Many people are opposed to ID cards. It seems to me that ID cards on their own are immensely useful – try to imagine international travel without passports – but the concern lies with their potential misuse.
In Estonia, a country really making the headlines, they seem to have worked out how to run an ID card system without any problems, and have been doing so for a decade now!
Some good points (read more at The Economist):
- The electronic ID cards, which are used in health care, electronic banking and shopping, to sign contracts and encrypt e-mail, as tram tickets, even to vote.
- Taxes take less than an hour to file, and refunds are paid within 48 hours.
- By law, the state may not ask for any piece of information more than once
- People have the right to know what data are held on them.
- It uses suitably hefty encryption.
- Two PIN codes, one for authentication (proving who the holder is) and one for authorisation (signing documents or making payments).
- Only a minimum of private data are kept on the ID card itself.
- Lost cards can simply be cancelled.
- In over a decade, no security breaches have been reported.
So, you can always find out the date the government has on you. One step authentication for everyday things, two step for important things. Losing the card doesn’t matter. One card for just about everything!
Finland is looking into using the same system.
(Yes, such a card is scary, but in reality we are using proxies for it all the time. When you open a bank account, rent a car or even rent a DVD you are asked for pretty serious forms of ID. Half the websites you sign-up to ask for your DOB…)
The concern for cloakers is how far does the ID go? Are your train journeys (paid with the card) tracked? Will you one day need to swipe it every time you purchase something? Will it have an RFID chip that tracks your location?
This wouldn’t be the first time that an acceptable idea has spread roots, and then unacceptable extensions have been surreptitiously added on.
You won’t be able to have a second identity….
