Australia card re-born?
There is a new push for an identity card in Australia. All previous attempts at introducing a perminent ’Australia card’ or similar have fallen over but with the growth and growth of government power it is not surprising that these ideas keep coming back like the walking undead.
This time around lawyer, libertarian and all-round good guy Tim Warner is taking up the fight against the government by starting the ‘Access Card No Way’ campaign, and the ALS supports his efforts.
Tim outlined his opposition to the re-named ‘Access Card’ in his speach to the Adam Smith club (pdf) in June this year. He points out that despite the supposed voluntary nature of the new card it will replace the current Medicare card (which is already used by 101% of our population) and would be required to receive all manner of benefits.
He goes on to outline the philosophical and practical problems with an identity card — the importance of privacy, potential for misuse & identity theft, its impotence in the fight against crime/terror, the costs of the scheme ($1-3b benefit, $15b costs), ballooning of entitlements, hiding government waste and function creep.
More information on this fight against government can be found at the Electronic Frontiers Australia and the Austrlian Privacy Foundation, and in the UK context at No 2 ID.
P.S. Merry Christmas & happy summer solstice 
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