Social Networks Weaken Arguments Against National Identity Cards

Daniel Young — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:41:04 +0000

In April 2006, the Australian Prime Minister John Howard announced plans to introduce an Access Card system for health and welfare services. The half baked proposal received a lot of negative press and the Government was accused of attempting to introduce an national identity card by stealth. The Labour Government dropped the idea shortly after winning the 2007 Federal election.

Do you know who I am?

The Access Card was the latest attempt by Federal and State Governmentin Australia to introduce an identity card.

The world has changed significantly since 2006 – we’ve seen a major shift in consumer attitudes towards personal information as a result of mainstream social networking.

Internet companies now have access to vast amounts of data and in a wide variety of formats, take Google Street View for example.

Companies like Salesforce.com are tapping into social networks in order to cross reference the information that is readily available there with the information that they hold in databases and CRM systems.

Governments around the world have invested heavily in bail-outs and stimulus packages sending many into deep deficits. Will the heightened need to ensure that public funds are spent wisely strengthen the argument for citizen accountability via an identity card?

One wonders if these developments will compromise attempts to oppose the introduction of an identity card – or equivalent – in the future.

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Social Networks Weaken Arguments Against National Identity Cards