At the opening ceremony of the Infotech fair at the Swami Vivekananda Centre in Pailles, on Wednesday, he said: “We are currently launching an expression of interest for consultants for the electronic ID card. Once the Central Procurement Board has selected a candidate, we will request the nominee to give us details regarding specifications, designs and software of the card.”
The CyberCrime Unit says that the introduction of this electronic card will have both advantages and disadvantages but cannot say more until the card becomes a reality. “At this stage we can only assume that it will help to better identify individuals and people will not be required to carry many forms of ID,” it adds.
However, it puts forward a caveat where it feels that this card, if used in an illegitimate manner, may herald a new form of crime and may be a serious attempt on the infringement of civil liberties.
“A lot of valuable personal data will be stored on a centralised computer and there is the risk that its trusted administrators will make improper use of this data. The scheme may also be subject to data errors and errors in decisions made. Also citizens may run the risk of being subjected to ID theft and have their personal liberties put at risk,” it warns.
While the principle of the ID card scheme is welcomed, a mini survey by News On Sunday among top executives and IT consultants reveals the card may pose a threat to civil liberty. Respondents feel a national consultation and debate should be raised on this issue before launching expressions of interest. Personal privacy of an individual is a basic Human Right that should be protected at all costs, they say.
Right To Know president, Raj Mathur, feels that it is too early to pronounce on the pros and cons of the electronic ID scheme. He warns that hi-tech instruments are not risk free and serious thought should be given to securing the data from third parties. “The data will be open to hackers and at the mercy of software glitches. There is also the issue of who will have access to the information. Government should open a debate on this issue. There are countries, like the UK, where this electronic ID scheme has caused a lot of debate and resistance as civil liberty groups strongly feel that such schemes pose a threat to personal privacy,” he says.
In the absence of the President of the Human Rights Commission, Dhiraj Seetulsingh, this paper contacted his deputy, who politely told our reporter that he did not want to make any comment.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Hamish Ramdharry
Quelle/Source: Le Défi Media Group, 08.08.2008
