MisTek - Technological Misbehaviour

Australia’s pending smart card for health and welfare has been compromised before it has even been released.

In a stunning admission by the government, it has come to light that information contained on the “non-compulsory” health and welfare card will be made available to the Australian Secret Intelligence Organisation and the Australian police.

Background

The new health and welfare smartcard was announced recently by the Prime Minister who has slated $1 billion dollars for its development and rollout.

With the inclusion of photographs and personal biometrics data, the purpose of the card, according to the government is to help combat fraud and false claims on the health system and welfare departments.

While the PM has mandated that the card’s takeup be done on a strictly voluntary basis, several privacy groups have raised concerns that people will have difficulties accessing health and welfare without the care - in effect making it “compulsory by stealth.” Some take it further to claim that the card will be in effect, a de facto national ID card.

ASIO and the Police

With the recent admission that the data on the cards could be used by ASIO and the police, fears must now be held for the further “function creep” of the card.

In a system sold as a solution to the legitimate fraud woes of the health and welfare systems, it is difficult to see the justification for extending the use of the acquired data to include wider law enforcement issues.

The sad fact is that this move simply confirms the suspicions of privacy groups and the fact that the admission has been made even prior to the rollout of the card must raise serious questions over the government’s further intentions for the card.

Function Creep

When initiatives such as smart cards are rolled out, they are usually done with the best of intentions. It is the later discovery of additional utility that leads such initiatives to become far wider in scopre than their initial intent. A perfect example is a smart card that was initially intended to limit welfare fraud, later being used by security services for non-welfare related issues.

The interesting part of this current scenario is that the government has already announced the first step of function creep for the proposed card.

Once the card has been introduced, any control on further function creep is largely out of the public’s hands.

Technorati Tags: ID, ID card, privacy, Australia

In an amazingly anti-free speech move, the office of the Australian Prime Minister has moved to close down a satirical website.

The John Howard website (formerly at http://johnhowardpm.org) includes a satirical “sorry speech” from the PM apologising for the Iraq War (Australia was one of only two counrties to send troops for the initial invasion).

The site which is owned and maintained by social commentator Richard Neville, was regsitered with domain name registrar, Melbourne IT and was shut after the company was contacted by the Prime Minister’s office who cited copyright concerns as their reasons for making the complaint.

Despite the fact that Neville claims the site was made to look similar to the official website of the Prime Minister, but not exactly the same, the nature of the complaint raises several interesting issues, not least of which is the question of political censorship in a functioning democracy.

The arbiter of the claimed copyright violation in this case appears to be Melbourne IT. A certain level of intimidation can simply be assumed when an office (possibly the most important one in the country) full of bureaucrats with law degrees calls your company making threats, despite the company’s spurious claims that it acted on its own judgement and that the site in question looked like a “phishing site.” 

While the comedian in question may have indeed infringed copyright by copying the “look” of the real Prime Minister’s website, it’s reasonable to assume that more than just strict adherence to copyright issues was on the agenda of the PM’s office when they made the complaint.

The saga can now be followed at the comedian’s personal website - http://richardneville.com

Technorati Tags: John Howard, censorship, Australia

In what is certainly the most disgusting cases of techno misbehavior yet reported by this site, Federal authorities in the US have uncovered a child pornography ring. US Attorney General Gonzalez described the content, which included a man going down on an infant, children under the age of 7 being molested, and other abominable acts, as “the worst imaginable forms of child pornography”. The indictment names many defendants by screen name only, and apparently several suspects are still at large, though, the Justice Department will not name which ones at this point. Fortunately, the majority have been apprehended.

The group spanned a rather large geographic area, not surprising given the networked nature of the group, and several members are based outside of the US, in such places as the UK and Australia. There is no word yet on whether or not the US gov’t shared the information with these gov’ts so that they could be apprehended before evidence could be destroyed once news of their comrades being arrested arrived. The group used peer-to-peer program WinMX to exchange the pornography and to chat about its activities. Royal Raymond Weller, going by the screen name of “G.O.D. ” (not much of a power complex going on there, eh?), based out of Clarkesville, Tennessee, did the majority of the hosting, but apparently the footage was produced by various members of the group.

For years, governments, such as the United States, have poured billions of dollars into high tech space technology. Most of it has been pretty benign, compared to the other technologies being pursued on land. The most objectionable known to the common folk have been spy satellites and the “Star Wars” initiative, neither of which has offensive capabilities (offensive as in they can kill you, at least).

Recently, however, some people have become concerned with hostile government activity in outer space, among them Bruce Gagnon, who runs the “Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space” organization up in Maine. A lot of Gagnon’s writing reads like it’s from the tin-foil hat section of the local mental ward, but as the adage goes, there can be truth in the ravings of madmen.

One cause of this concern is the upcoming “March Storm”, an annual aerospace lobby session on Capitol Hill. Apparently this year is full of companies just itching to give the US space-based weapons capabilities. Many object to this, citing (morality aside, of course) the massive budgets these projects require, and illegality due to the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (commonly known as the Outer Space Treaty). However, the US government is not known for frugality, especially under the George W. Bush administration. Also, the Outer Space Treaty is very softly worded and vague (as most treaties are). The only weapons specifically outlawed by it are nuclear weapons and other ‘weapons of mass destruction’. It outlaws military bases and maneuvers, but is careful to mention that use of the military for “scientific research or for any other peaceful purposes shall not be prohibited. And face it, nothing short of a war up there will get a country to admit whatever it is doing is not with ‘peaceful purposes’ in mind. Failing that, the current administration has also shown it is not above withdrawing from treaties that it just doesn’t like. President Bush has already called for a permanent base on the moon by 2020.

So how serious is the issue of space militarization? Most likely it’s just a matter of time. Many countries have quite a lot of spy satellites, and most are used for military support. China is already researching anti-satellite weapons, and most other advanced nations keen on a strong military are sure to follow. The moon is also rich in Helium-3, which many researchers believe holds the key to clean fusion, which makes it very desirable, something worth fighting and researching weapons for.

But, whenever it happens, it won’t be soon. Any projects picked up during this “March Storm” would probably take decades to put into practice. And while doubtful, there is always the slim possibility that it just won’t happen. Just look at how long the “Star Wars” project has been kicked around, all without anything practical coming out of it.

Singaporean student, Tammy Nyp is at the center of a storm of publicity on the internet and especially in the blogosphere that will leave a lasting negative impact on her life.

Her crime is recording herself having sex with her boyfriend on her mobile phone and then having that phone stolen by a jealous rival. The rival was then nice enough to upload the amateur film to the internet.

While this might seem banal enough to most weterners, the problem is that Tammy lives in Singapore - a quite traditional and strict society. It is a place where chewing gum is illegal and, as one unfortunate American found out a few years ago, vandalism can get you a session of 30 lashes with a cane from the state’s corporal punishment experts.

Hopefully, nothing so drastic awaits Tammy, but the effect this will have on her life in a small, conservative society shouldn’t be forgotten.

It also brings home the ugly side of technology.

The growth of the internet and digital communication technologies coupled with their decreasing cost and increasing accessiblity has had many positives, but as the case of Tammy Nyp has demonstrated, there is also a downside to the equation.

Citizen reportage is at an all-time high which has helped keep people informed and in extreme cases, governments accountable, has been an overwhelming positive of the digital revolution and is directly attributable to technology such as that used by Tammy Nyp.
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