IP: `Smart card' plan gets the scissors - Project scrapped as too expensive and contentious

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2002 09:57:00 -0500
> From: Robert Guerra <rguerra () yahoo com>
> To: cpsr-activists () cpsr org
> cc: dave () farber net
>
>
> Toronto Star (Toronto/Canada)
>
> Jan. 22, 01:00 EDT
> `Smart card' plan gets the scissors
>
> Project scrapped as too expensive and contentious
>
> Tyler Hamilton
> Technology Reporter
> The Harris government has quietly shelved plans for a provincial "smart 
> card" system after spending more than 20 months and at least $12.5 million 
> on the controversial initiative.
>
> The system, first touted in the Throne Speech of October, 1999, could 
> eventually have placed health, birth, driver's licence and other personal 
> information on a single high-tech ID card for all Ontario residents.
>
> Called the Smart Card Project, the goal was to improve access to public 
> services and reduce fraud. But privacy advocates, including Canada's 
> federal privacy watchdog, warned that the cards threatened to erode 
> personal freedoms by giving "Big Brother" another tool for electronic 
> surveillance.
>
> Despite privacy concerns, a Management Board spokesperson told the Star 
> yesterday that the project, hailed by some as one of the world's most 
> sophisticated smart-card initiatives, has been shelved primarily for 
> financial reasons.
>
> "It's financially untenable at this time," said Julie Rosenberg, adding it 
> was a "tough decision" to pull the plug. "The government decided to wind 
> down the smart card project and to move forward with card technology only 
> when it is fiscally viable to do so."
>
> Management Board spent $12.5 million for research and consulting services 
> necessary to plan and design the card and the initial registration process.
>
> The knowledge the government gained won't go to waste, said Rosenberg, 
> adding that the health ministry will use the research to help "speed up 
> the engineering of the current health card system." The Ministry of 
> Consumer and Business Services will inherit whatever is left over.
>
> Catherine Johnson, president of the Advanced Card Technology Association 
> of Canada and a member of the government's external smart-card advisory 
> council, said she is "very surprised" the government would walk away from 
> its plan at a time when Canadians are more supportive than ever of 
> initiatives that reduce fraud and enhance security.
>
> Four weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, an Ipsos-Reid poll found that four 
> in five Canadians would be willing to submit fingerprints for a national 
> ID card, indicating that most were willing to give up some privacy for 
> increased security.
>
> "I'm perplexed that after Sept. 11 we aren't aggressively moving toward 
> technologies that are tamper-resistant," said Johnson, who received a 
> letter from Management Board on Dec. 28 informing advisory council members 
> that the project was ending.
>
> Johnson said building the smart-card infrastructure would have been 
> expensive, but the government must take into account savings that would 
> come from reducing fraud and improving efficiency.
>
> The original plan was to begin enrolling Ontario residents into the 
> smart-card program this year, with a focus on replacing the old 
> red-and-white, magnetic-strip health cards, which are less secure than the 
> newer photo cards.
>
> Over time, the intention was to add other information and features to the 
> tiny computer chip embedded into the card, including organ-donor, birth 
> certificate and Medic Alert information, voter registration data, fishing 
> and hunting permits, and educational enrolment information.
>
> Biometrics technology, such as fingerprint identification, was considered 
> as an added security feature, but privacy concerns made it too contentious.
>
> The project has been criticized for lacking transparency and being 
> improperly managed. A source close to the project said the initiative 
> appeared doomed because the health ministry was hesitant to co-operate 
> with other departments.
>
> Another source said dozens of consultants were being paid an average 
> $1,500 a day even though it was general knowledge the project was to end.
>
> "There's been nothing to do for the past three months," said the source, 
> who requested anonymity. "Hundreds of thousands in consulting fees were 
> being paid out, even though the decision had already been made to begin 
> winding down. It's disappointing. Why waste all that money if it ends up 
> in the trash?"
>
> Similar ambitions by previous Liberal and New Democrat governments also 
> led nowhere.
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> ---
> Robert Guerra <rguerra () cpsr org>
> PGP Keys <http://pgp.greatvideo.com/keys/rguerra/>
>
> Director , Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
>
> Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) is an
> organization that addresses the benefits and risks to society resulting
> from the use of computers.  For information, please visit
> <http://www.cpsr.org>

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