• Home
• Analysis
• Policy
• Central Government
• Local Government
• Healthcare
• Education
• Digital Inclusion
• Technology
• Security

Policy, Technology

Citizens of Asia speak out on ID cards

By Robin Hicks | 1 March 2010

In the run-up to the launch of the biggest citizen identity project ever attempted, privacy concerns are playing a defining role in the Unique Identification Authority of India’s plans to issue 1.2 billion people with their own ID number. With this in mind, FutureGov quizzed citizens in Asia for a regional snapshot of what people really think about ID cards.

Do they keep us safe? Or do they tell government too much? We also asked them to name a few of the features they’d like to see on the ID card of the future…

Sonal Nahrain, business planner, INDIA
ID cards will work in India if the government can create a centralised and duplication proof system. Today, I can buy a fake degree or a fake driving license. Will I be able to buy a fake ID card? Probably. Issuing these things to everyone in India is a monster task, but it’s not a waste of time. It may even help improve the political system, because it is at our elections that identity fraud occurs the most. But I’m not sure that an effective system is achievable in a country where villages are still without power and half the population is illiterate.

Clara Wong (pictured), law student, SINGAPORE
The idea that ID cards are an invasion of privacy has never occurred to me. Quite the opposite. I’ve always seen ID cards as like an identity passport that differentiates one Singaporean from another. I think it’s great that we can now use our ID cards to make use of services like public clinics and the national library. But if there are too many uses for an ID card (like the EZ-link card) then there would perhaps be a higher chance of identity theft or leaks of personal information.

Mutsuki Kawaguchi, DNA biologist, JAPAN
Only gaijin (foreigners or “aliens”, as they are known here) have ID cards in Japan, to help the government keep tabs on illegal immigrants. While there are plans to introduce a national ID card, data leakages from our previous nationwide identification system do not fill me with confidence that a new scheme will be a success. I’m not sure that we need them anyway. We tend to use our driver’s license as an ID card, which has our address, birth date and a picture, or a health insurance card as ID.

Adil Naeem, hotel manager, PAKISTAN
Invasion of privacy? I don’t think so. What activity would I be engaged in that I wouldn’t someone to know who I am? But the Pakistani ID card is embarrassingly low-tech. A ten-year old with a half-decent colour printer and a laminator could spit one out in a second. But anyway, the Pakistani government could force new ID cards onto the public every six months, but still not have the means to manipulate the data into anything useful. ID cards should be optional, and their usefulness should be adequate motivation for an individual to get one.

Li Hongrong, business development manager, CHINA
If there was no form of authentication in China, things would be in a mess. The government would have serious problems managing such a large population without ID cards, and national security would be at risk. ID cards are proof of citizenship, and only with this proof should people be able to enjoy the rights of citizenship in China. I would support the idea of a global citizenship card, too, that works beyond national boundaries. It would keep people safer and make international travel a lot easier.

Afrida Rosmayanti, therapist, INDONESIA
If you are an Indonesian citizen, you have to have an ID card. Simple. Terrorism is a threat and the government needs to be able to identify people quickly and efficiently. My ID card makes me feel safe, secure, and it’s useful. I can use it to identify myself at a bank or to register at a hospital. But I would rather I did not have to renew it every five years. Why not allow people to update it when they need to online? It’s also too flimsy and easy to break.

Greg Rawson, advertising creative, AUSTRALIA
ID cards are things that a lot of people will complain about until some Uzbekistani refugee, jaded with the slowness of the unemployment benefits queue, blows up the Opera House with a lada full of gelignite. Then they’ll all moan at the government for not doing anything to protect us from the same people they moaned at the government about for not letting into the country on humanitarian grounds three months earlier. If they do introduce the things though, I’d feel compensated for any privacy invasion with a customised, multifunctional card.

Jane Leung, secretary, HONG KONG
The HK ID card works as a passport and allows speedy passage through immigration. All we have to do is scan our card through a reader and breeze through. It saves lots of time compared to a regular passport. The card identifies us as a Hong Konger and policemen regularly check people at random on the street - this helps curb illegal immigration. I don’t think we should combine any other services under the ID card (like the Octopus Card, which allows Hong Kongers to do everything from ride a train to buy a packet of cigarettes at Seven7). The ID should be left alone for government interactions only.

Some ID tips for government…

Stephan Mak, Deputy Government Chief Information Officer for the Government of Hong Kong, a pioneer in the use of smart ID cards, offers some advice for governments thinking of launching citizen ID projects.

“Early and comprehensive evaluation of the security risks from different angles, and a systematic assessment of the privacy impacts, are critical success factors for any attempt to introduce ID cards on a major scale,” Mak told FutureGov. “In terms of technology and infrastructure, the volatility of specific technologies and the likely shifts in the global trends on technology and service provision, should be carefully considered too.”

“From a management perspective, we believe it is important to position major ID card initiatives as a multi-stakeholder endeavour rather than an IT project, however large or resourceful the latter might be.” This would involve setting up formal programme management structures and a portfolio approach to managing changes in business needs, stakeholder requirements and technology, while identifying risks that crop up as the project unfolds.

---