Singapore plans to launch country-wide facial recognition system that will replace photo IDs by 2022

The government of Singapore is preparing to transition to a facial recognition program it hopes will eliminate the need for ID cards by 2022. Beginning in June, kiosks fitted with cameras will be installed at a limited number of government agencies, and instead of presenting an ID card citizens will be able to check in for services with just their faces. The facial recognition system is a major expansion of the Smart Nation Initiative, which began in 2014 under Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and through which the state has built up a biometric database on more than four million Singaporeans over the age of 15. The facial recognition kiosks will crosscheck each new scan against this database to verify a person's identity, according to a report in The Strait Times. The kiosks will also work in tandem with SingPass Mobile, an app launched in 2018 that allows people to register their own finger print and face data with the government's biometric database.