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Governmental ID System in Japan
Kaan writes: "Japan just launched a mandatory, nationwide ID system whereby every citizen is assigned an 11-digit identification number. The database stores personal data (name, address, date of birth, gender, possibly more data) for each person. At least five municipalities are refusing to join the system, which accounts for ~4 million of the 127 million total. While some Japanese folks are refusing to cooperate, most are going along with it. Is this the beginning of the end of privacy in Japan? How much longer until we see something like that in the U.S.?"
"Ahhh, don't we have something like that already known as a social security number?"
Technically, no, because you don't have to have a social security number. However, since you need one to work, to get a driver's license, even to be claimed as a dependent on your parent's tax return, for all practical purposes, we certainly do.
But, it's better to have one ID than have to keep track of several. The issue is one of whether the system becomes abused.
And, any system can be abused, whether it's one ID number or twenty.
---Any philosophy that can be put "in a nutshell" belongs there.---
I know that it sounds like a troll, but seriously this is the kind of thing that made me a Libertarian. My towns congressmen , both Dem. and Rep, have all pledged to fight government invasion of privacy, but they keep voteing us closer to this kind of thing.
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Denmark has had this since the 1970's, which is also the reason why the Danish population is very popular amongst researchers. All health care information is available through this central computer system, and this makes researchers able to find correlations quickly. All tax information is provided this way, too. You cannot open a bank account without telling your 10-digit identification number, which the bank will use to report to the state.
It is extremely convenient - when moving, you only have to tell it once, and then all banks, insurance companies, the army (if you are reserve), your doctor etc. know your new address.
There are some security concerns and there is a very strict legislation about how to handle this system, but the economical benefits are huge and it does benefit society a lot.
Having lived in both in Denmark where everybody has an ID-number (but no ID-cards), and in Germany, where everybody has an ID-card (but no ID-number), I clearly prefer the Danish system.
Dybdahl.
I actually think this is a good idea.
People in the U.S. gripe about identity theft left and right. Part of the reason it's so easy to perform identity theft is that while a social security number is tied to a person, it's only tied by the fact it was assigned. Remember, we recycle these stupid numbers.
I have a Finnish ID number as well, since I lived there for quite some time. That one actually makes sense. It's my birthday in DDMMYY form, plus three digits and a letter. That identifies where I was born, when I was born, and my gender. It's not exactly easy to steal from people, since it really is tied to the person, not simply assigned.
Technically in Finland, you don't have to give out the number, but in reality you use it for a number of things. The cool part is that they write down the last part (the three digits and letter) when checking credit cards, lessening credit card fraud. Anyone remember when they used to check stuff here in the U.S.?
<example_id>040463-395F</example_id>
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it. - G.B. Shaw
If only you were right. However, in most cases of "sensitive" databases in the U.S. indexed on SSN, someone's only a four-figure bribe to an $8/hour clerk away from the information he seeks.
CEE5210S The signal SIGHUP was received.
"not a disease" but can be a huge risk. The reason its done in hospitals in North America is to reduce the risk of complications. Personally [I'm male] if a 7 pound creature was falling out of me I'd want some doctors around... I dunno, just my pref's :-)
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
So if there is an error in your records, you have to do all the work to correct it.
If the bank, doctor, insurance company, supermarket thinks something bad about you, you have to find out about it, find out how to complain, explain your reasons for complaining etc.
Most people don't do this unless its a serious matter like being refused credit. But in fact the price you are quoted by a vendor can be affected by what they know, or think they know. Having the ability to recognise you by a unique ID gives a lot of power to companies and they are not slow to use it. This is probably not illegal, or even immoral, but if I am forced to negotiate with someone for purchase of a product or service, I don't want them to have an armlock on me before I start.
I would like to decide how much I tell them about myself, and when to tell it, not the other way round.
The CPR doesn't just contain your current address, it contains all your previous addresses, the CPR numbers of your parents, your place of birth and some other information.
There's also a registry of organisations that have subscribed to your personal information. This is how Danish banks will always be notified when you change your address.
Only the last digit is a checksum, using the modulo 11 rule; the weights are 4 3 2 7 6 5 4 3 2 1.
I've known more than a few mothers who, having given birth to their first child in a hospital, chose to do the subsequent ones at home, with a (trained, licensed) midwife present. By both accounts, the American hospitals tended towards reccomending unnecessary surgery, unnecessary drugs, and provided an atmosphere which was other than entirely supportive.
Given the prudence of the ppl in question (both of whom I know quite well), I'm inclined to trust their judgement.
Most Americans would rather have a few people sneak into the system than to have a national ID card.
I don't know what majority of American you spoke to, but the ones I know either think a national ID is a good idea or don't care if there is a national ID. And they most certainly don't want immigrants sneaking into the system. Also, you seem to metion numerous ways to accomplish certain goals, the census, birth and death cretificates. What is the problem in consolidating all this info into one source? That is all an national ID would do.
I have lived in Japan for more than a decade. When I got my residence status I was fingerprinted and issued an Alien Registration card (known amongst expats at the gaijin card). It has number on it tied into the immigration database. The gaijin card is the foreigners' equivalent for the the Japanese koseki, or family register.
The koseki is kept at the local city hall but it might as well be a national ID because tax records and residency are all tied to it. Basically it is impossible to take up residence, change your address, open a bank account, file a tax return, get national health insurance, or get a full-time job without your koseki (or, if you are a foreigner, your gaijin card).
The police routinely call door-to-door collecting census-like information on every individual in the household because legally, the don't have access to the koseki. These police dossiers are filled with all kinds of tidbits about residents in their precincts, such as the the times that they put out the garbage outside of the designated two-hour window (6:30 to 8:30 am). Or the neighbors' descriptions of that woman that was seen going into Mr. Tanaka's apartment at 8 PM and coming out the next morning. Remember? the woman says to the police officer That was when his wife was away with the kids visiting her parents.
Laws notwithstanding, the police routinely (but informally) get access to koseki data when they have a specific agenda. Actually, anyone can get that information. A private investigator can get you a photocopy of anyone's koseki in 24 hours. And it is a booming business. Ditto for foreign registration.
When I filed my foreign registration I read something in English that said that the information supplied was confidential and that the police did not have access to it without a warrant. Moot! Such laws are seldom (if ever) enforced and often broken. I have firsthand experience with this. The police came to my door asking about a criminal suspect (another foreigner). The had found my business card in his personal belongings when they arrested him so I had to go to the police station to make a statement. At the station I saw my own dossier. It was almost 2 cm thick and included a copy my alien registration, mug-shot and finger print I had supplied to the foreign registration office. It also contains photocopies of my credit cards, health-insurance, hospital registration cards, passport and a handful of business cards of people I had met. They managed to get all this the time I lost my handbag which was later turned in to the police.
Now I know you are thinking that I must be some kind of trouble maker, but I assure you that I am only atypical in the fact that I lead a lower profile than many foreigners. I am carefully about not making too much noise and disturbing the neighbors and I am courteous to both the police and to immigration authorities. I basically give them what they ask for when they ask for it. I have never been arrested and I have never been a criminal suspect (to my knowledge). In this particular case of my being asked to make a statement, my only crime was possible associate of the accused. At any rate, I have heard several firsthand accounts by other foreigners about them seeing their own dossiers. They report essentially the same thing. In those cases, the most common reason for being at the police station is that they were spot-checked and found not to be carrying their gaijin card (which we must do by law). (I have been spot-checked once but I had my card.)
Now, the routine fingerprinting of foreigner has been abolished and the records supposedly destroyed, but that law only applies to city hall records. That law doesn't cover my dossier because officially it doesn't exist.
So does all this lack of privacy bother me? No, because I have a good life in Japan and I am treated well by the police, immigration and the people in my community. It doesn't bother the average Japanese either. They grew up with the police routinely coming to the door for an update on their own household and to hear the latest gossip on the neighbors. To them, it is just the police doing their job. True, I have to be careful not to break any serious laws and I have to be discreet about females coming and going from my home (not because of the police but because of the gossip value in the neighborhood).
So is the national ID number going to hurt privacy? The rhetorical question is what privacy? Most Japanese don't have the same conception of privacy that westerners do, anyway. The ones that protest the national ID system don't really understand it. Least of all they don't understand that such a system isn't going to replace the koseki system. Karel van Wolveren calls Japan a police state. The average citizen simply accepts it as another means for the authorities to serve and protect.
Of course most Americans don't have a clue how few rights they have either, let alone the right to privacy. They only difference between Japan and The United States is the measuring stick. And there is also a difference between having privacy and having a right to any of it.
One out of 2000 people are born with ambiguious genitalia, either through misdevelopment or chromosome ambiguity. About one in 200 people psychologically dont agree with their physical gender.
The growing consensus is to let the ambiguous child select their own gender as they grow older, rather than to assign one at birth. Assignment fails in half of the cases.