A national identity card (1 Viewer)

[Generator]

Inquiry set to ignite ID card debate

Though this issue has been raised before, the thread that originally discussed the issue no longer exists. With that in mind, I thought that it would be best to create a new thread so that the discussion may continue (or be launched anew).

Have fun.

 

[gerhard]

But the Commissioner says it is too early to say what the benefits of a card would be.

This pretty much sums it up. No one will actually say what the benefit of having a card would be, yet we're going to spend lots of money looking into possible benefits. Bizarre.

 

[xeuyrawp]

I don't understand them, either. I think that they would just replace the ID function that many people use driver's licences and passports for...

 

[MoonlightSonata]

All I know, is closet communists are all for it and that's the worrying thing.

McCarthyism might have been all the rage once, but you're half a century too late.

 

[volition]

lol MoonlightSonata.

I'll share a point that I read somewhere. Basically the guy reckoned that a national ID card is fundamentally flawed because it attempts to make a citizen accountable to the government, and not the other way around. I think it's a fairly sound point.

Also, I doubt that there is much that government agencies don't already know about us (or are able to find out about us).

That said, I'm still not entirely convinced either way. I'd say I'm slightly against, but this could change if someone here puts together a good argument for them

 

[Sparcod]

I think it has something to do with stopping terrorists at airports. What is the ID card exactly?

 

[loquasagacious]

I can see efficiency advantages of an ID card which consolidated say drivers licence, photo ID, medicare, PBS, concession card, TFN, etc.

The card would obviously be encoded and display a unique number correlating to a file in a computerised central database which would carry various relevant information.

To me the primary concern is the integrity of the database which is vulnerable to:
Abuses of privacy via unauthorised access.
Intentional corruption by hackers.
Mistakes (think centrelink overpaying people - but worse).

A key question needing resolution would be that of whom can access the database and under what circumstances.

PwarYuex: It would not duplicate drivers licences - it would replace them.

 

[MoonlightSonata]

As mentioned by others, I share the concern that a national ID card would place too much important data in one central focus point. There is something positive to be said about the increased privacy and security of distributing information under decentralised databases and over multiple institutional sources/instruments.

 

[Lundy]

I don't know...I think the risks involved in storing all information in one centralised database are too great.

 

[withoutaface]

Against it, because it both invades privacy and shows no real benefits.

 

[davin]

anything can be forged, in time. if there's only one critical card, thats just one thing that has to get forged.

the topic has been getting tossed around in the u.s. as well, with no indication it would get put into use any time soon.

 

[withoutaface]

What has made them call for an identity card? I don't even understand that.

The renewed calls for an identity card came about after the London Bombings, but those bombers were born in England, so i don't really understand what relevance it has.

PS: Moonlight Sonata, you shall be the first before my senate comittee you communist .

You're the one who supports protectionism

EDIT: And wtf at you calling yourself libertarian in your profile

 

[withoutaface]

I am a libertarian.. I'm a bleedy heart hippy from way back.

Of course i'm for protectionism. Why would I want to degrade my country like that for?

Libertarians are quite the opposite of bleeding heart hippies dear, in fact they're more right wing than you'll ever be.

Protectionism hurts consumers by making them pay more for products, as well as employing workers in industries that a given country sucks at as opposed to ones at which they pwn and can make a larger profit margin on.

 

[erin_tonkin]

i cant really see the problem with the card. other than government spending which perhaps could be better spent elsewhere.

With the privacy thing. If someone really wanted to find out everything about you they really could and if it were all in one place it would not make much of a difference.

I think they want to make the card to figure out who is a legal australian and who isnt. So if you are.. what do you have to worry about?

 

[withoutaface]

I would prefer not to have my movements tracked by BB, because what I do is my business and they've yet to establish any real benefits to the card.

 

[nwatts]

i cant really see the problem with the card. other than government spending which perhaps could be better spent elsewhere.

With the privacy thing. If someone really wanted to find out everything about you they really could and if it were all in one place it would not make much of a difference.

I think they want to make the card to figure out who is a legal australian and who isnt. So if you are.. what do you have to worry about?

Nope.

"If someone really wanted to find out everything about you they really could and if it were all in one place it would not make much of a difference." It's not as simple as that. I'm going for a job, I scan my ID Card with my employer, he's now open to my entire medical history/criminal record/financial details/religious affiliations/etc. which could seriously impair the chances I'll get the job.

I leave my ID Card on the train. Some random picks it up, zing he knows everything about me. If i'm on a $400k a year income, he's going to come to my home and job me of my precious jewels and diamonds. Or worse, this guy looks similar to me, zing he assumes my identity. It sounds like sci-fi, but it's definitely a reality if this bullshit is passed.

Say I want to blow up a building because of my al qaeda links. I'm an australian citizen, i'm still a terrorist. How does the ID card protect the nation against me and my batshit insane beliefs? It doesn't. The london bombers were British citizens. If they had ID cards in Britain, they still would have been blown up.

It's absolutely ridiculous.

 

[iamsickofyear12]

I'm going for a job, I scan my ID Card with my employer, he's now open to my entire medical history/criminal record/financial details/religious affiliations/etc. which could seriously impair the chances I'll get the job.

I leave my ID Card on the train. Some random picks it up, zing he knows everything about me. If i'm on a $400k a year income, he's going to come to my home and job me of my precious jewels and diamonds. Or worse, this guy looks similar to me, zing he assumes my identity. It sounds like sci-fi, but it's definitely a reality if this bullshit is passed.

If there ever was a national identity card it would only be a glorified passport. There is absolutely no chance it would contain all that information with anyone off the street able to access it for exactly the reasons you mentioned.

There are also privacy laws so any medical or financial information on there would have to be very limited.

 

[nwatts]

If there ever was a national identity card it would only be a glorified passport. There is absolutely no chance it would contain all that information with anyone off the street able to access it for exactly the reasons you mentioned.

There are also privacy laws so any medical or financial information on there would have to be very limited.

If that's the case, what the hell point is there for the card then? It was my understanding that this particular card held a lot of information that could be called (with limitation) on whatever occasion.

Ruddock alludes to the card containing considerable information - "And when it relates to information of a health character, for instance, or matters of people's financial affairs, tax details, people want to be assured that their privacy in relation to those matters won't be breached."

 

[iamsickofyear12]

If that's the case, what the hell point is there for the card then? It was my understanding that this particular card held a lot of information that could be called (with limitation) on whatever occasion.

Ruddock alludes to the card containing considerable information - "And when it relates to information of a health character, for instance, or matters of people's financial affairs, tax details, people want to be assured that their privacy in relation to those matters won't be breached."

If you put all that information on a card there is no way of limiting who gets that information. If someone gets the card they will be able to get all the information.

There are privacy laws about financial and medical information and without a way to control which institutions can access specific information it can't be allowed on there.

There would be no point.

And on top of that if people didn't want to use it then it would be almost impossible for the government to set things up to force them to.

 

[nwatts]

If you put all that information on a card there is no way of limiting who gets that information. If someone gets the card they will be able to get all the information.

There are privacy laws about financial and medical information and without a way to control which institutions can access specific information it can't be allowed on there.

There would be no point.

And on top of that if people didn't want to use it then it would be almost impossible for the government to set things up to force them to.

I'm sure the computer nuts who work on these cards could authorise certain parts of information for certain scanners and not for others. The regulation of these scanners would have to be incredibly tight, but naturally they'd leak out and be sold on the black market.