A Digital Certificate For Every Canadian

thepacketmaster writes "September 27 of this year, the Canadian government took a quiet step into the online world. Called Government Online, this broad project involves giving every Canadian citizen a digital certificate, which will allow citizens to access their personal government records online. So far they only have the Custom & Revenue Agency online with a simple Change of Address, but there are over a hundred more applications from various agencies ready to be put online. Could this be the start of something good, or is this Big Brother? How about voting online?"

Comments

Let us not forget

[xX_sticky_Xx]

The Longitudinal Labour Force File fiasco of a couple of years ago. Of course, it has since been dismantled (or else put in the hands of a government body beyond the reach of the Privacy Commissioner) but I would not put it past the federal government to try this again under a different guise.

Here's a little more info.

you're rather clueless

[digidave]

We're not socialists, we just have some socialist policies. Healthcare may cost a lot in taxes, but at least everyone can be sure to get proper care regardless of income level. This is only because in Canada healthcare is a right, not a priviledge.

To say Canada's crime is skyrocketing is ridiculous. I can walk through downtown Toronto (largest Canadian city) in any area at any time of day or night and not fear for my life at all. There are a couple bad neighbourhoods, but even they are many, many times safer than a bad neighbourhood in a major US city. Per capita there is not a single major US city that has lower violent crime than any major Canadian city. Stick your insanely relaxed gun laws up your ass, Americans, you guys have got it all wrong.

Re:voting

[freeweed]

I think you'd be amazed at how inconvenient voting can be in this country. For the past 11 years, my polling station has been at an elementary school that's all of 5 minutes drive away. Guess what? Not one single public transportation route goes within a mile of it. Walking the total distance from my house would take well over an hour, and I'm a very fast walker in pretty decent shape.

For anyone who doesn't own a car, or live on a bus route that takes you right to the polling station, voting is a huge inconvenience. You have to arrange with friends/family/whoever, and I don't remember our constitution saying that you needed to own a car to be able to vote.

And for those of you who cry "take a taxi"... paying $20 just to get to every election is a bit silly. *I* make do, but there are others who I know simply can't make it to the voting booth without a great deal of frustration. There's nothing in our laws saying you must have X number of dollars to be able to vote, and there shouldn't be.

Remember, just because *you* find voting convenient in its current form, doesn't mean *everyone* does. This is why, for example, they allow troops serving overseas to vote where THEY are. Using a bit more technology to extend the ease of voting to more people is never a bad thing - unless you think some people shouldn't be allowed to vote at all, and that's a whole other ball of wax :)

I really fail to see

[Inoshiro]

How me filling out the same forms online as in the Real World (TM) will somehow make the government know things it wouldn't otherwise know, in a Vast Communist Conspiracy To Rule The World And Keep The Working Man Down!

The rampant knee-jerk paranoia on this site by certain people is just disgusting.