Google Adds Support for WEF’s ‘Digital Identity Program’

Big Tech giant Google has just rolled out an update for its Wallet app that includes support for the “Digital Identity Program” that’s being pushed by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Google Wallet, which was updated in May to replace Google Pay, allows people to use their smartphones in place of cash, credit and debit cards, event tickets, and travel boarding passes.

When it was recently rolled out in six additional countries – South Africa, Qatar, Iceland, Serbia, Moldova, and Azerbaijan – the app was also updated with some new features.

Among those new features includes support for a digital ID, health passes, and more.

After users add their payment cards to Google Wallet, they can use the app to make contactless payments using their Android and Apple IOS smartphones as well as wearable devices such as smartwatches.

With the new updates, users will also be able to add their “digital identity” in place of a passport and a digital health pass as proof of vaccination.

As Slay News recently reported, the government of Canada has just announced that it is working on a new federal “Digital Identity Program” after partnering with Klaus Schwab’s WEF.

Canada joins the Dutch government in developing a global digital ID system in partnership with the WEF.

The program seeks to create digital proof-of-identity documents for all citizens that are logged in a system used by airports, authorities, and government agencies.

Details about the development of a federal “Digital Identity Program” were revealed in the Canadian government’s “Canada’s Digital Ambition 2022” report.

“The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for government services to be accessible and flexible in the digital age,” the report published by the government reads.

“The next step in making services more convenient to access is a federal Digital Identity Program, integrated with pre-existing provincial platforms.

“Digital identity is the electronic equivalent of a recognized proof-of-identity document (for example, a driver’s license or passport) and confirms that ‘you are who you say you are’ in a digital context.”

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For the digital ID program, Canada is partnering with the WEF.

The WEF’s program is called “Known Traveler Digital Identity,” which the organization boasts is “the first global collaboration of its kind.”

“The Known Traveller Digital Identity, or KTDI, is a World Economic Forum initiative that brings together a global consortium of individuals, governments, authorities, and the travel industry to enhance security in world travel,” the WEF’s “Known Traveler Digital Identity” website says.

“The pilot group, convened by the World Economic Forum, consists of the Government of Canada and the Netherlands, Air Canada, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Montreal-Trudeau International Airport, Toronto Pearson International Airport, and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol,” the website notes.

Tech researcher Mishaal Rahman recently posted that Google Wallet will soon support the digital ID used at Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints.

“According to strings within Google Play Services v22.31.12, you’ll be able to ‘fly through TSA with just your phone’ by adding your state ID or driver’s license to Google Wallet and presenting it at ‘select TSA checkpoints’,” Rahman tweeted.

According to PYMNTS, the new features in Google Wallet indicate that Google is trying to make the software a “multipurpose identification super app, and hold its own against tough competition in the mobile wallet space.”

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By Frank Bergman

Frank Bergman is a political/economic journalist living on the east coast. Aside from news reporting, Bergman also conducts interviews with researchers and material experts and investigates influential individuals and organizations in the sociopolitical world.

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