Posted on Thursday 27 December 2007
“The proposed Australian ‘Access Card’, a universal ID that would be required for any Australian wishing to use Medicare, Centrelink, the Child Support Agency, or Veterans’ Affairs, has been scrapped by the incoming Rudd Labor Government. The card would have contained an RFID tag with the person’s name, date of birth, gender, address, signature, card number, card expiration date, and Medicare number, but there were also provisions to add more personal data later on. It seems that Rudd Labor is not eager to copy the American REAL ID Act.“
From the Ars Technica article:
Encrypted information contained within the card’s RFID chip would have included a person’s legal name, date of birth, gender, address, signature, card number, card expiration date, and Medicare number. Provisions were also included that would allow additional information deemed to be necessary for either “the administration or purposes of the Act.”
The Australian Privacy Foundation was one of the main groups behind the opposition to the plan.
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