Belgium and smart ID

[claire]

Belgium plans to test run its new electronic identity cards in 11 communes starting from March. If the pilot scheme goes well, the government plans to phase in, over five years, more than 10 million new IDs across the country.

The ‘smart’ IDs are being plugged as a convenient tool for citizens, which will save them time and energy by providing them with a safe and secure means to deal with the government electronically and conduct online business transactions.

“The new ID-card has been conceptualised from a citizen’s point of view,” Manu Robbroeckx, spokesman for FEDICT, the federal information technology body overseeing the project, told Expatica.

According to Robbroeckx a cardholder, using a special smart card reader and PIN code, would be able to fill in tax returns, pay social security and vote from the comfort of her armchair. Once our citizen of the future has fulfilled those tedious chores, she can kick back her heels and use the time it frees up to go online to order a pizza or a holiday in the sun.

http://www.expatica.com/belgium.asp?pad=88,181,&item_id=27544
:cool:

[Steve]

I eagerly await the first instance of hacking associated with these devices. Americans, in general, are highly protective of their privacy; it is doubtful such a device would be widely adopted on a voluntary basis in the U.S. and it would probably foment a revolution if the government even proposed mandatory usage.

Privacy issues aside, I am primarily concerned with the potential for hacking and abuse and the associated identity theft and/or identity forgery that can, and will, occur. We have seen time and again that even entities with billions of dollars of business potentially at risk (Microsoft, the entertainment industry) who institute advanced protection schemes find those schemes broken in relatively short time.

What man can create, another can destroy.

[Sunriser13]

Implants and bar-code tattoos (in concert, of course) wouldn't be far behind, and
would be strongly encouraged to prevent identity theft...