The Israel government has announced that its two-year smart ID card pilot project will soon begin. Hundreds of thousands of smart IDs, which will make it possible to receive government services from home, will be issued. The condition for receiving a smart ID card is to provide a fingerprint and facial photo that will be store in the biometric database that the government is trying to set up.

Deputy Accountant General Tal Hermeti said, "In the long term, there will be no reason for a citizen to arrive at a government office to receive service, because they will be able to get it at home, and quickly."

The project is meant to allow every Israeli citizen to perform a variety of online functions pertaining to government bureaus, including signing forms using a digital signature.

The project, however, first requires passing of a biometrics database bill, which spells out the guidelines for the formation of a biometric database for all of Israel's residents. It passed its first reading in late October.