Page 41 - U4SSC Blockchain for smart sustainable cities

Case 1. Facilitating Debt Relief in The Hague

The Dutch Central Judicial Debt Collection Agency More generally, there is the problem of limited
(CJIB) looked into solutions for better sharing control over personal digital information.
and analysis of data about people in debt among Companies benefit from tracking and storing
government agencies, without compromising information about individuals, often without
the people’s privacy. Several issues prompted their knowledge. Ideally, where data cannot
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this initiative. be aggregated and anonymized in particular,
individuals should have control and ownership
It is noted that there is a problem of widespread
and spiraling household debt. Some 1.4 million of their personal digital individual data
Dutch households have debt problems or are at (where possible). Moreover, some 1.1 billion
risk of plunging into debt. Minor issues related people worldwide lack any form of formal
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to an unpaid parking ticket may have serious identification (World Economic Forum, 2018)
consequences for people already in debt. Unpaid and consequently struggle to access basic
fines are automatically increased by the CJIB, services such as healthcare, education or credit.
who are also authorized to collect debts directly The Hague, as the international city of peace
from the bank accounts of citizens. This can set and justice, wants to build an infrastructure
off a chain reaction of costly measures, which for digital identity that can be benefitted from
can result in imprisonment and sometimes even globally in the future.
in destitution and homelessness. This can also In addition to these issues, there have been
be very expensive for the state: a report showed two motions filed in the Dutch House of
that resolving a EUR 14 000 debt could cost Representatives that relate to this project,
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Dutch society as much as EUR 269 000. In this and the National Ombudsman (2019) has also
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scenario, preventing debt makes financial sense argued for better measures for the fair collection
for society as a whole. Debt resolution involves a of debt in the Netherlands.
complex system of actors with uncertainty about There have been two successive phases of the
privacy-related issues. A person in debt might be project; a third is under development and two
in a city’s financial help programme; however, more are planned. The first phase involved
in many cases, debt collectors are not aware analyzing the problem, examining potential
of their position. While both are government solutions, and building the core ecosystem. The
agencies, they are separate, with distinct project is a collaboration between the CJIB, the
registers of individuals. Often, these entities Dutch Blockchain Coalition, Ledger Leopard
are reluctant to share personal information (development), Delft University of Technology
for fear of compromising privacy and violating and CMS firm lawyers.
privacy regulations. The same situation occurs
in services such as immigration and healthcare, The second phase included the technical
where personal information plays a pivotal role. development of a privacy-by-design tool that
Such agencies rely on self-verified data and allows individuals to share information on their
rarely attempt to gather additional information debt assistance from another agency with the
in order to obtain the full picture. CJIB, without revealing any further details.

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