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