Biometrics

Biometrics is soooo fashionable at the moment. Everybody want a piece of it.. The Australian government has decided that from 1/8/05 all people renewing passports would have to agree to their photograph being used for biometric purposes. However, if you applied before 30/7/05 you wouldn’t be asked to. Sounded ok, after all that’s the law… Then I tried to apply online before that date. What I found was the form had the biometrics clause. Then my antennae for sharp practices started twitching.. When I asked the passport office what they would use the biometric data for, they told me that they didn’t know as the legislation hadn’t been written yet. I was also told that they didn’t have the technology to issue passports with the biometric data yet and so any passports issued wouldn’t be biometric. I was then told that if I didn’t agree to the biometrics clause in the application then they wouldn’t issue a passport, which effectively deprives me of one of my citizenship rights. I suspect I’m the only person in this country who objects to giving a blanket agreement for the government to use my data in anyway it feels like. I rang my local MP, after all if the legislation hasn’t been written yet there’s still a chance to have safeguards put in. The office worker didn’t know what biometrics was and couldn’t see the problem! Stupidity isn’t the sole preserve of the great unwashed, it seems to be a common theme in this country.. It’s not just here though – even the Telegraph newspaper in the UK – not renown for it’s liberal (that’s small ‘l’ ) thinking had this to say: ‘Many readers of this newspaper, if the letters we receive are anything to go by, are relaxed about the aggrandisement of state power, believing that "if you've nothing to hide, you've nothing to fear". In reality, though, innocence is no defence: barely a week goes by without our printing the story of an honest citizen who has been caught up by the bungling of some state bureaucracy. Inch by inch, this administration is turning Britain into a very different kind of country. That we should be letting it happen without a murmur says little good about us.’ http://tinyurl.co.uk/2lkt At least they report abuses of state power – here it’s not considered news.. With the advent of IT, the collection of data for data’s sake is a common problem around the world. Every time you use a credit card or loyalty card you give corporations detailed information about your habits. Now by our indifference, we’re allowing the government the same power without any restraint. You can choose not to give corporations identifiable information, but you can’t defy the government. When 1984 finally came around, Orwell’s book was shrugged off as irrelevant. He was just around 20ish years too early… You’ve got more chance of being run down by a bus than you have being involved in a terrorist attack, and there’s no reason for biometrics or the current anti-terrorist laws except as a means of control of the population… Democracy is not about being ‘allowed’ to elect the next group to control us – it’s about having a vision of the society you wish to live in and electing people on your behalf to maintain and improve it. We’d do well to remember this. so, I've applied for a passport - and refused to agree to the biometrics stuff - it will be interesting to see what happens.... stay tuned...