From bills@aimnet.comMon Jul 22 11:13:46 1996 Received: from vorlon.mit.edu (brnstndkramden.acf.nyu.edu@VORLON.MIT.EDU [18.238.0.139]) by eff.org (8.7.5/8.6.6) with ESMTP id TAA18659; Thu, 18 Jul 1996 19:58:32 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by vorlon.mit.edu (8.7.5/8.7.3) id WAA09197 for fight-censorship-outgoing; Thu, 18 Jul 1996 22:55:05 -0400 Received: from po8.andrew.cmu.edu (PO8.ANDREW.CMU.EDU [128.2.10.108]) by vorlon.mit.edu (8.7.5/8.7.3) with ESMTP id FAA29879 for ; Thu, 18 Jul 1996 05:06:10 -0400 Received: (from postman@localhost) by po8.andrew.cmu.edu (8.7.5/8.7.3) id FAA21231 for fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu; Thu, 18 Jul 1996 05:06:02 -0400 Received: via switchmail for fight-censorship+@andrew.cmu.edu; Thu, 18 Jul 1996 05:05:59 -0400 (EDT) Received: from po5.andrew.cmu.edu via qmail ID ; Thu, 18 Jul 1996 05:05:01 -0400 (EDT) Received: from aimnet.com (mailhub.aimnet.com [204.247.0.104]) by po5.andrew.cmu.edu (8.7.5/8.7.3) with ESMTP id FAA16448 for ; Thu, 18 Jul 1996 05:04:53 -0400 Received: from localhost (dial-sc2-15.iway.aimnet.com [204.247.125.47]) by aimnet.com (8.7.1/8.7.1) with SMTP id CAA08174; Thu, 18 Jul 1996 02:01:47 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <2.2.16.19960718090324.475f4bbc@aimnet.com> X-Sender: bills@aimnet.com X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 2.2 (16) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 02:03:24 -0700 To: uwsa@shell.portal.com, fight-censorship+@andrew.cmu.edu From: Bill Selmeier Subject: South Korea: The Electronic Identification Card Sender: owner-fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu Precedence: bulk X-URL: http://fight-censorship.dementia.org/top/ X-JusticeOnCampusURL: http://joc.mit.edu/ For Your Information--more challenges to personal liberty. Bill >Resent-Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 15:11:36 -0700 (PDT) >Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 15:10:54 -0700 (PDT) >From: Phil Agre >To: rre@weber.ucsd.edu >Subject: South Korea: The Electronic Identification Card >Resent-Message-ID: <"SM_SsC.A.Z-.wTW7x"@weber> >Resent-From: rre@weber.ucsd.edu >Reply-To: rre-maintainers@weber.ucsd.edu >X-URL: http://communication.ucsd.edu/pagre/rre.html >X-Mailing-List: archive/latest/1222 >X-Loop: rre@weber.ucsd.edu >Resent-Sender: rre-request@weber.ucsd.edu > >[I have enclosed, with the author's permission, a letter from Joohoan Kim > raising alarms about a proposed national >electronic identification card in South Korea. JK encourages you to repost >the information where appropriate.] > >=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= >This message was forwarded through the Red Rock Eater News Service (RRE). >Send any replies to the original author, listed in the From: field below. >You are welcome to send the message along to others but please do not use >the "redirect" command. For information on RRE, including instructions >for (un)subscribing, send an empty message to rre-help@weber.ucsd.edu >=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= > >[I don't have the original header.] > >Hi, all, > >I would like to alarm you that another Big-Brother is coming with its most >ambitios dream in South Korea: The Electronic Identification Card, which >will be issued to every citizen as a mandatory within a year or so. > >The Electronic Identification Card project is a part of South Korean >government's ultra-speed communication network building project. Managed by >the Ministry of Domestic Affairs, the US $413 million project is being >carried out in cooperation with the Korea Computer Institute. Once the >project is completed in 1997, every Koreans of 18 years or older will be >assigned a single integrated circuit (IC) card which will include photo >and all kinds of personal digitized information: current universal ID card >(currently every adult Korean has a photo ID issued by the Government), >driver's license, medical insurance card, national pension card, proof >of residence, and scanned fingerprints (!) among other things. >(I don't know how many "demoratic" governments are collecting fingerprints of >their whole citizens.) > >DACOM, a big telecommunication company in Korea, which won the bidding >for the project, describes it as following: > >"As 8,000 characters worth of information can be stored on the single >credit card-sized card, personal information needed for issuing official >documents and certificates can be accessed promptly by public offices, >institutions, companies, and banks or other organizations. The Ministry >of Domestic Affairs has announced that the new cards will be distributed >starting in January 1997. Full implementation is scheduled to be >completed by early 1998. While there are some nations in which drivers' >licenses are used in place of ID cards, this project will be the first >system in the world which combines multiple functions onto one card. >Once distribution is completed, the card will greatly boost efficiency, >saving the government US$1.3 billion and enabling it to eventually >reduce its work force by 5,000 employees." > >(Quoted from: http://bora.dacom.co.kr/bora/dacom/news-clips.html) > >As you can see, they have no concerns about protection of personal >information and privacy. True, they are a company making money from that >project, and probably we shouldn't expect any criticism against the Project. >The problem is, however, that almost all of the South Korean news media >are talking the same thing about it: the "efficiency" and the "convenience" >that the Electronic Identification Card might bring about. > >I tried to find critical arguments against the project via a comprehensive >news data base in Korea, but I could not find any. I also checked many web >sites of non-governmental organizations and socio-progressive groups in >Korea, but none of them have raised the issue yet. They do not seem to >realize the suspending dangers of their own privacy and human rights. >Despite obvious and serious danger in protecting personal information and >privacy , there is just no social discourse concerning the issue. > >I have also checked relevant laws (especially newly approved >communication-related laws) through the database of the Korean >Government, but there seems to be no clear legal basis for the project. The >project has been mentioned only in the "10 Plans for Efficient National >Informatization," announced by the Ministry of Information and >Communication. But the City of Seoul already started to issue the Card >as a "test" in March. The Ministry of Domestic Affairs said, as they >were issuing the "test" version of the Card to 1,000 citizens, "we will >prepare relevant laws and regulations," implying that they are doing the >project "before" (and probably "above") the law. > >Currently, I am writing columns and news stories for "Sisa Jouranl," the >weekly news magazine in South Korea, which decided to deal with the Card >project as a special topic as I suggested. To write a critical article >against the Project, I am starting to gather info about the similar cases, >if there is any. And I hope to hear from you about some theoretical and >practical knowledge about the similar issues; I would like to quote your >opinions in my article, if you allow me to do so. > >Right after the publication of the news article, I will try to contact >various NGO's in South Korea to inform them of the importance of the issue. >And I will try to organize an anti-electronic ID Card movement in the >cyberspace, if that is necessary. > >I am very happy to meet you in the cyberspace, who really concerns the >privacy issues in the computerized age. > >Thank you very much. >Sincerely, >Joohan > > >****************************************** >Joohoan Kim >Ph.D. Candidate >3620 Walnut Street >Annenberg School for Communication >University of Pennsylvania >Philadelphia, PA 19104 >sjokim@icg.stwing.upenn.edu >http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~sjokim/home.html > > > Bill Selmeier bills@aimnet.com