Bill Gates he’s a quirky guy. Since his beginnings as co-founder of Microsoft until recently, such as with the pandemic, it has shown that it is a few steps ahead of its time.
But now, in his most recent project and proposal, he has baffled more than some, due to the nature of an unexpected and peculiar approach: completely eliminating ID cards in physical format.
Gone are the days where Bill Gates awkwardly danced to the rhythm of the Rolling Stones and became the subject of memes and global ridicule, years before there was even a notion of what a viral phenomenon was.
Now the philanthropist has set out to eliminate the national identity documents (DNI), those essential credentials for each citizen that serve as official identification before the authorities and that are generally required to carry out any procedure.
The voter card, passport and other documents are daily elements in the life of any person. That’s what anyone would think. But the reality is that there would be a significant number of the population that lacks access to these identifications.
Thinking of them the co-founder of Microsoft has revealed a new project and proposal where it seeks to change the order of things in recent decades.
Bill Gates wants to eliminate the physical use of identification documents such as ID and voter identification
On August 16, 2023 the official website of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has published an extensive section where the philanthropist and his foundation have presented their new project where they seek to evolve physical official identification credentials.
This project basically proposes to abandon the traditional format of these documents to migrate to the digital, which would generate, in theory, greater inclusion and better access to the labor market, education and different services:
“For the 850 million people around the world who lack any acceptable form of legal identity, the answer is no.
Proof of identity allows people to fully participate in the economy. It facilitates access to employment and education, as well as services such as banking, government programs and health care.
This is frankly not a new idea, just a simple search on his official blog of Gates Notes to find out how Bill Gates has been toying with this idea since at least 2019. Right before the pandemic.
From there the boy already recounted how in less developed countries and with low average salaries, about 50% of people do not have an official identity document or DNI.
This situation excludes them from a significant number of services and even rights. So your idea is not bad in principle.