The Mexican government has pushed a controversial reform regarding the Unique Population Registry Code (CURP). The reform proposes turning the CURP into a mandatory digital identity system that includes biometric data such as fingerprints and facial recognition.
The Morena government is pushing this reform, under the argument of combating the severe crisis of disappearances in the country. However, civil organizations and experts warn that the real consequence would be a massive expansion of the state surveillance apparatus, without clear guarantees of human rights protection.
A dangerous pretext
The initiative, pushed under the discourse of addressing the crisis of disappearances, is not new. There have already been previous attempts to establish a digital identity card that were halted due to privacy concerns.
Today, the government resumes the plan with greater ambition and less transparency, taking advantage of the pain of families to impose a reform that could have serious implications for individual freedom.
Luis Fernando García, director of the Network in Defense of Digital Rights, criticized the use of suffering as justification for a system that doesn't address the causes of disappearances.
"It's unworthy to use the pain of families to push a policy that doesn't respond to their true demands", he stated.
