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Japan IDs All Its Citizens
Posted by
kdawson
on Sat Mar 08, 2008 08:21 PM
from the juki-box dept.
from the juki-box dept.
Edis Krad writes "While RealID in the US is a threat whose implementation is a ways in the future, the Japanese long ago implemented something similar; and there has been very little complaint raised about it. The Juki Net (Residents Registration Network — link in Japanese) has been silently developing since 1992. The system involves an 11-digit unique number to identify every citizen in Japan, and the data stored against that ID covers name, address, date of birth, and gender. Many Japanese citizens seem to be oblivious that such a government-run network exists. Juki Net had a spotlight shone on it recently because a number of citizens around the country sued against it, citing concerns of information misuse or leakage. And while an Osaka court ruled against the system, the Japanese Supreme Court has just ruled it is not unconstitutional, on the grounds that the data will be used in a bona-fide manner and there's no risk of leakage. While there is a longstanding registration system for us foreigners in Japan, what astonishes me is how the government can secretly implement such a system for its citizens, and how little concern the media and Japanese citizens in general display about the privacy implications."
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Is it that much of a deal? (Score:5, Interesting)
I live in continental Europe and I have an ID card. I know that exactly the same style of ID cards exists in at least Belgium and Germany. Why is it a problem? You get to use it only when to prove that you're actually you. Like when voting and when I did an exam to try to become a state servant (I failed, if you really want to know.)
I also have a number that uniquely identifies me. It is the equivalent the social security number and it consists of my birthdate in format yyyymmdd followed by a three digit number. Unlike in the US, knowing this number means nothing. It's not secret... It isn't displayed on my ID card though.
Slashdot ID (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Is it that much of a deal? (Score:5, Interesting)
I just don't see how the database in TFA is any different from this or the multitude of population registries that exist all over the world. Can someone enumerate the problems with this, please?
Parent
Re:Is it that much of a deal? (Score:5, Interesting)
It also now have a proper cryptographic ID format (non-mandatory and opt-in) and you can sign any document with a digital signature.
You can also get any of your ID documents reissued in any police station in 24h and for 3h in Sofia. Everything is in the database.
At the same time the level of privacy and the level of ID theft risk is way lower than in the US or UK. There are controls on who has access to the database and for what purposes. You do not have to send "sufficient identifying information" every few months just to get things done and digging through your rubbish does not yield sufficient identifying information to steal your identity.
Overall - it is a classic example that there is nothing wrong with a correctly implemented national ID system. It can actually improve your privacy instead of eating into it.
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Re:theft risk (Score:4, Informative)
Further to this, most banks have mandated the use of the digital key for electronic banking now and have additional agreements with the registrars. Similarly, besides individual keys, there are also business ones so you can sign contracts with and between companies with them as well.
So the registrars have a very serious vested interest to keep the register in good shape and the CA keys secure. Definitely no government officials sleeping here. This is light years ahead of the target UK and US are putting themselves with their ID projects already. When you look at the UK ID and compare it to scandinavian and the BG one it is not even funny. It is actually sad - how much money will be wasted on a joke.
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Re:theft risk (Score:4, Informative)
One is the government one. It is the same as the taxation and national insurance database, not a separate "yet-another" database like the UK ID project. This is the basis for normal IDs, not the digital ID system.
The digital ID system is privately run by registrars which have won a tender process. Having correct PKI procedures including the human bit was AFAIK part of the tender. It relies on the same unique ID as the government one.
For more details you should really dig around the websites of Infonotary and other digital ID issuers. Based on first hand experience with the UK mess and the BG system I wish the UK had something even remotely approaching the stuff which BG has created.
There are of course reasons for all this. BG was forced to have a working ID system to be able to have visa waivers with Shengen states. UK chose to boycott Shengen instead. And so on. This actually goes way back to the days of the first mainframe clones done in BG.
The best description of UK as far as identity management is concerned is a hippopotamus. Huge mouth, wide open, claiming how good and advanced they are while the bottom is stuck in the thick river mud. When I first came to the UK my first ID was easier to fake than a school ID in Bulgaria. You could copy the stamps with boiled egg and it was not even printed on embossed paper. It was a simple book printed on normal paper which any Eastern European could have copied and faked in 5 minutes. While things have improved since then, not by far. There is a fantastic BBC documentary called "Me and my fake passports" where a russian journo hired by the beeb goes and obtains nearly 20 fake IDs and passports and enters the UK without problem on each of them every time.
US is not much better either and the reason for this is the "not invented here attitude" which assumes for some reason that all IT is done in anglosaxon countries. As far as identity management and use of databases in government the anglosaxon countries are 20 years behind continental Europe. Same as far as privacy and safeguards on data.
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Re:Is it that much of a deal? (Score:5, Informative)
At leat on start of year 2001, Finland and Denmark were only countries on world what could make census just with a computers and there were no need to go by door to door or using a mixed other kind databases together.
And at least on Finland, Civil register includes a lots of other information too than just name, address, phonenumber, education, marriage status. But it includes information of buildings and all kind other stuff what helps to build charts almost everything.
http://www.vaestorekisterikeskus.fi/vrk/home.nsf/www/populationinformationsystem [vaestorekisterikeskus.fi]
http://www.maistraatti.fi/en/index.html [maistraatti.fi]
http://tilastokeskus.fi/index_en.html [tilastokeskus.fi]
And even that Finland collects this kind adata alots, most important thing is that there are laws for individuals to protect their indentity.
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Re:Is it that much of a deal? (Score:4, Interesting)
Parent
Re:Is it that much of a deal? (Score:5, Insightful)
All this paranoia about IDs and numbers and such, I have to ask:
1. How many people over the age of 16 or so DON'T have a driver's license or state issued ID card? Heck, even students are getting them today in the form of school IDs. I was issued one in HS, never used it other than to get discounts at a few stores that had discounts for students. I had one for college. I have one for my job.
The problem with using the SSN is that it was never designed to be an ID. There just aren't safeguards on it. By law it WASN'T to be used for all the stuff we use it for today. We'd be better off issuing seperate ID numbers for stuff like credit reports - consisting of the two digit state abbreviation then a set of characters determined by the state. Put it on the ID card. Then, for non-face transactions, have a PIN in place to prove it's yours. To reset the PIN, you'd have to go to the appropriate office that would verify your identity.
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Re:Is it that much of a deal? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's my understanding that they want to tie bank accounts, driver's license, social insurance / security (I'm Canadian), passport etc. to one single card.
If you lose this card you are completely fsck'd. And if someone wants to steal your identity all they have to do is either steal or forge your card. And before people say that forging cards is theoretically as difficult as forging a credit card I'll just point out that that's extremely little comfort. Forging credit cards is one of the most common credit card scams. All you need is an account number and the PIN and you can make a card to use in any ATM. It won't fool a person but it's not meant to. Since ATM machines can read credit cards all it needs is the magnetic stripe with the account # + PIN encoded on it. With systems designed in such a brain-dead way with a complete lack of thought put into security the idea of a real ID scares the crap out of me because idiots will be designing them and more idiots will be assuring the population that they're hack-proof.
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wrong idea (Score:4, Insightful)
It's my understanding that they want to tie bank accounts, driver's license, social insurance / security (I'm Canadian), passport etc. to one single card.
Right now, everything is "tied" to your name. The problem is that for many people the name isn't unique. That's why a unique number is a good idea.
If you lose this card you are completely fsck'd. And if someone wants to steal your identity all they have to do is either steal or forge your card.
Huh? An id card merely says "John Smith (23984211038) was born on 4/1/1981, is a US citizen, looks like this, has this signature, and resides here." The cards are hard to forge. Such cards aren't used to replace ATM cards or anything else. They are used when you go to the bank in person and interact with a teller, in which case they are no worse than a driver's license. In the future, these cards are going to have more biometric identifiers (in addition to face and signature), meaning that they are even harder to forge and for people to pretend that they are you.
Id cards are reasonable protection against identity theft. They are used when you need to identify yourself uniquely to another person, and for that purpose, they are a whole lot better than the alternatives (driver's licenses, birth certificates, utility bills, etc.). And if security is really important, people can require those alternative in addition.
Now, there are some civil liberties arguments that one should not be able to identify people uniquely with ease. But those arguments are the opposite of yours: you want sound identification, you simply misunderstand how id cards provide it.
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Re:Is it that much of a deal? (Score:5, Interesting)
Not so impossible my friend. [hackcanada.com]
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Re:Is it that much of a deal? (Score:4, Interesting)
http://www.dmvnv.com/news/05-005.htm [dmvnv.com]
The link I provided is from when they recovered the license making equipment and supplies that had been stolen from a DMV. Replacing a picture on an ID card isn't so impossible when you can just make another ID card from scratch with a new picture and someone else's information.
Now, for a number of years in Virginia, your Social Security number was ALSO your driver's license number. Not only that, but your license was on paper, along with another additional information sheet... and all of it was kept in an OPEN clear plastic sleeve. This changed years ago, but as of The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, no state can use a SSN as a Driver's license number.
Most states only require a piece of mail and a birth certificate, in order to get a state issued picture ID. Don't let anyone fool you into thinking that you need a picture ID to get a picture ID. So how hard would it be to take someone ELSE's birth certificate and a piece of their mail, and get yourself a new Identity? Sure, there are other measures in place to make it more difficult to get a social security card re-issued, as well as getting into a bank account... but then again...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/20/nyc-bank-lets-wrong-man-w_n_87647.html [huffingtonpost.com]
There's a story about a man who went to his bank, and the teller assumed by his NAME only, that he was the same man who had opened up a business account with $5 million in it. You see, another man with the same name had indeed opened an account for his business with $5 million in it. The teller insisted that the account was indeed his (the wrong man with the same name), so he withdrew $2 million.
Where were the Picture ID's then?
I'm just adding, not so much refuting you.
Retinal scanning is the way to go.
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Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Few, but some (I doubt many Amish have driver's licenses). But the ID card isn't the problem. It would be entirely possible for the state to issue an ID card which merely associated a name and date of birth with a photo, and had record keeping.
The problem is the ID number assigned on that card, and the tracking database to which it forms the key, and the nefarious uses to which this database can and will
Re:Is it that much of a deal? (Score:5, Insightful)
There is enough information available for any government employee to determine when you are on holiday or away on a business trip to know when to send their mates round to burgle your home.
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
You might not know this, but the first three numbers in your social identifies where you were born. I was born in a small state(ND), and people spot that I was born there all the time when they spot my social. You wouldn't necessarily get a new number when you move.
Still, what do you expect for less than 30 seconds of thought. I think you're right, a state identifier isn't necessarily nee
Re:Is it that much of a deal? (Score:5, Interesting)
My biggest objection to programs that unify information and improve database access is that it encourages people to use them in situations where it isn't actually necessary, which then extends problems with that database access into situations where it shouldn't be necessary.
An example would be the treatment that travelers who show identification at airports in the US receive - they are treated as being more 'legitimate' than people who are unwilling or unable to show id, and then subjected to a lower average level of scrutiny. The problem with this is that the cursory checks performed on the id aren't going to detect forgeries or falsely obtained official identification, making the whole process a pointless waste of time.
Falsely obtained official identification also limit the usefulness of using any documentation to 'prove that you are actually you'. An entire system is limited in reliability by the least trustworthy bureaucrat working in it.
Finally, a sort of joking example: Would you expect your wife to sleep with an imposter who had documents proving they were you, or would you expect her to scoff at the documents? Training people to trust the documents in similar situations is scary; I wish I had a better argument against it.
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Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I consider that a minor problem. The more major problem
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Ask the Jews... well, the ones the German government didn't murder, anyway.
The innocent have nothing to hide, until the day the government turn them into criminals (making merely being alive a capital offence in the case of German Jews); then they suddenly realise why bloated government databases and ID cards were a really bad idea.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I live in continental Europe and I have an ID card. I know that exactly the same style of ID cards exists in at least Belgium and Germany. Why is it a problem?
Ask the Jews... well, the ones the German government didn't murder, anyway.
In France, the situation was totaly opposite. During WWII, under the authority of René Carmille [wikipedia.org], the SSN was invented to help resistance rise an army if/when the allies would arrive. The germans and french "collaborateurs" never managed to lay their hands on the resulting files, thus had to resort to use many separate police files to hunt after the jews. IDs are only "useful" to nefarious purpose if they link to sensitive data. Name, DOB and gender are not sensitive. But if the governement can then t
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
How can one be free, if I'm monitored all of the time, like I if I was in prison. Simple an
Re:Is it that much of a deal? (Score:4, Interesting)
The number is never meant to be sufficient for identification, and I've never seen it used as such in cases where there's a high fraud risk. When dealing with your bank, for example, you'll need to present an ID document. Many of those ID documents will have your national id number printed on it, to tie your identity to the number.
It does potentially allow a lot of databases to be combined. However, at the same time Norway has some of the strictest data privacy laws in the world, and they are strictly enforced. In reality the cases of abuse have been extremely limited.
Yes, it does mean that if you want to "disappear" from the government you can't legally do so - you risk a fine, though in reality the odds of being fined are small (if you evade taxes and they come looking for you and don't find you at your stated residence, perhaps, but then you're already in bigger trouble). Presumably if you badly want to hide from the government, a fine isn't really going to stop you.
Yes, it also means the government have an easier job tieing your national id to your bank accounts and other registers to get a larger picture. However you'll find that in countries like the UK, that doesn't have a national ID number (yet), the government have become very sophisticated in terms of matching up data about people based on addresses. I know for a fact that HM Revenue & Customs (UK equivalent of the IRS) does this with a very high level of accuracy (same goes for financial institutions etc. - the assumption is that if they have your name and your last three years of addresses, they'll be able to build a continuous financial history, and it works extremely well without any kind of unique id number).
An id number is just a convenience. If someone wants to combine data on you from disparate sources, they WILL manage to find ways of matching up the data. The only "benefit" you get from not having an id number is that it's slightly harder. But you also run the risk that it's far easier to make a mistake and tie your data to someone elses in ways that cause you problems.
The id number is exactly the wrong thing to focus on. It's how data on you is combined, protected and analyzed that decide whether or not you have a privacy problem, not whether or not you have an id number. The id number just simplifies what's still a relatively trivial job of linking data together.
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Re:Is it that much of a deal? (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
Re:Is it that much of a deal? (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
Oh noes! An 11-digit number! (Score:5, Insightful)
Privacy concerns in this day and age are ridiculous. You haven't any.
Fighting the tide only works when you're on the shore. When you're at the bottom of the Marianas Trench, there isn't very much you can do.
Re:Oh noes! An 11-digit number! (Score:4, Funny)
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Difference of culture (Score:5, Informative)
Orwell was British (Score:4, Interesting)
Go for it: List the pros or cons of each scenario... But just remember, all those pros go away when the people controlling the database go bad. And they do.
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Japan != USA/Europe (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Japan != USA/Europe (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Japan != USA/Europe (Score:5, Insightful)
What's so irrational about it? They didn't always have such an acceptance. This is a country that has existed for thousands of years, the first couple thousand of which were spent in a state of near-constant civil war without any centralized government. It was only after a strong central government was formed - and further refined with our help - that they became a prosperous, peaceful country with one of the highest standards of living in the world.
Acceptance of authority and conformism has brought them peace, prosperity, high educational standards, low crime, good health and long life expectancy. They are no less "free" than we are, either. Their government does not wiretap their citizens' phone calls or endorse torture, and their taxes do not go to supporting a massive military industrial complex or a set of oil cartels. So in what way is their culture "irrational"? Especially in comparison to ours?
Accept the fact that not everybody thinks the way Americans do. We are not the center of the universe and the way we think is not the "right" way.
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Japan != Anything you want to emulate (Score:5, Insightful)
People miss the point of citing statistics like wealth and crime. Wealth and crime in it of themselves are worthless. Crime in particular is a silly stat to obsess over. If you want to eliminate crime, just knock everyone into a coma and keep them alive with feeding tubes. The reason why we want wealth and low crime is to bring about happiness. When your pursuit of these things fail to produce more happiness, you are failing. The real purpose of a government should be to bring about the greatest happiness for their citizens and sustain their happiness. All the wealth and low crime in the world won't make a damned bit of difference if you are so miserable you throw yourself off a bridge.
If the point of life is happiness, the Japanese fail spectacularly. The Japanese are roughly the last people in this world we should be seeking to emulate. Don't get me wrong, a lot of great things come out of Japan that I have met have been great people, but the emulation of their miserable and unhappy society ranks roughly last on my list of things to do.
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Re:Japan != Anything you want to emulate (Score:4, Interesting)
http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suiciderates/en/ [who.int]
Japan does not have the highest suicide rate in the world. It doesn't even come close. According to this study, in 1999 the suicide rate was 50.6 per 100,000 people. This compares to 21.7 for the US and 15.1 in the UK. So it seems very high. However, compared to Austria (37.1), Beglium (40.1), Finland (45.5), etc it's not exactly running away wild. Countries with internal political strife have considerably higher levels (nearing 100 for some countries). So it's bad, but not ridiculously bad.
Now, let's take some other things into consideration. This data was taken in 1999 - 1 year after the collapse of several Japanese banks and the end of the "Job for life" policy in Japan. Yes, before 1998, nobody ever got laid off. Ever. In the history of the country. So in 1998 and 1999, people were getting laid off frequently. Hence suicide rates climbed dramatically.
Second you have to consider the culture. Unlike the US and the UK, suicide is *accepted* in Japanese society. Just the other day the father of one of my colleagues killed himself. His wife had died earlier and he just couldn't cope with looking after himself. Japanese men, in general, are totally dependent upon their wives. Many of them die by their own hand right after their wives die. This is sad, but normal here. In fact, I heard about my colleague's father at the morning staff meeting. No social stigma to the event at all.
So no matter what, suicide rates are going to be higher here than in the US or the UK. It's just seen as reasonable here that if you don't want to live, you don't have to (and personally I have a hard time coming up with a good argument against that).
Now to tackle the other things you have said. Life in Japan is *not* hard. It is *not* strict. It is *not* sad. This has got to be one of the happiest places I've ever lived in my life (and I've lived int the US, Canada and the UK). Yes, people work hard. The saying here is that "Otoko wa shigoto", or "Man is work". But they *like* to work. I do too. Hell, most of the people here on
Also, Japanese life is *full* of play. Seriously, every single weekend there's a festival of something or other near by. And people grab their families and have a blast. In fact one of the most interesting things I found about living in Japan is that people take their children *everywhere*. And Japanese children by and large *extremely* happy. Again the culture is just different. School can be tough. But it doesn't have to be. You choose to work as hard as you want. You get rewarded for your efforts. Japanese schools are agressively streamed. So the functions of the schools (especially high school) is different depending on the composition of the students.
For instance, in the high school where I work, the level is fairly low (bottom 20% in the prefecture I think). So the focus in school is on how to make a positive contribution to society. Seriously. Some of the kids take their tests and whatever seriously, but most don't. You *can* get to University from here, but only about 25% do. The rest will become fishermen, policemen, firemen, housewives/husbands, shop keepers, etc. These students are taught that their role is valuable. That they can make Japan better simply by making someone's day a little nicer.
Japan is far from unhappy. I don't agree with everything that happens here. But I have to vehomently disagree with
Parent
Re:Japan != USA/Europe (Score:4, Interesting)
Despite the surface changes, the Japanese government operates in pretty much the same way it always has; a few people in power who hand the laws down to the common folk and the common folk are expected to bear it. Theoretically, these people in power are supposed to have the good of the people in mind, but the reality differs somewhat. The Japanese people have an inherent faith in their government, although that faith is eroding rapidly in recent years; hence the rapid change of prime ministers since Koizumi.
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To what extent is privacy cultural? (Score:5, Interesting)
In reading this story, I wonder about how individuals raised in cultures different than my own (read: USA) view issues of personal privacy vs. common good. Broadly speaking, we in the states tend to defend a "rights" theory; that our personal rights can, in some cases, trump the good of society. However, the idea of a populace giving in some personal rights for those of the supposed good lies on the spectrum of utilitarianism; that by putting in place a universal ID, it's necessary to give up some personal rights, in order to protect the largest number of people.
But, I'd be interested to know about how others compare this issue to the various historical theories of ethics...
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
that our personal rights can, in some cases, trump the good of society.
Maybe that's the way some people see it in the USA. I see it as personal rights being a requirement for the long-term good of society. That while short-term violations of rights may appear to yield short-term benefits for "the good of society," in the long-term those violations do a net harm to society.
I think its summed up well in the saying about Benito Mussolini -- "At least he made the trains run on time!"
Different cultures, different standards (Score:5, Insightful)
Similar system in Costa Rica (Score:5, Interesting)
privacy? welcome to the information age (Score:4, Insightful)
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Here's the real issue. (Score:4, Insightful)
The problem is, if I don't want to sign up with your system, you get to put me in jail.
This is downright wrong and against the basic right that all human beings have to stay silent about their personal information.
Not to mention, any time in human history where ID schemes and mandatory databases have been misused they used exactly the same "what could go wrong/what have you got to hide" reasoning as they are using now.
Godwin's law be damned, how do you think the Nazi government knew where all the jews lived when they started handing out arm bands and shipping them to concentration camps?
The point isn't what today's government in today's climate will do with it. The point is that no organization should be given that much unchecked power to mandate citizens to give up their private information when it has never been proven that a government is immune to corruption and incompetence.
Governments have proven themselves untrustworthy with this level of information on the general public.
The UK government lost 28 million peoples private information LAST YEAR alone.
But the government has proven itself competent and reliable in every other aspect of its business so I guess we should trust it on this one.....
yeesh
Sources :
http://www.betanews.com/article/UK_government_loses_data_on_as_many_as_25_million_people/1195687877 [betanews.com]
http://www.news.com/U.K.-government-loses-data-on-driving-test-candidates/2100-1029_3-6223292.html [news.com]
http://www.news.com/U.K.-government-loses-pensioner-data/2100-1029_3-6223493.html [news.com]
39.296.090-4 (Score:4, Insightful)
and you know what ? IS NOT A BIG DEAL.
get over it, USians. the govt already know who you are. how many databases you're registered on ? DMV, social security, schools permanent records, with the military, and so on.
if the govt is not abusing all that info, then a national ID will be just a formality without adding any risk.
now, if they ARE using all the info they already have against the population, a new database won't make any difference. and you people should seriously start considering a revolution.
When I read the title... (Score:3, Funny)
This is the Wrong Battle (Score:5, Interesting)
Like most other developed nations, Sweden has a system much like Japan's, that keeps track of who people are where they live. This results in vastly superior service to the citizens. You don't have to register to vote, you can get a passport in under an hour, and in general you only have to tell one governmental agency something once, and the others will also get the information on a need-to-know basis.
And here is my point:
The US government already knows everything about you. They even read your email and tap your phone at will. But since they have to pretend not to, we have to keep sending in the same information again and again, things take forever and are often done wrong. We have the worst of both worlds, with little privacy and little functioning services.
Americans fight this kind of system thinking they're protecting privacy. They're not. Their privacy is long gone, and they're just wasting their effort. If you have the energy to fight for freedom, use it where it counts. This, unfortunately, is not such a place.
Japan much less Orwellian than the US or UK (Score:4, Insightful)
Jukinet has been up and running for years, but the central government has been unable to force take-up, just as they cannot enforce take-up of the so-called compulsory social security or health care systems, or just as NHK cannot force people to pay the compulsory subscription. If Japan were the USA they would just put a gun to people's heads, so-to-speak, and enforce participation.
The way it has worked up to now is that individuals elect to sign up for the Jukinet smart card, and less than two percent of the population has done this. There's no actual requirement anywhere to get one, and it seems to be regarded as a slight potential convenience.
My theory is that there are are at least a couple reasons why the Japaneese government seems so ineffective in putting teeth into enforcement of compliance with such systems.
1) There is a lingering sense of respect for "rights of the individual" that remains since the various reforms after the War, and it's tied in with left wing politics. This is why it's taken 30 years to build the second runway at Narita airport.
2) Second reason is bureacratic turf wars. Jukinet is the pet project of one not-particularly-powerful ministry, and they do not have the power to enforce take-up, although they certainly did manage to get to the Supreme Court in this case (which has handed down a judgment that is rather short-sighted about privacy, given the history of privacy problems that we have seen in Japan in recent years).
In short, Japan has all the privacy problems of other developed countries (and perhaps even more so, given the ubiquitous video surveillance), but has soft spots in its central adminstration in unexpected places.
Incidentally, if it were my job to increase Jukinet card takeup, I would offer people the option of getting them in a design theme of Hello Kitty, or Snoopy, or Audrey Hepburn or something such, and then add electronic money and/or train pass functionality, slightly discounted. WHOOOOOSH, massive take-up overnight.
Ordering pizza in 2020 (Score:4, Funny)
Customer: "Hello, can I order.."
Operator : "Can I have your multi purpose card number first, Sir?"
Customer: "It's eh..., hold on....6102049998-45-54610"
Operator : "OK... you're... Mr. Sheehan and you're calling from 17 Meadow Drive. Your home number is 494 2366, your office 745 2302 and your mobile is 014 266 2566. Would you like to have the delivery made to 17 Meadow Drive?
Customer: "Yes, how did you get all my phone numbers?"
Operator : "We are connected to the system Sir"
Customer: "May I order your Seafood Pizza..."
Operator : "That's not a good idea Sir"
Customer: "How come?"
Operator : "According to your medical records, you have high blood pressure and even higher cholesterol level Sir"
Customer: "What?... What do you recommend then?"
Operator : "Try our Low Fat Soybean Yogurt Pizza.You'll like it"
Customer: "How do you know for sure?" Operator : "You borrowed a book entitled "Popular Soybean Yogurt Dishes" from the National Library last week Sir"
Customer: "OK I give up... Give me three family sized ones then, how much will that cost?
Operator : "That should be enough for your family of 10, Sir. The total is $ 49.99
Customer: "Can I pay by credit card?"
Operator : "I'm afraid you have to pay us cash, Sir. Your credit card is over the limit and you're owing your bank $3720.55 since October last year"
Operator : "That's not including the late payment charges on your housing loan Sir.
Customer: "I guess I have to run to the neighborhood ATM and withdraw Some cash before your guy arrives"
Operator : "You can't do that Sir. Based on the records, you've reached your daily limit on machine withdrawal today"
Customer: "Never mind just send the pizzas, I'll have the cash ready. How long is it gonna take anyway?"
Operator : "About 45 minutes Sir, but if you can't wait you can always come and collect it on your motorcycle..."
Customer: " What the..?"
Operator : "According to the details in system, you own a Harley,...registration number E1123..."
Customer: "@#%/$@&?#"
Operator : "Better watch your language Sir. Remember on 15th July 1987 You were convicted of using abusive language to a policeman...
Customer:( Speechless)
Operator : "Is there anything else Sir?"
Customer: "Nothing... by the way... aren't you giving me that 3 free bottles of Pepsi as advertised?"
Operator : "We normally would Sir, but based on your records you're also diabetic....... "
Inevitable (Score:5, Insightful)
Instead, rely on proven methods like encryption, legal assurances, and simple discretion about what you put in the public eye, with an expectation that public starts where your walls end. We're approaching a small-town expectation of privacy, applied globally. You can't hide from your neighbor.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)