MyGlobalCity

Hark, Who Goes There - Digital Identification and the New World Order March 24, 2006

According to CardTechnology Magazine, parts of southern Taiwan are trying out a contactless digital money card, branded by MasterCard, for bus passengers. Apparently, the card cannot be validated fast enough for subway use. The cards are also being used for purchases at stores.

The Taiwanese trial is one of many that are going on around the world. The Feb 2006 print issue of CardTechnology magazine asks the question “Will Banks and Transit Create A Common Contactless Card?” on the front cover. There is a move all over the world to force citizens to give up hard currency and printed identification in favour of digital forms. Besides making our lives more costly, there are many people concerned with the negative repercussions on our lives.

These types of cards are part of a wave of digital identification measures that make it easier to identify someone anywhere in the world. The Observer Guardian has a strongly cautionary article regarding the possible erosion of civil liberties due to national identity types of cards, and the scare tactics that the UK government is using in media campaigns urging people to get a card.

These cards, originally intended to be voluntary, seem to have become mandatory, or so the article suggests. Without it, the UK government suggests, you can’t do this or this or that. Apparently, you will not be able to get a job, drug prescriptions, or even an Internet account without it. In short, you need it.

Consider how difficult it would be for travellers new to a country to get around, purchase stuff, get medical attention, etc, without somehow being part of the process. Gone are the days when you could just get on a plane and visit somewhere. Now, if you’re not part of a tour package, you have to worry about having the right identification and even the right transit cards, etc.

If you’re coming from a country that no longer uses print passports, what happens when you go to another country? Can they use your digital passport? Do they still expect a print passport, or do they have a digital system as well - one that’s incompatible with your digital passport?

Anyone who can access your digital identity card(s), in any country, can find out a lot about you. As human beings, we are flawed, and in our youth, we may make mistakes on our path to wisdom. Some of these mistakes might be recorded for eternity, available to far more people than you’re comfortable with having access.

This and many other social issues need to be sorted out before citizens should accept such drastic changes to the way we live our lives.

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