Diffusion Science radio: ID Card - Is Big Brother Stalking You?

ID Card - Is Big Brother Stalking You?

This is a special edition of the Diffusion Science Radio show looking at a controversial application of science and technology: the proposed card to identify everyone accessing Australian government services.

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Program Summary

Developments in "smart-card" technology have resulted in a push by governments world-wide to identify people (eg Real ID in the US, and the Access Card in Australia) - ostensibly to reduce fraud by those who use their services. Unfortunately, extensive collection of personal details could lead to abuse and suppression of dissent.

Will the Access Card Bill be passed and effectively become a National Identity Card?

We speak with Professor Graham Greenleaf of the University of New South Wales and former New South Wales Deputy Privacy Commissioner Anna Johnston, now of the Australian Privacy Foundation. They explore the issue of function creep by which the access card would become a de facto national identity card and the risks that involves.

Engineer Aras Vaichas explains the workings of possible smart card technologies, and how they might be made secure.

Concealment of identity when exposing fraud and malpractice has long been an issue for whistleblowers. That has partly been resolved by disguising their voice. We experiment with a further level of concealment - concealing the inteviewer as well, by replacing their voice with an anonymous synthetic voice.

We also explore synthesising an interview - using answers from a real interview but splicing them with new questions spoken by an anonymous interviewer voice.

The show was presented by Darren Osborne and produced by Ian Woolf and Charles Willock from the Diffusion Science Radio team at 2SER Sydney.

Is it now possible to ensure complete anonymity for both interviewer and interviewee?
What steps are required to eliminate all clues to identity?
What are the as-yet-undisclosed "commercial benefits" of the card.

(Click for full visual map)

Credits

Presented by Darren Osborne
Synthetic interview with Anna Johnston about privacy concerns, by Anonymous Voice,
Aras Vaichas speaks with Ian Woolf about RFID cards,
Anonymous Voice interviews Professor Graham Greenleaf about card use and Cyberlaw
Produced by Ian Woolf and Charles Willock

Acknowledgments

The interview with Anna Johnston was synthesised from a story by Alex Koutts, produced by Erica Vowles and originally broadcast on 13th February 2007 by 2SER on The Wire. Permission to adapt and rebroadcast that interview is gratefully acknowledged.

Podcasts

Download/listen, 64kbs MP3 (13.4 MB) diffusion2007-03-01_64kb		Subscribe
Download/listen, 128kbs MP3 (26.8 MB) diffusion2007-03-01		Index (All Diffusion podcasts)

REFERENCES:

Links used in preparing the Big Brother special program are listed below. It is worth noting that while most pages remain constant, some government web sites, changed on an almost daily basis).