{"id":3116,"date":"2026-03-15T19:29:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T22:29:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wai.global\/?p=3116"},"modified":"2026-03-15T19:31:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T22:31:09","slug":"digitalizar-sin-gobernanza-el-riesgo-que-los-estados-no-estan-viendo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wai.global\/en\/digitalizar-sin-gobernanza-el-riesgo-que-los-estados-no-estan-viendo\/","title":{"rendered":"Digitizing without governance, the risk that states are not seeing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Modern public management cannot work on paper. The citizens know it, the civil servants know it, the civil servants who still sign on paper eight times to approve a license also know it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem is not digitizing, on the contrary: digitizing is necessary. The problem is to do it without governance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Digitalization already has a legal framework. What is missing is criteria<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In Latin America, practically all countries have regulations that enable, if not require, the digitization of public administration. Argentina<\/strong> has Law 25,506 on digital signature and Decree 733\/2018 that drives the depapelization of the State. Uruguay<\/strong> has Law 18.220 on electronic documents and electronic signature. Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Brazil<\/strong> have their own equivalent frames.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no legal excuse for continuing to use paper.<\/strong> The authorization is there. What is missing, in most cases, is a serious implementation plan with real controls on how the data generated by these systems are safeguarded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because when the state digitizes, it not only gains efficiency. It also concentrates sensitive information of millions of people in systems that, if not well protected, become targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What happens when digitalization lacks governance?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 2025, the organization Derechos Digitales published the report \u201cIdentities for Sale\u201d.\u201d<\/a><\/em>, The results of empirical research conducted between October 2024 and February 2025 in Brazil, Peru and Argentina. What they found is hard to ignore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers identified 27 active groups and channels on Telegram dedicated to buying and selling personal data.<\/strong> We are not talking about names and e-mails. We are talking about ID photographs, fingerprints, vaccination records, credit status, family ties, addresses with a direct link to Google Maps. All accessible with a bot command, in a matter of seconds, upon payment of between 3 and 15 dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most worrying aspect of the report is not the criminals operating these channels. The most worrying thing is where the information comes from.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers observed that some of the data marketed have formats, coding and institutional watermarks that are compatible with the official records of Argentine, Peruvian and Brazilian agencies. In some cases, Peruvian judicial certificates were generated in real time<\/strong>, on the same date and time as the bot query. The hypothesis that the report does not rule out: in certain cases, bots could be operating with valid institutional credentials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, the illegal market for Latin American identities may be functioning, at least in part, thanks to vulnerabilities in the State's own systems.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The structural problem is what happens inside<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the legal framework and regulatory bodies, there is a more everyday and more difficult problem to solve: what happens inside each public body when no one is watching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agencies that manage large volumes of information often lack comprehensive risk management policies, regular technical audits and monitoring mechanisms on who accesses what information and when.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some simple questions that most public agencies in the region cannot answer today:<\/p>\n\n\n\n