Heather Roy's Diary - Playing Privacy Poker
act-new-zealand
Fri May 11 2007 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Heather Roy's Diary - Playing Privacy Poker
Friday, 11 May 2007, 2:06 pm
Column: ACT New Zealand
Heather Roy's Diary
Playing Privacy Poker with Other People's Chips
Another 2005 election promise has been on the agenda this week - this time it has been Winston Peters' SuperGold Card for Senior Citizens and Veterans. Parliament has been debating the Social Security (Entitlement Cards) Amendment Bill. This is not specifically about the SuperGold Card but it is the legislation needed to give full effect to this card and future cards that come under the authority of the Social Securities Act.
I have been vocal this week on this issue - not because I have any difficulty with the card itself but because the bill allows for a microchip - type and function unspecified - to be embedded in the SuperGold card. The potential for sinister misuse of the information is huge and underestimated and the background work needed before microchip use becomes widespread has not been done.
SuperGold Cards should have been something Senior Citizens and Veteran's could look forward to using; instead they have the potential to pass private information on to unauthorised sources. Privacy issues have been completely ignored in the scrutiny of this Bill. Some microchips can operate as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags which can power up and transmit people's private details. RFIDs were first developed and used for military and espionage purposes in the late 1940's. The information contained in microchips is easy to crack and can be readily misused for unapproved purposes by criminal elements and the authorities. Identity theft without people even knowing is a real danger. This is the electronic version of steaming open an envelope.
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The United States and the European Union have recently signalled their concerns around privacy issues, backing away from using RFID technology for human identification until more research and consultation is done.
During the debate in parliament I put forward an amendment to omit the use of microchips on these cards and called for the government to refer the use of such technology on to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. I also called for international privacy guidelines to be followed. Unfortunately my amendments were voted down 59-61.
Caution was sounded also by the Privacy Commissioner and Grey Power. The Law Society, in its submission on this Bill, recommended a "general review of the principles governing the use of highly functional technology (such as microchip technology) on government-issued cards generally, and that the matter be referred to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner".
This is the right process to follow and the Privacy Commissioner should have been involved from the outset. Mr Peters and the Labour government have neglected the security of some of their most vulnerable citizens by bypassing basic privacy principles.
Lest We Forget
Last Monday (7 May) passed relatively quietly in this Country with few people realising that it was the 65th anniversary of an event that had far greater consequences for our nation than most events we annually commemorate with public holidays.
On 7 May 1942, Admiral Yamamoto commanding the Japanese Navy made the decision to postpone the planned invasion of Port Morseby. The invasion of Port Morseby would have been quickly followed by the invasions of the Eastern Cities of Australia and the relatively simple task of conquering New Zealand would have followed that. The Admiral's decision followed three days of what is now known as the Battle of the Coral Sea - the world's first Naval Battle fought from the air. For the Japanese Navy, all conquering in the Pacific since Pearl Harbour five months before, it was a frustrating, inconclusive battle but they could claim a victory of sorts. They lost a light carrier, the Sheko (12,000 tons), 77 aircraft and 1,074 men, the USA lost 66 aircraft and 543 men but also lost their biggest aircraft carrier, the "Lexington" (42,000 tons), another large carrier, "Yorktown", was seriously damaged and other USA losses included a Tanker and a Destroyer. The Japanese were encouraged rather than discouraged by the result and determined to prepare for a new battle on their terms in the mid Pacific where they could entice out the entire American Fleet and then destroy it.
The Japanese got their battle four weeks later, but it did not exactly go the way they planned it. The Battle of Midway on 5 June 1942 changed the course of the Pacific War. It was the most decisive naval action since Trafalgar.
The Coral Sea had greater repercussions for New Zealand than just sending the main Japanese Carrier Fleet back into the mid Pacific and away from us. It brought New Zealand and Australia together in a close alliance. The Motherland Britain had let them down. Singapore had fallen in February 1942. ANZAC Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen were in and about North Africa and England with most of the equipment needed for defence. We had been saved by a new reliable friend that had fought bravely and suffered heavily in an area thousands of miles from home. The Pacific Alliance of Australia, New Zealand and the USA was born at the Battle of the Coral Sea. New Zealand certainly played its part in that Alliance. It hosted a division of Marines, many thousands of whom went off to fight and die at Guadalcanal the first great allied land victory in the Pacific War.
ANZAC and American Forces worked together in major and successful offensives in the Solomon's and New Guinea and in Malaya and Burma. Years later, the three forces would fight again together in Korea and Vietnam.
New Zealand may have been tiny (smaller than most USA states) and in the bottom of the South West Pacific but for over 40 years it sat at the top table with the Americans, and had their ear on important issues of defence, security and trade. That uniquely privileged position was thrown away in 1985 by the Labour Government. Now we are struggling to rebuild the relationship.
The USA deserves criticism on many issues. Its biggest critics are often its own people. However, they have done much good in the world and New Zealand has benefited. Americans have always been prepared to fight and die to protect and defend a way of life that is our way of life.
The people of Crete have never forgotten the soldiers from the bottom of the world who came to defend their little island in 1941, albeit unsuccessfully. Ironically, the people of Turkey have honoured those brave young soldiers who came to invade their country in 1915, but failed disastrously.
Surely, we should stop in May or June of each year and think of those brave, resourceful young Americans who fought and died to save us in 1942, and actually succeeded.
ENDS
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