Digital IDs, Data, and Trust: Sri Lanka's New Social Contract

Sri Lanka's $50 million digital public infrastructure rollout introduces unified IDs, data-sharing platforms, and citizen portals serving 22 million, but success pivots on building ironclad trust through privacy safeguards. "Lanka Digital" enables instant welfare access, license renewals, tax e-filing—slashing 70% bureaucracy—but centralizes 10 petabytes sensitive data, mirroring India's Aadhaar (1.3B users, 100+ breaches).​

Estonia's X-Road (99% services, zero major breaches) models federated architecture minimizing single failure points. Sri Lanka's draft Personal Data Protection Act mandates 72-hour breach notifications, opt-in consent, Rs100M fines—yet lacks independent oversight body.

Civil society demands: encrypted-by-default, annual audits by international standards, citizen data portability. Benefits dazzle: farmers get instant subsidies (Rs50B saved corruption), pensioners queue-free payments, exporters 5-day registrations versus 45.

Digital divide risks exclusion: 40% rural offline, 25% illiterate elderly need multilingual voice interfaces, community kiosks. Gender focus trains 100K women for digital literacy.

Global lessons abound: Singapore's SingPass delivers 4,000 services securely; failures like Australia's MyHealthRecord rollback teach consent primacy.

In conclusion, digital IDs forge efficient social contract if privacy-by-design prevails. Transparent governance plus universal access ensures technology serves citizens, cementing trust for Sri Lanka's connected future.

References:
https://www.newswire.lk/2025/12/20/world-bank-approves-50-million-project-to-support-sri-lankas-digital-transformation/
https://mobileidworld.com/world-bank-backs-sri-lanka-digital-public-infrastructure-effort-with-50m-project/
https://themorningtelegraph.com/36728/