Australia: Smart card 'threatens privacy'

Melbourne Age | July 10 2004

Imagine a world where the government knows how and where you travel, what your spending habits are, your medical history and your daily habits.

Then imagine all this information and more can also be accessed by corrupt officials, staff from the private company handling the technology and, in extreme cases, criminals.

Griffith University Law School Associate Professor Justin Malbon warns that the Queensland government's decision to implement a smart card driver's licence in 2006 would eventually lead to all of the above ... and more.

And he also cautioned people outside Queensland against complacency, because while the absence of an Upper House in the Sunshine State made it an ideal trailblazer, the other states have already signalled their intention to fall in line.

"The longer term fear of this is that it will gradually shift the relationship between the government and the people," Prof Malbon warned.

He said the concept was a threat to the democratic process and, depending on which government came to power, had the potential to erase individual rights.

Prof Malbon said a public debate on the issue is planned at the Queensland College of the Arts at South Bank (near Brisbane's city centre) on Tuesday.

He said both sides of the argument would be represented - the speakers include Transport Minister Paul Lucas, Independent MP Liz Cunningham, Queensland Council of Civil Liberties president Ian Deardon and Alex Scott from the Queensland Public Sector Union.

Although touted simply as a innovative new driver's licence scheme, Prof Malbon said the smart card chip had room for far more information than could possibly be used for license details.

He said what was known as "function creep" would mean that more and more information would be gradually added to the card under the guise of user convenience, including public transport ticketing, health, banking services and even bill payment.

While some of it would be voluntary, including adding credit card facilities, other developments would be compulsory, he said.

A consultation paper on the smart card driver's licence released by the state government claims the new technology would protect Queenslanders from identity fraud and licence tampering.

But Prof Malbon said it would have the opposite effect, leaving the average person wide open to hackers and even corrupt officials willing to cash in on the information trade.

"It makes it easier for fraudsters because you've conveniently put all this huge amount of information about you on one little chip that you have to carry around with you," he said.

Prof Malbon said the concept was similar to the Australia Card, which was howled down by the Australian public when it was first mooted in 1986 - but the technology was now far more intrusive and advanced.

He said the smart card, which could hold reams of encrypted private and personal information that cannot be read by the card's holder, could also eventually lead to people being blacklisted by government or private officials without their knowledge.

Currently there are only eight countries in the world that use a smartcard licence system: Argentina, China, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Malaysia and Mexico.

"And none of these countries are particularly well known for there democratic tendencies," Prof Malbon said.

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie insisted that while he always encouraged debate, the smart card was not a Big Brother tactic to destroy democracy.

"We're not going to force anyone to do anything, but smart cards are the way of the future and there are people at the QUT (Queensland University of Technology) and other universities that have been strong advocates of them for some time," he said.

Mr Beattie said anyone who opposed the smart card was condemning the use of ATMs and ATM cards - because that's how the average person would use them.

He said as for people being blacklisted, freedom of information laws would still apply allowing anyone to access their own information.

"You should be afraid of the smart card like you should be afraid of the Easter Bunny," Mr Beattie added.