EID or Traditional ID

張貼日期：Oct 19, 2021 3:36:48 PM

Acky Tsai

Nowadays, digitalization is an international trend, and our government has been promoting digitalized services for many years, such as to file tax returns on the Internet. The issue of whether to use a new eID card has been widely discussed since last year. I think only the government is in favor of it, and most people are against it, including me. Because there are many security problems unsolved. Security of personal information, data management, and necessity are the reasons why I oppose adopting an eID.

I think the most important problem of whether to use an eID is the security of personal information. To apply an eID card is to move most of the personal information on the original ID card into the chip, which means that all of our information and what we do on the Internet may be known to others if hackers try to hack our information. Although the government tries to convince us that the chip is very safe, they do not give a certain answer. A good example is Estonia, which began to use eID in 2002. It seemed safe and nothing happened. However, it was attacked by hackers in 2007, which proves that storing data in the chip is indeed very risky.

Data management is also a big problem. When the new eID is adopted, everyone on the web will leave a record of whatever we do, and governments or hackers can track our records to see what we do. Furthermore, who our family is and when we see a doctor will be known to others. Therefore, the government needs to establish a clear and accurate rule to specify the authority and standard of using data clearly. Under what circumstances can the new eID be read and what information can be read need to be stipulated distinctly.

Why do we have to use an eID? I don't think it's necessary to use the eID. Although digitization is an inevitable process of progress, I think it can be postponed until detailed specifications come out. For the elderly, it may be a little difficult to use the eID. The eID requires a password to read the information inside. It is a problem for the elderly to remember the password. In addition, if they are mentally retarded, it is even harder for them to remember the password. Therefore, I think that the government should consider more about applying the eID.

Applying the new eID needs to be discussed thoroughly, for what the government says now can’t convince the people. How to ensure that personal information is safe and how to manage this information has not been assured by the government. For the elderly, the necessity of using the eID needs to be discussed sufficiently. Hence, I am against the application of the eID now before the government comes up with a complete plan with an agreed-upon standard.