The federal government in early 2014 launched the commercial element of its Document Verification Service (DVS), a national system that allows organisations to compare a customer's information with a government record.
The online system is managed by the Department of Home Affairs.
The DVS matches government-issued identity documents -- such as passports, birth certificates, or drivers licences -- directly with the government organisation that issued them and allows for checks in real-time to determine if the document is current and not lost or stolen.
As at 31 January 2020, there are 1,177 organisations using the DVS.
Of these, 1,080 are private sector users.
As detailed by Home Affairs in response to questions on notice taken during a round of inquiry from the Senate Select Committee on Financial Technology and Regulatory Technology last month, DVS private sector users have a handful of access criteria they need to meet to qualify.
Firstly, the entity needs to be based in Australia and operate subject to the Privacy Act 1988, or be based in New Zealand and operate under New Zealand's own Privacy Act 1993.
It needs a legal authority or requirement to collect, use, and disclose personal information, or have another "reasonable" need to use the service; and the entity must also obtain a person's consent before seeking to verify their personal information via the service.
During the committee's probe into the opportunities that fintech and regtech present to Australia, Home Affairs was asked for a list of who exactly has access to the DVS.
Rather than provide a list of users, the department listed the industry sectors its users represent. They are: Ban ..
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