Who gives a damn about privacy? When my privacy is invaded by having to pay too much tax to support the bludgers and illegal immigrants and the like I have the right to object to these people, and their 'do-gooder privacy' supporters.

What are you afraid of? Being found out for what you and the people who can do no wrong (as if) really are?It is simple: if you don't want to have your privacy invaded don't suck at the taxpayer tit. Pay your own health costs and don't expect the taxpayer to pay for your lifestyle.

Simple.

If you need the support of the taxpayers of this country, then accept that those taxpayers have the right to hold you accountable.

Who gives a damn about privacy? When my privacy is invaded by having to pay too much tax to support the bludgers and illegal immigrants and the like I have the right to object to these people, and their 'do-gooder privacy' supporters.

Dont follow you there

The Priv Act [PAct] was made in 1988. Howard rules by Big Brother so wishes PAct was never made, but he can't just repeal it. Instead he has been cunning and appointed firewalls [eg Fed Mag Ct and Priv Commissioner] to prevent mushrooms using the PAct when Big Bro peeks in the window

But Howard wants more - he wants ALL your info but PAct clearly prevents govt COLLECTING and STORING info unless specifically required by another Act, so enter the Oz Card marketing plan where the STORING is done by the mushroom himself [and a bit of semantics might say the mushroom actually COLLECTED it too]. So you say well I will keep the card in my pocket so Rodents can't nibble at it

So the final clever part of plan is eg a bloke like me who paid 40 years of tax and saved your arses by fighting the Yellow Peril in Nam finally lines up for just a few bob in my old age but I must take card OUT of pocket and when I do anything else can be sucked off it

And forget encryption etc - we are dealing with I.T. Professionals - nerds so stupid/devious [tick the box] they fleeced us of 100 billion 7 years ago claiming they couldn't count to 2,000, and not one mushroom or lawyer ever cried foul/fowel [or even cried rodent]

Just because they are IT professionals doesn't mean a thing when it
comes to real encryption. What I am talking about is not the so called
encryption used around most PC application.

You don't really think the spooks use that sort of encryption do you ?

The encryption arguement is a red herring anyway.

For the most part it'll prolly be VERY good.

But there's always a way to get the key, there's no need to pick the lock. Very impratical and irrelevant for most of us, but it will slip out. Nothing is infallible.

Man builds better mouse traps, nature produces better mice. Its the legacy of the human race.

Take for example ATO TFN algorithm. Insiders leaked that one ages ago. Its a stretch to think same wont be done with whatever bit encryption algorithm goes into designing the card. And credit card number generators are all over the net. Govt rarely does things better than the private sector.

Personally, l dont think the card can be stopped and lm not about to put any energy into stopping it. What for. There WILL be plenty of work arounds for those inclined. Always are. Simplest one is to stay off the govt nipple. Of course thats not for everyone.

It always makes me larf that people think that criminals will be stopped by laws or burglars stopped by locked doors.

Look at the introduction of GST. The pollies touted it as a way to stop tax evasion. LOL and bwahahaha. Laws dont stop tax evasion... they cause tax evasion. In fact GST and ABN merely introduced another layer of beauracracy that MOTIVATES evasion and gives people an opportunity to enhance the value of 'cash' transactions by knocked 10% off, straight away. You talked to any construction tradesman lately? Anytime l ask 'can you do better' they take 10% of STRAIGHT AWAY, for cash, many will even say its the GST.

If anyone is concerned about the information being linked in the future, just be careful how ya use it. Think about it. Use some other form of ID. If it doesnt bother you, fine whip it left and right. Whatever.

Its coming, no doubt about it. Maybe not this time around but eventually.

I have been the victim of four confirmed privacy breaches in as many years. In each instance my home address and/or phone number was given to a woman has been harassing me and who was on probation for trying to strangle someone when she started hassling me.

Two of those breaches involved federal government agencies. She used to work for Centrelink. I can't tell for sure from the subpoena'ed material but it looks like she started working for them with a criminal record up her sleeve.

When I approached Centrelink it was with a concern that she would access my record and find out where I lived, so I wanted a block on it. They refused. I explained the background. I offered them appropriate legal documentation, including a copy of her subpoena'ed psychiatrist's notes. Their view, however, is that they will only place a block on a file after a breach has occurred, even when one of their employees is a violent criminal with a disturbing psychiatric history.

Because, they said, our employees know not to do this - it just doesn't happen. And when it does, criminal charges are pressed.

So they commenced an investigation, slowly. What they did was conduct the investigation so slowly that she was gone by the time they finished, at which point they said - well we can't do anything about people who don't work for us any more. They did nothing about it. And if you read Centrelink's annual privacy reports you'll see that's their usual approach.

She now works for another government department.

And it happened again only recently - only this time she didn't have to peek, they just gave it to her instead.

I've moved several times and have taken every precaution to prevent her from being able to find me but the government just has no respect for privacy. The advice I received from a lawyer was to stop telling the government where I live.

And that's exactly what I intend to do. Australia Card? I don't care what law they make I won't be getting one.

RE the encryption;
The point I was making is that there is no key, at least in the way you mean.
Each department would have a different key for you and you have a different key for every department.
The key the dept has is meaningless and has no use except when you
present your card.
The newer systems are bit like the old PGP if you remember it.
PGP was broken but it required two years with 50 PCs working on it all night every night.
The point I was making is even if an employee could get your key
there is absolutely nothing they could do with it.

The databases of each dept need not be linked but of course someone who claims a pension
should be checked to see if they have a taxable income.
So as now the Tax office and the Centrelink need to be able to check.
Anyway are we not getting a bit paranoid about this ?