Chile’s current approach to DI provides a very straightforward authentication mechanism that works for online services that are accessed through the browser. The quality of that identity is robustly underpinned by the Cédula de Identidad and an increasing number of government services are confident in using it for delivering value to citizens. Chile should continue to build on the SRCeI.
Indeed, the future vision for ClaveÚnica is significantly more sophisticated with the ambition to provide a suite of functionality to citizens including a data wallet and attribute exchange. The future plans for ClaveÚnica compare favourably with the ambitions and experiences of the countries surveyed in this study and Chile should be confident about progressing in that direction as it allows them to consider the transformation of services and redesign of the state rather than the more rudimentary like for like digitisation of existing analogue processes.
To support Chile in delivering a DI model that achieves the transformation of identity those involved with providing ClaveÚnica as a service should ensure they have a clear understanding of its users and their needs both within the provision of services and its implementation. For the public it is essential to simplify the experience of enrolment and usage to ensure it is easy to successfully use it. For colleagues within government steps need to be taken to facilitate the adoption of ClaveÚnica and the effective realisation of benefits.
An important characteristic of ClaveÚnica is its technical underpinnings. By being built on top of OpenID Connect, which is based on the Open ID and Open OAuth frameworks, the underlying architecture enables the simplicity enjoyed by private sector services that use forms of ‘Bring Your Own Identity’ to be applied to Chilean government services. The value of developing a straightforward technical solution can be seen in the speed with which ClaveÚnica has been adopted by government services in the last twelve months.
Although the way in which ClaveÚnica operates uses the Cédula de Identidad and its RUT as a means of second factor authentication, Chile should consider how the security of their DI model could be enhanced by implementing an SMS or Authentication app based confirmatory code when accessing services to ensure that the person accessing the service is the ClaveÚnica account holder. Chile should consider the role of mobile devices in supporting a simple approach to two-factor authentication rather than exploring smartcard approaches that may require the wholesale replacement of existing physical identity cards and the requirement for bespoke hardware either on an individual’s computer or in accessing a service.
It is also important that Chile recognises the importance of developing DI solutions that meet the needs of businesses and legal persons. This may be covered by the anticipated signature and attribute exchange functionality of ClaveÚnica but it is critical that any solution also works in the context of the existing needs and experience of the Chilean tax office (SII) (Servicio de Impuestos Internos). It may be effective for Chile to consider coordinating the development of Clave Unica with the needs of Chilean tax office (SII). . However, this does not need to be as high a priority for development as expanding the functionality of ClaveÚnica.
Although Chile’s Cédula de Identidad contains biometric data, in the shape of a photograph and a record of the right thumbprint, this is not a feature of the DI experience in Chile. Furthermore, the surveyed countries demonstrated that the application of biometric information for validating the identity of a user is not yet a mainstreamed activity and one that can draw other challenges in terms of data protection and the trust of populations, as well as potentially incurring greater costs. As such, it is refreshing to see that Chile is focused on getting the basics of identity working in an effective way that establishes trust amongst the population through the development of consent models and tools to manage access. As Chile develops its understanding about the needs for elevated levels of identity verification, and implements more sophisticated digital services that require the authentication offered by biometric proofs, then these applications could be considered, but this is not a priority at this phase of the development of ClaveÚnica.