American Airlines uses VeriFLY facial recognition boarding at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport:
EU: One step closer to the establishment of the ‘permission-to-travel’ scheme
MEPs, EU leaders put pedal to the metal to ready vaccine certificates for summer:
A Vaccine Passport Is the New Golden Ticket as the World Reopens:
Get Ready to Show Your Vaccine Passport Everywhere:
Nippon Airways to trial IATA “vaccine” travel pass
Delaware- DMV To Use IDEMIA Biometric Digital Drivers Licenses And ID’s
Iowa- IDEMIA’s Digital Drivers License Passes UL’s mDL Conformity Assessment:
Sacramento, Calif. DMV warns of REAL ID related phishing scam:
April
WHO says it does not back ‘vaccine passports’ for now:
WHO Rejects ‘Vaccine Passports’ But Encourages Governments To Require Them In The Future:
“The emergency committee advised governments “do not require proof of vaccination as a condition of entry, given the limited (although growing) evidence about the performance of vaccines in reducing transmission and the persistent inequity in the global vaccine distribution. States Parties are strongly encouraged to acknowledge the potential for requirements of proof of vaccination to deepen inequities and promote differential freedom of movement.”
China Has Asked WHO to Let it Run Global ‘Vaccine Passport’ System
Hong Kong journalist who exposed China’s influence over the WHO quits:
WHO’s Smart ‘Vaccination Passport’ Working Group:
ACLU warns ‘a lot can go wrong’ with digital ‘vaccine passports’:
“Unless a vaccine credential system is completely decentralized and user-centric, it creates the potential for amassing new personal data. If some big company is getting notified any time someone reads one of your credentials, that would let them track your movements and interests — the stores, concerts, and transportation venues you visit, and much more. In the absence of airtight legal protections for privacy, any such information could then be sold for commercial purposes or shared with law enforcement.”
The ‘Vaccine Passport’ Propaganda Template:
How national ID systems (vaccine passports) make social protection inaccessible to vulnerable populations:
IATA says COVID vaccine travel pass app to launch on Apple mid-April:
IATA Travel Pass Initiative:
The Global Privacy Assembly Executive Committee statement on the use of health data for domestic or international travel:
UK Prime Minister: The world will “definitely” use ‘vaccination passports’
Hawaii Unveils ‘Vaccine Passports’ For Inter-Island Travel:
Unisys and Inspire Health Alliance Unveil New U-Pass ‘Vaccine Passport’:
‘Vaccine passports’ are latest flash point in COVID politics:
“We have constitutional rights and health privacy laws for a reason,” said Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, a Republican. “They should not cease to exist in a time of crisis. These passports may start with COVID-19, but where will they end?”
Florida governor vows to ban ‘vaccine passports’ over privacy concerns:
“It’s completely unacceptable,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said of what he called “vaccination passports,” a card or some other method of proving an individual has been inoculated against the virus. “You want to go to a movie theater, should you have to show that? No. You want to go to a game, [or] a theme park? No. So we’re not supportive of that.”
“You want the fox to guard the hen house? I mean give me a break. I think this is something that has huge privacy implications. It is not necessary to do,” DeSantis said.
Naomi Wolf Warns ‘Vaccine Passports’ Are the ‘End of Human Liberty in the West’
CNN ‘Medical Expert’ & CDC Suggest Americans’ “Freedoms” Be Restricted Until They Are Vaccinated:
IDEMIA and Cybernetica work together to create facial recognition/digital ID for smartphones:
Utah DMV launches GET Group North America Mobile Driver’s License Pilot:
Airlines Won’t Call Digital ID A ‘Vaccine Passport’ Because “It Carries Too Many Connotations”
EU- New ad-hoc working group starts secretly working on ‘vaccine passports’
“This type of certificate raises serious issues concerning fundamental rights and civil liberties – for example regarding freedom of movement or access to venues or public spaces, non-discrimination and privacy and data protection.” Asked whether the ad-hoc working group would be keeping minutes of its meetings, the Council’s press office told Statewatch: “There won’t be minutes as such. With the rapidly advancing legislative texts, we have chosen to reflect the positions expressed by Member States in compromise proposals that are presented by the Presidency at the next meeting and that Member States often send their comments in writing to others of the Member States.”
U.K., EU Face Privacy Criticism for Covid-19 Passport Plans:
The European Court for Human Rights: Mandatory vaccines are ‘necessary in democratic society’
Compulsory vaccines can be seen as “necessary in a democratic society,” the Strasbourg-based court said in its ruling, which came on a 16-1 vote.
The European Data Protection Board: ‘Vaccine passports’ must be proportionate, legal
The Futility of ‘Vaccine Passports’
It splits society into the jabbed and the jabless, creating the perception that the vaccine is de facto compulsory and that those who refuse one will face social exclusion. “If you have vaccine inequalities by ethnicity, by race, and also by social deprivation, and you add vaccine passports for basic social activities onto that, you begin to get vaccine apartheid,” Stephen Reicher, a member of a group of behavioral scientists.
IDEMIA wants Europe to adopt a facial recognition airport entry-exit system:
INTERPOL Uses IDEMIA’s Facial Recognition And Fingerprint Scanning To ID People:
IDEMIA’s New (COVID) Health Travel Pass Uses Facial Recognition:
IDEMIA’s Facial Recognition Health Travel Pass Allegedly Reduces Public Health Risks:
US ‘vaccine passports’ advance despite growing controversy:
Biden White House in talks with airlines on ‘vaccine passports’; will issue guidance
Why we’re not getting a national ‘vaccine passport’
As Washington Post writer Geoffrey Fowler notes in his review of New York’s Excelsior vaccine passport, it is easy to steal someone else’s credential simply using publicly available information, including tweets.
Arizona governor bans ‘vaccination passports’
Texas Governor Bans ‘Vaccine Passports’
The ‘No Vaccine Passports Act’ Has Officially Been Introduced in Congress:
US COVID contract details are a “trade secret”—according to the contractors:
“The records we got back had significant redactions—including the company’s costs, the identities of those who worked on the project, and even Deloitte’s explanation for why it was qualified to do the job.”
US government is purchasing (CLEAR) smart data to spy on its citizens:
“The information collated by the government, unbeknown to most citizens, is transferred into a database called CLEAR. This digital repository holds in excess of 400 million names, addresses and service records drawn from 80 utility companies providing services like water, gas and electricity, and phone, Internet and cable TV.”
COVID Became Excuse To Run Statewide Surveillance Programs:
All 30 NBA Teams To Use CLEAR Facial Recognition “Health Pass” To ID Fans:
“Health Pass is a free, mobile experience by CLEAR that securely connects a user’s verified identity to multiple layers of COVID-19-related health information – like test results – to help reduce public health risk and aid in the safe return of fans to NBA venues in the United States. CLEAR’s Health Pass allows fans to securely access and verify their health information prior to entering an arena.”
“The partnership makes Clear’s COVID-19 health screening technology available to all 30 teams in their NBA arenas.”
Europe risks another tech tangle with ‘vaccine passports’
The Council of Europe guideline on ‘vaccine passports’ and human rights:
EU- Airlines could use new EU COVID pass this summer:
‘Vaccine Passports’ Could Unlock World Travel and Cries of Discrimination:
7 Reasons Why a ‘Vaccine Passport’ Should Give Us Pause for Thought:
Orange County’s ‘Vaccine Passports’ Would Allow Private Businesses To Ban People:
But, OC Health Officer Dr. Clayton Chau told supervisors, private businesses can require people to show proof of vaccinations or negative tests. “Can the government do that? The answer now is no. Can the private side do that? The answer is yes,” he said. “We don’t make decisions on whether a business will use proof or not.”
Digital Rights Bodies Warn Against Use of Facial Recognition Technology in Vaccination Drive:
Millions of Americans could be grounded from flying because of REAL ID deadline:
DHS wants to put REAL-ID drivers licenses on smartphones:
“The DHS notice purporting to invite the public to submit comments on a secret document, not available to the public, that might be incorporated into DHS regulations, exemplifies everything that is wrong with both secret law and the outsourcing of “lawmaking” to entities such as AAMVA that are nominally private and not subject to Federal or state freedom of information, public records, or open meetings laws.”
Minimum Standards for Driver’s Licenses and Identification Cards Acceptable by Federal Agencies for Official Purposes; Mobile Driver’s Licenses:
May
European Scientists Admit To Using Fear To Control People’s Behavior During COVID:
WHO calls for global system of surveillance, more authority over nations, billions more in funding:
COVID-19: Make it the Last Pandemic
E.U. To Let Vaccinated U.S. Tourists (Vaccine Passports) Visit This Summer:
‘No happy ending’ as EU countries and MEPs clash over coronavirus certificates (vaccine passports)
28 advocacy and civil liberties groups oppose EU digital green certificate (vaccine passport)
EU digital green certificate (vaccine passport) has many privacy concerns and no sunset clause:
Document Proves Plans For Digital Green Certificate (Vaccine Passport) In the Works Since at Least 2019:
A document listed on the European Union’s website shows a 2019-2022 RoadMap on “Strengthening Cooperation Against Vaccine Preventable Diseases” which makes it clear that Europe’s highest legislative body had planned for years to develop some type of vaccine passport. The EU’s website details how the Road Map has been in development since December 2017.
TECH5 Becomes a General Partner and a Contributor to the Good Health Pass Collaborative (Vaccine Passport) and Advocacy Advisory Committee of ID2020:
“From its inception, TECH5 worked with government organizations in providing its facial recognition and expertise for National ID projects in a variety of countries across Africa, Middle East and Asia.
‘Big battle’ looms over the EU’s coronavirus travel certificates (vaccine passports)
EU- Member states approve EU COVID travel certificate (vaccine passports)
Most U.S. companies will require proof of Covid vaccination from employees:
DHS secretary: ‘We’re taking a very close look at’ vaccine passports
DHS Backpedals After Mayorkas Says ‘We’re Taking a Very Close Look’ at Vaccine Passports:
DHS extends REAL-ID airport enforcement “deadline” again:
Today’s DHS press release is more like a ransom note than a legal notice: “If you get an ID we deem acceptable, we might not harass you as much when you fly, and we might allow you to exercise your right to travel. But compliance with the REAL-ID Act was, and still is, optional for both states and individuals.”
Pro-Border Biometric Surveillance Company, Encourages Sports Stadiums To Use CLEAR Facial Recognition:
Over 60 Sports Stadiums And Other Venues Are Using CLEAR Facial Recognition ‘Vaccine Passport’:
“As a business based on replacing physical IDs, tickets and credit cards with facial or fingerprint recognition, Clear has a huge opportunity in emerging health-check rules that would familiarize more people with its technology. Clear users upload a driver’s license or other identity document and take a selfie, which the system checks to make sure they match before connecting to COVID-19 test results from hundreds of labs or the proof of vaccination.”
Facial Recognition ‘Vaccine Passports’ Are Coming To Sports Venues:
“Besides MLB stadiums, Clear also partnered with NBA teams to help get fans back to the game by verifying health insights for a safer and touchless entry at select venues for the 2020 – 2021 season, the company said.”
Nationwide Hockeyfest Event To Use PredictMedix Face Scanning/Thermal Imaging Devices On Fans:
The University Of Alabama To Use “Transact” Biometric Digital ID’s To Track Students:
16 Universities Are Using “Transact” Biometric Digital ID’s To Track Students:
Digital driver’s licenses gaining momentum amid pandemic:
“At least 17 states have considered or implemented digital driver’s licenses: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.”
Facial Recognition Companies Use COVID-19 To Convince States To Use Digital Licenses:
ACLU: “Digital IDs Could Be a Nightmare”
Identifying people is… an exercise in power. By making it more convenient to show ID and thus easier to ask for it, mDLs [digital “mobile drivers licenses”} will inevitably make demands for ID more frequent in American life. They may also lead to the routine use of automated or “robot” ID checks carried out not by humans but by machines. Depending on how a digital ID is designed, it could also allow centralized tracking of all ID checks, and raise other privacy issues. We might even see demands for driver’s license checks become widespread online. This would enormously expand the tracking information such ID checks could create and, in the worst case, make it nearly impossible to engage in online activities that aren’t tied to our verified, real-world identities….
New Thomson Reuters Marketplace Selects iComplyKYC as a Digital Identity and KYC Partner
“Easily ID Customers And Create Watchlists”
Italian Data Protection Authority: Major Critical Issues for ‘Vaccination Passports’
“Excessive data are included in the pass, which must be produced in case of controls – in breach of the data minimization principle. In order to ensure the pass produced was valid, it would have been enough for the pass to only show its expiry date without using different pass types depending on whether one had got the disease or had been vaccinated. Moreover, the system as currently proposed might be affected – especially in the initial, transitional period – by inaccurate or obsolete data, which might in turn severely affect individuals’ freedom of movement.”
https://edpb.europa.eu/news/national-news/2021/italian-dpa-major-critical-issues-vaccination-pass_en
‘Vaccine Passports’ open the door to a new set of data privacy concerns:
‘Vaccine Passports’ Are Just a Way for the Regime to Expand Its Power:
Why COVID-19 Vaccine “Passports” Threaten Human Rights:
IBM’s “Vaccine Passports” Have Arrived in New York
“IBM has history of collecting personal data.”
ImmunaBand Bracelet Is A Wearable ‘Vaccine Passport’
Chicago Restaurants To Create ‘Vaccinated Only’ Sections:
Utah Restaurant Requires Vaccination Card And ID:
Utah could soon have IDEMIA digital driver’s licenses:
“At least five states have implemented a mobile driver’s license program. Three others — Utah, Iowa and Florida — intend to launch programs by next year, with more expected to follow suit.”
Wyoming becomes latest state to ban ‘vaccine passports’:
Alabama bans vaccine passports:
Acuant and Airside work together to create a facial recognition digital ID vaccine passport:
“The Airside Digital Identity App provides the accurate verification of passports and driver’s licenses powered by Acuant, which can be used and re-used for a variety of services, including the linking of verified IDs to COVID tests and vaccination records.”
“Verifly” To Accept Facial Recognition ‘Vaccine Passports’ Globally:
A Singapore-EU digital agreement could help align standards for ‘vaccine passports’
Moroccan Government To Require All Travelers To Have Digital ‘Vaccine Passports’
June
The ICAO Encourages Countries To Share Advanced Passenger Information And Vaccine Passport Information:
(The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is a “United Nations Specialized Agency”)
Red Cross Encouraging Countries To Create National Digital ID’s
ID2020 Unveils Draft Blueprint for Digital Health Pass: The Good Health Pass Collaborative
The EU is set to unveil plans for a bloc-wide digital wallet for IDs, payments and passwords:
European Commission proposes ‘digital identity wallet’
The EU has introduced a new ‘digital’ ID. Here’s what it means for you:
If approved, the plan would allow people to use a facial recognition app to prove their identity online, whether that’s to verify their age or to check their driver’s license.
The FIDO Alliance’s “Focus on Europe” summit is all about facial recognition and digital ID’s
European Parliament gives green light to EU Digital COVID Certificates:
Germany Rolls Out EU Digital COVID Certificates:
Spain to Start Issuing EU Digital COVID Certificates:
Seven EU Countries Roll Out Digital COVID Certificates (Vaccine Passports)
Will the Excelsior Pass, New York’s Vaccine Passport, Catch On?
“More than 1 million Excelsior passes have been downloaded since they were introduced.”
56% of Americans don’t trust vaccine passports to protect their personal data:
GAO releases report on digital vaccine ID’s:
Vaccine Passports: Are Business Rights More Important Than Personal Freedom?
Gov. Scott introduces bill banning ‘vaccine passports’ for domestic flights
Freedom To Fly Act:
California’s rising tide of COVID vaccination records raise privacy concerns:
Three Geisinger Locations In Philadelphia Use “CERTIFY Health” Facial Recognition To ID Patients:
Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Announce Affiliation Agreement:
New Jersey Senate Bill Would Allow Digital Drivers Licenses:
“Pending passage by both houses of the legislature and approval by Gov. Phil Murphy, New Jersey could join 11 other states that either offer mobile driver’s licenses or are planning pilot projects to test it.”
Utah credit union to participate in first pilot of mobile driver’s license program:
