Press Release
October 8, 2003
Contact: Cédric Laurant, EPIC Policy Counsel
+1 202 483 1140 x114 chlaurant@epic.org

WASHINGTON, DC - A new report by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and Privacy International underscores the threat that national identity systems pose to privacy. Privacy and Human Rights 2003 finds that governments are building new systems of surveillance technologies, including biometrics, smart cards and computerized national identity cards. But these systems lack oversight, are costly, and have provoked a fierce public response.

“It is clear that the people around the world are very concerned about plans for national identification. Governments that proceed without resolving questions of cost, implementation, and privacy safeguards face massive public opposition,” said Marc Rotenberg, EPIC Executive Director.

Many countries use identity cards in one form or another. However, the type of card, its functions, and integrity vary enormously. While several countries have official, compulsory, national ID cards that are used for a variety of purposes, many countries do not. Proposals for new systems of identification have faced increasing public scrutiny.

In 2003, Japan launched a computerized national ID system that compiles the personal data of residents into a centralized government database. But protests in Japan have been widespread, with many local officials raising questions about the undertaking. In Taiwan, a coalition of non-governmental organizations stopped the introduction of a next-generation ID system. The human rights commissioner and the teachers union stopped a national database containing personal information from children in more than 10,000 schools in South Korea.

Austria and Germany are developing electronic universal healthcare cards that will require further legislation to protect patients’ privacy interests. Singapore has created “SingPass,” an online ID that would be used for access by citizens to e-government services. The Belgian government is testing “BELPIC,” a new ID card with digital certificates for e-government services and authentication purposes, but without adequate public awareness and severe criticism by privacy experts.

“Nationwide ID systems are established for a variety of reasons, including race, politics and religion,” said Cédric Laurant, EPIC Policy Counsel. “The fear of insurgence, religious differences, immigration, or political extremism have contributed to the establishment of ID systems. These systems often force undesirables to register with the government or make them subject to routine interrogation,” said Mr. Laurant.

In recent years, technology has enabled electronic record creation and the construction of large commercial and state databases. Disparate information about a person from different databases is more easily linked and analyzed through data mining techniques. This technology enables multiple applications such as a credit card, library card, health care card, driver’s license and government benefit program information to be all stored on the same national ID along with a password or a biometric identifier.

Governments in Finland, Malaysia, and Singapore have experimented with such “smart “ID cards. In July 2002, the Labor government in the United Kingdom launched a six-month public consultation process on whether the United Kingdom should adopt an "entitlement card" with similar features. Critics contend that such cards enable intrusive profiling of individuals and create a misplaced reliance on a single document, which enables precisely the type of fraud the cards are meant to eliminate.

Identification systems have been successfully challenged in several countries on constitutional privacy grounds. In 1998, the Philippine Supreme Court ruled that a national ID system violated the constitutional right to privacy. In 1991, the Hungarian Constitutional Court ruled that a law creating a multi-use personal identification number violated the constitutional right of privacy. The 1997 Portuguese Constitution states “Citizens shall not be given an all-purpose national identity number.”

In other countries, opposition to the cards combined with the high economic cost and implementation problems led to their withdrawal. Massive protests against the Australia Card in 1987 resulted in the near collapse of the government. In the United States, plans to convert the state driver's license into a nationwide system of identification have stalled because of the stiff resistance from both conservative and liberal leaders in Congress. A proposal in Canada to establish a system of biometric identification now faces growing public concern.

Privacy advocates often note that identity cards were used by such governments as the Soviet Union and apartheid South Africa to restrict the freedom to travel and to enforce social and political control.

The Privacy and Human Rights 2003 report is the most complete global survey on privacy and data protection ever published. It was written with the help of more than a hundred experts, from the government, academia, and human rights groups. Privacy and Human Rights 2003: An International Survey of Privacy Laws and Developments is available for sale at the EPIC Bookstore at http://www.epic.org/bookstore/phr2003/ and (in HTML) at http://www.privacyinternational.org/survey/phr2003/.

EPIC is a public interest research center in Washington, DC. EPIC maintains a comprehensive web site on privacy and civil liberties issues at http://www.epic.org.