Digital ID for age verification in alcohol sales gets varied guises in Delhi, Istanbul, UK

On whether to allow digital ID for age assurance when buying alcohol, some countries say yes, some say no, and some see an opportunity for dramatically increased biometric surveillance using facial recognition cameras.

Delhi denies digital ID for booze, ID cards mandatory

Delhi is aiming to crack down on underage drinking by tightening age verification rules and requiring establishments to check a physical copy of a government-issued ID.

The only digital IDs that will be permitted in the city, where the drinking age is 25, are those stored in the government’s Digilocker portal, according to reporting from the Economic Times.

In a reversal of the standard story in which mobile IDs are more secure than easily tampered-with physical identity documents, the government says the move is to prevent the use of fraudulent or edited digital IDs.

UK barkeeps to accept digital IDs for age assurance

Elsewhere in the world, trends are moving in the opposite direction.

In the new year, UK retailers are set to start accepting digital IDs for age assurance in alcohol sales. Staff at pubs, clubs and retail outlets will be able to perform age assurance checks using QR codes or contactless technology.

The initiative follows the successful rollout of digital age verification in UK cinemas through the GOV.UK One Login system, as the Kier Starmer government takes up the reins on the nation’s wider digital transformation.

Istanbul wants facial recognition surveillance of alcohol sales

Meanwhile, in Türkiye’s capital, businesses selling alcohol and cigarettes are now required to install facial recognition cameras and to store biometric data for at least a month.

A report from DuvaR.English says the Istanbul Governorship issued a notice to liquor stores and other businesses requiring camera systems to be installed “to monitor and record the sales area, all entry and exit points, and parking lots, if any, from various angles.”

The facial recognition cameras must be effective in low light or nighttime conditions and able to operate constantly.

While the set-up sounds much like a CCTV system for real-time biometric surveillance and security monitoring, the stated goal is more like an ambient, panopticon-esque form of age assurance: the governorship says its goal is “protecting minors under 18 from harmful habits such as alcohol and cigarettes.”

The rule goes into effect on January 1 and comes with penalties under the “non-compliance with orders” clause of the Misdemeanor Law.

Security, privacy, convenience, surveillance all part of biometric kebab

Türkiye occupies a balance point between biometric innovation and a government with autocratic tendencies, embodied in president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

According to research from Norton Rose Fulbright, in Istanbul and other large cities “security systems such as hand geometry recognition, iris or fingerprint scans are widely used to enter office buildings, new residential complexes and even luxury gyms.”

And there are data protection laws on the books. “Under the Turkish data protection regime, personal data may not be processed without the data subject’s explicit consent. Biometrics are treated as sensitive data under the Data Protection Law and are subject to the rules applicable to protection of sensitive personal data.”

And yet, Türkiye has danced with questionable uses of facial recognition technology before. In 2023, the country’s minister of interior faced a data privacy lawsuit after going on air to show off a state-developed mobile app with facial recognition capable of identifying everyone in the country.

Article Topics

age verification  |  biometrics  |  digital ID  |  face biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  retail biometrics