I recently worked in a team that implemented a new fraud system for a major bank.  The person in charge of the Fraud department is an extremely busy man these days.  When you walk into his office he has mug shots, about 5cm by 5cm, pasted on his wall of those who have tried to commit fraud against the bank.  Two walls are covered and that is from fraud attempts this year alone.

He showed me the photo of one person who had 30 different aliases.  These aliases were not just made up names but had driver’s licences, passports, the works for each alias.  I asked him how it was possible that someone could get such documentation that was clearly fraudulent.  He just laughed at me.  Identity fraud is one of our biggest problems, a problem that has been exasperated by the rise of technology and by the decline in following protocols by persons required to check the authenticity of identification (such as store clerks who at best give your signature on a credit card a quick glance).

It has been mooted in the past week that we should look at introducing a national identity card.  The Hawke government back in the 1980’s first proposed an Australian card, which was resolutely rejected by the public.  However, the Hawke government did not come away empty handed, as it introduced a de-facto identification system with the introduction of the Tax File Number.

It has been claimed that a national identity card will help fight terrorism, reduce identity fraud and prevent people being locked up accidentally as with Cornelia Rau.  The fact is, a national identify card will not do any of the above.  People who want to bypass the system can and will, no matter how much the advocates sprout the advantages of biometric data and how it cannot be tampered with.  If a person refuses to show their card, or any identification, then they will undoubtedly still be locked up.  But more worrying, is that a national identity card will actually increase the amount of identity fraud, as it will provide a one-stop shop for criminals.  It will also make it a hell of a lot easier to profile people and learn their private details.

We already have quite sufficient forms of identification.  To get a passport or open a bank account, you need to pass the 100-point identification process (A current passport is worth 70 points and a current drivers licence with photo and signature, worth 40 points).  The problem for the Government is that it has to interact with these different forms of identification to gain a profile on you.  Thus data-mining via a myriad of databases is expensive and time consuming.  Also, results are not always accurate, as each database may not have your latest details.  What the government really wants is an over arcing identifier, which is attached to everything, making it much easier for the government and anyone else to gain information on you.

What is needed is a more dispersed system of identification than we currently have, for example, a requirement to produce even more documentation to meet the 100 points.  Institutions can also improve their procedures when interacting with their customers.  For instance, a photo on your credit card would be a lot more useful than a microscopic signature on the back that most store clerks don’t even look at.  Organizations also need to implement far more rigid identity management systems when customers are dealing with them online.  User ID’s and a password are no longer sufficient.

Even more worrying is that a national identity card would be required to be produced on the spot (despite how much our politicians will assure us we won’t) by any police officer or pompous official.  Once introduced, it will surely be expanded, for instance, if you are unable to produce your identity card you will be fined or worse, taken away.  Then there are the concerns with data entry errors.  Ask those who have been the victim of identity fraud or departmental incompetence and the struggle they have had to rectify things.

Concern must also be given to what future governments might do to a national identity card.  A smart card can be fitted with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, which would allow governments to track where you are and where you have been.

A national identity card will not achieve what is being sprouted, instead to dilute the freedoms of law abiding citizens as they watch their humanity being further reduced to a singular number.  A national identity card will not be much better than the numbers tattooed to the wrists of Jews in Germany in the 1930’s.  It is surprising that the Liberal party whose core value is the primacy of the individual is even contemplating this.