[LINK] Re: FW: Democrats PR - Government forced to change access card website

[Jan Whitaker]

Brent, I've copied my reply to your posting on 
the privacy list to a wider audience, including 
people who are much closer to government 
information/publication requirements than I have been recently.

There is a problem with what is being said by the 
Minister (see press release below). When I read 
the Hansard about the confusion with the 
implications on the Technology webpage of the 
Access ID Card website: 
http://www.accesscard.gov.au/technology.html, I 
captured the page that was up on 28 May. The caption on that date has:


Based on Tried and Tested Smartcard Technology

Is that the heading that was supposedly changed? 
I compared it to what is there today, 1 June. It's the same.

The problem I have with what is going on is 
something that the Minister is obviously unaware 
of. Each webpage that is published by the 
government is supposed (required?) to have an 
embedded date in the invisible information 
associated with that page. It is called Metadata 
and is used to conform with the Australian Government Locator Service:
http://www.naa.gov.au/recordkeeping/gov_online/agls/logo.html

(from the page, they appear to be asserting that 
they are complying, but they aren't:
  "schema.AGLS" 
href="http://www.naa.gov.au/recordkeeping/gov_online/agls/1.2" ).

Both the page that was up on 28 May and the one 
there today, 1 June, say that the Valid Date for this page is:

<meta name="DC.Date.valid" scheme="ISO8601" content="2006-11-08" />

So the page is misleading that historically this 
page and its content has been consistent since 8 
November last year assuming that the caption 
heading has changed as the Minister has said it would be.

This may seem a simple and silly problem. But in 
reality, it's not. This date can mislead the 
person accessing this page that its content has 
been consistent starting much earlier. It's like 
reading a book edition that was originally 
published in 1965, but the new edition was 
changed in 2005 and the information is no longer 
the same as was presented in the first edition, 
but no Edition or change of publication date is displayed.

One wonders how many other pages in this and 
other government information systems are 
misleading in this regard, rewriting history as a result.

In my opinion, changing the heading also doesn't 
solve the problem raised. The page is STILL 
misleading given that the images hold the most 
prevalent position on the page, the biometric 
explanation is the opener, NOT the point about 
the international use of a different type of 
'smartcard' implementation. They are probably not 
intending this misleading result, but it is there just the same.

Regards,
Jan

At 08:51 AM 1/06/2007, you wrote:
>Content-class: urn:content-classes:message
>Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
>         boundary="----_=_NextPart_001_01C7A3D6.3BBDD325"
>
>DEMOCRATS
>
>MEDIA 
>Friday june 1 2007
>
>SENATOR Natasha Stott Despoja
>
>australian DEMOCRATS ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S 
>SPOKESPERSON
>
>
>
>
>
>Government forced to change Access Card Website
>
>
>
>A question asked by Senator Stott Despoja of the 
>Deputy Secretary, Office of Access Card during a 
>Senate Estimates hearing has resulted in the 
>Minister for Human Services, Senator Ellison, 
>changing information on the Access Card website 
>to provide more accurate information.
>
>
>
>Under the heading "Based on tried and tested 
>technology" the website referred to three 
>overseas cards: from Austria, Taiwan, and the 
>Lombardia region in Italy, implying that they had biometric photographs.
>
>
>
>Senator Stott Despoja evaluated the content and 
>found that the three examples listed on the 
>website were all projects that were rolled out without biometric photographs.
>
>
>
>"We pointed out to the Minister during Senate 
>Estimates how the Australian public might be 
>misled into thinking that the overseas smart 
>card examples cited on the website had included 
>a photograph," Democrats' Attorney-General's 
>Spokesperson Senator Natasha Stott Despoja said.
>
>
>
>In response, the Minister has agreed to insert 
>into the heading the term ‘smartcard 
>technology’. Minister Ellison said: "Some could 
>argue that they think it refers to the 
>biometrics mentioned in preceding paragraphs
" 
>(p116, Finance and Public Administration Committee Estimates Hansard).
>
>
>
>"Given the reintroduction of the revised Access 
>Card legislation is only a matter of weeks away, 
>it is important that the Australian public is 
>well informed and not misinformed about what may 
>be the single biggest privacy invasion in our 
>history," Senator Stott Despoja said.
>
>
>
>
>
>Media contact: Raina Hunter – 0417 085 260
>_______________________________________________
>To unsubscribe from the privacy  list visit:
>http://lists.efa.org.au/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/privacy#subscribers

Jan Whitaker
JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com
personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/
commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/

Writing Lesson #54:
Learn to love revision. Think of it as polishing 
the silver for guests. - JW, May, 2007

'Seed planting is often the most important step. 
Without the seed, there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005
_ __________________ _