Smartcard providers are gearing up for massive rollouts in the
next two years in the wake of a Australian government review into
the introduction of a national identity card.
In addition to an ID card review by Attorney General Philip
Ruddock, plans are afoot to introduce photographs on Medicare cards
in a bid to combat identity fraud.
The government could introduce a number of cards following the
rejection of a central national identity model on the basis that
fraudsters would have to counterfeit only a single source of
information.
Australian Privacy Foundation chair Anna Johnston said a system
that relies on a single source will increase the incidence of ID
fraud.
"Document verification is about rooting out fake foundation
documents," she said. "It's strength is support for a dispersed ID
model and works in a way to minimize privacy intrusions. It's a
blind system and retains no data [but] its limitations is it won't
deal with 'real' foundation documents obtained fraudulently."
Johnston would like to see more detail about the cost of a
smartcard strategy; whether it will make a positive or negative
impact; what the considerations are for alternative designs; what
might undermine the strategy, and whether all government
departments will sing from same song sheet.
"Each state should do a cost/benefit analysis and there needs to
be more transparency around ID management initiatives," she
said.
The Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO)
is also working on a range of standards for tokens, smartcards, PKI
and biometrics.
Speaking at an identity management conference, Tony Halberg,
AGIMO team leader for government authentication, said: "We're
considering what we need to do to encourage the use of
technology.
"When we look at standards we can establish which ones might be
useful."
The smartcard framework was released for comment in December
last year and has so far received responses from a range of
organizations - both public and private - and those already using
smartcards.
"It's aimed at assisting government agencies to enable better
service delivery for citizens and achieve consistency across
agencies [and] hopefully it will improve interoperability," he
said. "In developing frameworks, standards need to be workable. For
example, smartcards need to be practical and affordable, and comply
with security requirements."
And while embedding microchips in identity cards and documents
may be seen as a step forward in the ongoing battle against fraud,
there are fears of massive over-investment in unique systems with
little interoperability.
Today's smartcard landscape ranges from enterprises using the
technology for computer access control and e-passports to visions
of a national ID card, a 'smart' Medicare card, as well as a card
for all federal government employees.
Halberg admits there is a real risk "we could re-introduce the
rail-gauge problem" (Australia's rail gauges differ from state to
state).
But assistant secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade's passports branch, Bob Nash said the reality is a machine
can confirm the identity of an individual better than a person,
giving weight to the security of a face-scanning e-passport.
"Some privacy advocates have misunderstood the government's
intentions - we want to secure people's privacy and identity," Nash
said.
"This technology ensures the person holding the passport is the
same person to whom it was issued. We are not seeking any
additional information."
Sony Australia, which has completed smartcard implementations in
South East Asia, has submitted a proposal to AGIMO regarding
smartcard adoption in Australia.
Sony believes Australia should adopt the Singaporean model, a
solution dubbed EZ-link.
The company's smartcard product manager Adam Faulkner said its
proposal advises the government that Australia doesn't have to
re-invent the wheel.
"We have a good roadmap for Australia. The government is
currently looking at different elements for smartcards and ways to
add value; from our perspective the Singapore EZ-link card has been
tremendously successful," Faulkner said.
"There are multiple applications for the EZ-link card in
Singapore and it is stated that Australia needs a card for multiple
applications so to just bring out one card with one function would
not work - in Singapore the smartcard allows people to buy food at
McDonalds or a 7-11, as well as being used as a building access
control card.
"Singaporean users can go to a train station and recharge funds
on the card, but the decision in Australia of what a smartcard will
be will be driven by government as it will decide the where and
when. There have been a couple of discussions, but we (Sony) are
taking an advisory role until the government makes the
decision."
The Singaporean EZ-link card was first implemented as an
automatic transport payment system in April 2002. About seven
million cards have been deployed since then, processing up to four
million transactions daily.
The card itself, titled FeliCa, is a contactless, cheap card
with an integrated circuit. It has previously been implemented in
Hong Kong, China and Japan; however, due to Australia's size,
smartcards will not come cheap.
"The Australian government is advised to leverage the regional
economies of scale available to it, as a sustainable local market
is not likely to generate price benefits without sacrificing
quality and reliability," the proposal states.
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