July 27, 2009
By Mike Ferro
Bill Gates recently spoke at a conference in India, where he criticized the U.S. for being behind on data privacy, immigration and a centralized method for maintaining an individual’s information. Gates is currently working on developing an identification card system for India.
According to CNET, Bill Gates spoke at a conference in New Delhi, India to an audience of hundreds of government officials and IT executives from the country. Gates spoke of his vision of a world where cell phones can recognize people around them and computers with advanced voice recognition technology.
Gates indicated that Microsoft will be working on India’s national identity card project along with Nandan Nilekani, the Cabinet minister heading the project. Nilekani used to run one of India’s largest tech company, Infosys. Nilekani is now heading the project to develop a new ID card system starting in 2011 for India’s 1.2 billion. Currently, India keeps most of its information on hard copies distributed across different government offices.
Gates believes in the developing a central ID card program and criticized the lack of initiative from the U.S. government on adopting a similar system. He also indicated that the government should at least allow health care data to be centralized.
Gates also criticized the U.S. government’s policy on immigration, stating that individuals with higher education or “smart people” should get some leeway with immigration. He cited Canada as being progressive in this area. Gates indicated that Microsoft has created “a lot of jobs in Canada for that reason.”
Sharing health care information sounds like a great idea, but the dream of centralizing the data could be next to impossible considering the health insurance infrastructure in the U.S. Unlike many of the countries in the world, the U.S. relies on medical insurance companies to maintain individual’s information in data centers. A central ID card system similar to a driver’s license with health care information could help doctors identify an individual’s allergies or medical history quickly.
According to CNET, Bill Gates spoke at a conference in New Delhi, India to an audience of hundreds of government officials and IT executives from the country. Gates spoke of his vision of a world where cell phones can recognize people around them and computers with advanced voice recognition technology.
Gates indicated that Microsoft will be working on India’s national identity card project along with Nandan Nilekani, the Cabinet minister heading the project. Nilekani used to run one of India’s largest tech company, Infosys. Nilekani is now heading the project to develop a new ID card system starting in 2011 for India’s 1.2 billion. Currently, India keeps most of its information on hard copies distributed across different government offices.
Gates believes in the developing a central ID card program and criticized the lack of initiative from the U.S. government on adopting a similar system. He also indicated that the government should at least allow health care data to be centralized.
Gates also criticized the U.S. government’s policy on immigration, stating that individuals with higher education or “smart people” should get some leeway with immigration. He cited Canada as being progressive in this area. Gates indicated that Microsoft has created “a lot of jobs in Canada for that reason.”
Sharing health care information sounds like a great idea, but the dream of centralizing the data could be next to impossible considering the health insurance infrastructure in the U.S. Unlike many of the countries in the world, the U.S. relies on medical insurance companies to maintain individual’s information in data centers. A central ID card system similar to a driver’s license with health care information could help doctors identify an individual’s allergies or medical history quickly.