[LINK] Watchdog accused of cringing to Hockey

[Kim Holburn]

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,20752200%5E15319%5E% 
5Enbv%5E15306,00.html

> Watchdog accused of cringing to Hockey
> Karen Dearne
> NOVEMBER 14, 2006
> PRIVACY advocates have accused Human Services Minister Joe Hockey  
> of misleading the public over the independence of the Access Card  
> Consumer and Privacy Taskforce and the Government's commitment to  
> its key findings.
>
> "The task force has no statutory basis and must report to the  
> minister, but it is perceived as an independent watchdog," says  
> Graham Greenleaf, co-director of Cyberspace Law Centre, University  
> of NSW. "In a nutshell, although the task force has raised a number  
> of strong criticisms of the Government's proposal, it has backed  
> off in the recommendations, which are almost always much weaker.
>
> "That has resulted in Mr Hockey being able to say the Government  
> has accepted 22 of the 26 recommendations made."
>
> Professor Greenleaf said that claim was totally misleading.
>
> "In fact, the Government has rejected every substantive issue.
>
> "The task force has given Mr Hockey an undeserved free kick, while  
> the Government has rejected the most important advice of its own,  
> handpicked panel of experts."
>
> The Government had rejected the task force's recommendations that  
> the back-end database should not store photos of every person in  
> the country, but only mathematical templates of the photos to  
> assist fraud avoidance, he said.
>
> It also rejected advice that there be no signature on the card.
>
> Australian Privacy Foundation chair Anna Johnston said the  
> Government had dismissed a key recommendation, that the personal  
> identifying number not appear on the face of the card.
>
> "Joe Hockey has repeatedly said he doesn't want this to be a  
> national identity card, but displaying the number is the biggest  
> factor in the card becoming an all-purpose ID card."
>
> Ms Johnston said the Government had played a "clever game" of  
> avoiding engagement on privacy issues by referring tough questions  
> to task force head Allan Fels.
>
> "Given the lack of powers or financial independence, we're  
> concerned that the Government wants the task force to simply smooth  
> the project's passage, and lull Australians into a false sense of  
> security, rather than have genuine input in the public interest,"  
> she said.
>
> Tim Warner, convenor of the the Victorian Liberals' Access Card No  
> Way campaign, said the proposal was worrying, and "the more details  
> that are settled, the more certain is our loss of control over our  
> personal information".
>
> Mr Warner said the claim that people would own their cards was  
> farcical.
>
> "The decision to include the number and signature on the face of  
> the card is very risky from a fraud viewpoint - it makes faking a  
> breeze."
>
> Mr Hockey's "fascination" with USB card readers was also very  
> worrying.
>
> "The minister has moved back to the strange position of some months  
> ago, where he wants our financial and personal details run out of a  
> government e-purse," Mr Warner said.
>

--
Kim Holburn
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Democracy imposed from without is the severest form of tyranny.
                           -- Lloyd Biggle, Jr. Analog, Apr 1961