E‐Identity Cards: Lessons From Hong Kong?
Leo Goodstadt 1, Regina Connolly 2 and Frank Bannister 3
1 Hong Kong University, Hong Kong 2 Dublin City University, Ireland 3 Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
Francis @ internet‐Ireland. ie Regina. Connolly @ dcu. ie Frank. Bannister @ tcd. ie
Abstract: Electronic identity has become an increasingly complex subject. While problems of identity matter in both private and public sectors, this paper concentrates on the latter and in particular the challenges that must be considered in relation to the successful implementation and citizen adoption of personal electronic ID cards. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the challenges of implementing electronic ID cards in a European context and to examine the success of the Hong Kong smart card – a particularly interesting case because it is set against the background of the transition of the former British colony back to Chinese rule in 1997. Some reflections in relation to best practice and possible implications for the future nature and role of e‐identity cards are drawn from this discussion.
Keywords: e‐government, electronic identity, e‐ID, identity cards, EIC
1. Introduction
One of the many ways in which the world can be divided is into those countries where it is a legal requirement to have one’ s identity papers on one at all times and those where it is not. The requirement to‘ produce one’ s papers’ on the request of the authorities is normal to, say, a citizen of France or Russia, but not to a citizen of Ireland or the USA.
Identity cards come with considerable historical baggage. During the French Revolution, for example, the introduction of the livret – a record of employment and earnings – was part of a package of measures that was supposed to increase equality between employers and the labour force( Garrioch 2002). It was subsequently denounced as‘ the instrument of industrial slavery’ because, in theory, it drastically reduced the individual’ s right to change jobs( Dunham 1955). In the UK by contrast, governments have been unable to mobilise political support for the introduction of identity cards except in time of war. This public hostility towards an obligation to carry any form of state identification( echoed in Ireland) is in marked contrast to the continental European tradition. After World II the British government found the system so convenient administratively that it wished to continue to retain identity cards in peacetime, but public resistance was such that the government had to abolish them in 1952( Thomas 1995). The more recent failed attempt to introduce an electronic ID( e‐ID) card into the UK in 2006 is discussed in the next section. While the debate about e‐ID cards starts, therefore, from a much older debate about the rights and duties of citizenship, technology has not only made this debate more pertinent, but has introduced new dimensions to it. More than that, the increasing complexity of the state itself has amplified the importance of identity when it comes to accessing of state services or claiming entitlements.
The e‐ID debate rotates about a number of axes of which privacy is one and individual freedom is another. As will be seen in section three, both of these have been factors in the Hong Kong experience. But beyond questions of citizen rights there are additional technical debates regarding the nature of identity and identity management as well as questions of cost, interoperability and wider socio‐economic goals such as labour mobility. A full discussion of this topic is far beyond the scope of any one paper. The purpose of this paper is to examine the particular case of Hong Kong which first introduced a smart citizen identity card in 2003 and to reflect both on what lessons other governments can draw from this and on possible directions for future research.
2. Literature review
The development of electronic identity management is of interest to many scholars. A journal dedicated to this subject( Identity in the Information Society) was launched in 2008. In the first issue, Halperin and Backhouse( 2008) review the field in a way that situates the e‐Governmental aspect of identity management as being just one part of a larger picture. Nonetheless, the use of electronic citizen identity cards( EICs) is growing, driven by
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