| New privacy fears rise as Hong Kong plans digital ID By Mark Landler, The New York Times February 19, 2002, Today HONG KONG � The border crossing between Hong Kong and mainland China was choked the other day as more than 5 million people took to the road to visit their relatives for the Chinese New Year���. Hong Kong plans to introduce an identity card next year with a computer chip that will contain a digital replica of the cardholder�s thumbprint. To cross the frontier, a person with the card will hold it against an optical reader while placing his or her thumb on a screen. It the prints match, the traveler will pass through � a procedure that Hong Kong officials say will last but a second���.. Fears of terrorism have prompted some Americans, too, to call for the United States to issue a national identity card. In Hong Kong in recent weeks, the focus of the campaign has shifted toward creating uniform standards that would allow driver�s licenses to be used as de facto ID cards. Identity cards have existed in Hong Kong for half a century, and digital technology is now revolutionizing the uses of such a card � making it a potentially indispensable tool of daily life but raising new fears about privacy and the use of potential data���. Hong Kong�s current ID, a laminated card that looks like a driver�s license, has a photo, biographical data and the cardholder�s residency status. But the chip embedded in the new card has room for a wealth of other information, including medical and financial data and driving records. The government plans to award a contract within two weeks for the production of these so-called smart identification cards. It plans to issue them to Hong Kong�s 6.8 million residents over four years. The contract is worth $394 million���. (There) is the possibility of expanding on to the Chinese mainland. China already requires its 1.3 billion people to carry laminated identification cards. But the government is eager to issue smart identification cards with multiple uses. China has asked immigration officials here whether Hong Kong�s card could serve as a model for the mainland�s own. Malaysia has introduced a national ID card, known as MyKad, that also serves as a passport, electronic purse and driver�s license. Brunei issues a smart card with more limited uses. In the United States, where compulsory ID cards have been anathema, the idea has attracted some support. In the wake of September�s attacks, some regard the security advantages of a card as more important than the potential threats to civil liberties. As the trauma of September 11 recedes a bit, though, advocates of identification cards are focused on standardizing driver�s licenses rather than issuing new cards. More than 90 percent of American adults hold licenses, many of which have bar codes or magnetic stripes. Congress is weighing legislation that would link the state motor vehicle databases into a national database��. ***** See also Tony Abaya�s column of October 10, 2001 National ID: why not? |
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