[LINK] Online access to Passport data claim not true, but electoral roll a different story

[Antony Barry]

On 12/06/2008, at 12:06 PM, stewart carter wrote:

> So now banks can access the electoral roll to do the identity checks
> required by the new laws when someone wants to open a new account.


Last year I went to a very successful 50th year school reunion  
(Parramatta High School) which, I understand, was made so by the  
organiser being able to access the electoral roll database by  
visiting the local electoral office. The school provided the full  
names of our year which made doing matches pretty easy. Apparently  
there is access to the national database not just restricted to the  
electorate.

Changes of names through marriage were dealt with by asking those  
contacted if they knew who had been married and their new name or  
looking for brothers. Internet searching also turned up quite a few  
more. For instance I found a "lost" school friend and established he  
had done a PhD degree in geology at UNSW, worked for the NSW  
Government and then spent most of his working like in Thailand, did  
photography as a hobby and had a wife interested in Thai culture who  
was an author and picked up a likely (I was correct) relative in  
Sydney. I missed that he was retired and was living in Perth though :-(

He came over from Perth to be at the reunion which was good. Many  
were the games of chess we played in the fifties.

Tony


phone : 02 6241 7659  | mailto:tony at Tony-Barry.emu.id.au
mobile: 04 3365 2400  | mailto:tony.barry at alianet.alia.org.au
http://tony-barry.emu.id.au