KEY POINTS:
Legislation setting up a "Super Gold Card" for superannuitants will let the cards carry a microchip for easy scanning of personal information.
This forum debate has now closed. Here is a selection of your views on the topic.
Marguerite (Tauranga)
Microchipping is totally unacceptable. It's as bad as the Nazis inscribing numbers on their prisoners.
Reformed hacker
Many of the involved politicians seem to know too little about microchips. They underestimate the unknown abilities of fraudsters. Microchips are a dream-come-true for hackers. If you have a chipped dog then my old hacking buddies probably have your details. You'd be surprised at the potential mountain of personal info stored in chips. Identity theft is all about collecting bits of info from a range of your sources. Technology is the easiest way to exploit you because of the unknown flaws - ever noticed how Microsoft (the tech experts) constantly updates your Windows & other ware? Politicians are the worst people to be making crucial privacy-related decisions when it comes to advanced technology. There is good reason why the European community & USA did not embrace microchips in this questionable method. I expect NZFirst/Labour will try to push this through against popular opinion as it is another phase in the experiment, like the failed dog control chips. That political assumption insults us, the voting public. Trust no politician, question everything, speak your voice.
Ghostface
Once a wild conspiracy theory of the crazies, now some people are going to feel stupid they never believed such things.
Alan Wilkinson
Why on earth do senior citizens need special discounts anyway? Young single-parent families show up as the poorest in every study, not seniors.
Judy (Auckland, A nearly senior)
Well they do it to dogs, why not us oldies. Then when we growl or bite they can put us down too! This should greatly help the economy.
Mary A
Can't believe what I'm reading today. First the government want to microchip us seniors, as stated in the NZ Herald's headlines! Then I read Garth George's column in the same edition, where he refers to the chairman of the Auckland District Hospital board Wayne Brown's recent comments, that to save some money, it might be a good idea to bypass expensive life support procedures for senior citizens and let them die! Imagine how much money could be saved through the latter action, and I'm not talking about the expense of wasting high tech medicine and treatment on the seniors here either! I'm talking about the savings which could be made in paying out the national super if we were denied life saving treatment! More money to line the pockets of the politicians then! In all seriousness, I can't believe this is NZ we are dealing with here! We had a great society once, where respect was shown to everyone regardless of age, creed, race or religion. Now it's gone horribly wrong through corruption and greed, and all for the love of money.
Alistair (Wellington)
Micochipped ID cards, which will be effectively compulsory for seniors, are another step in the steady advance of Helengrad.
Jg
Yeah lets just chip the seniors, like we do dogs, then kids, you never know when you might lose one and it would save coaxing info out of them, before you know it, we'll be scanning ourselves instead of Eftpos. On a serious note, Why do senior citizens need an identity card any more than any other beneficiary, government worker or anyone else for that matter? This is going to make their lives easier how?
Golden oldie
No way Jose! The original idea of an "identity" card was put aside when first mooted,because of opposition by the People.Now this Govt wants to 'chip'us oldies as they think we are pushovers for so called discounts.We are being used once again,this time in the name of experimenting. Cheaper to use a smaller guinea pig population. It's a load of codswallop that the 'card' will prove our right to the discounts. Most places which offer discounts now just look at us and see we qualify! The card's next offspring will be microchipping in the hand or head and that I will not allow - like a dumb useless dog!
Peteremcc (Wellington)
The bill currently allows for a microchip to be placed in the cards. Microchips can include RFID chips which can be read without physically contact (using radio waves). The US announced they are going to use them in their passports and it took two days for someone to figure out a way to copy all the information off them from across the room. At least with a regular card/passport you know if it has been stolen. RFID allows for wireless copying of the information and the victim will likely not even know it has happened. Heather Roy's amendment would prevent these cards from having microchips put in them. While it is correct that the microchips have more security than a plastic strip, this does not make them secure - they are easily hackable. The real problem is the ability to wirelessly access them without having to physically have the card.
Almost a Senior Citizen
What a good idea this is. If a photo of the person concerned were on the card then this would add to positive identification of the correct owner. I have one on my credit card.
Don (Whangarei)
Microchipping on cards of seniors. I have two objections to this. 1 It erodes the freedom of the individual. Soon there will be all sorts of organisations demanding to scan the card before service is provided. 2 There will inevitably be abuse of the cards. Privacy will be in serious jeopardy. I really hope that at least there will be an effective amendment to the legislation. The microchipping gives more control to those already in control and no doubt the argument for this is that efficiency is improved and money saved (which is unlikely), but I would happily pay a bit more in order to retain my basic rights and I suspect that most people feel the same.
Lee Bond
This idea clearly has its good and bad points as it currently stands. Good = the fact that all current information about the individual concerned can be held in one place. Bad = dependent on the level of technology available, this information may be possible to be accessed by shady characters. However, I imagine that this problem will be fairly simply solvable within time. Also, think of the further uses depending on the individuals wants and needs. They could authorise medical records to be available on it - handy for doctors and paramedics if the injured can't communicate through to a GPS system if required to be able to locate those lost in the bush or similar. The level of information allowed would obviously be decided by the holder.
Spartacus
We microchip dogs, and that solved the dog problem (didn't it) so why not microchip superanuitants and solve this problem also? Again this argument is about doing the greatest good for the greatest number, so no valid objections exist, do they? As for National being concerned, they have a very poor history of being guardians of Privacy. We saw what they did to Superanuitants when they introduced the digitized biometric photo drivers license and promised a to lower the road toll at the same time. And we saw function creep with that item when it went immediately from a driver license to an identity card, which publicly was never the intention, but privately always was. Sorry, but this is not for me, if only because the history of digitizing personal information makes for very sad comment in NZ.
Sam Hall
I think that the microchipping is a great idea, in theory you could use it to create a single card that is your bank card, library card license etc which would be great. Clearly if you lose the card there is some issue but with the proper safe guards, like we have with eftpos etc you wouldn't be in danger. However where I become opposed to it is where it becomes a microchip not in your card but under your skin, that takes the whole police state a little far.
Ken West
I can immediately see the headlines... Crime Against the Elderly Increases.... It would be another form of identity thieft. The crooks would find a way to cash in on these cards.
Waiau Pa Granny
Why not go to the source and microchip the 'seniors'? It would make it a lot more secure? It is good enough for our 'best friends'!
