Danielle McCarthy
Money & Banking

The controversial new way to access welfare benefits

A new controversial myGOV ID pilot program will ask Aussies to access their welfare benefits, pension, Medicare, childcare subsidies and pay tax using a face scan.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the trial will be rolled out in October and will require the biometric data of users.

Similar to how SmartGates works at airports to check passports, this new technology will allow someone to take a photo on a computer or phone to create a myGov ID.

The photo will then be analysed and checked against passports and driver’s licences.

The technology will help Australians who struggle to remember different passwords for various government services, but privacy experts are worried the information could be misused.

“I would say the real concern is whether if this information leaks it could be used by somebody nasty to open a bank account or get access to your health records,” says Dr Vanessa Teague from Melbourne University’s School of Computing and Information systems.

Australian Privacy Foundation’s Bernard Robertson-Dunn said people need to be reassured the government “doesn’t use the technology to do things it didn’t say it was going to do.”

In May, Human Services Minister Michael Keenan said the misuse of data which could be used to “impinge on people’s privacy” was a concern for many Australians.

The new ID will be voluntary, but the government will use nudge tactics to encourage people to comply.

Those who do not want to supply their biometric information to access government services, will have to go to Centrelink offices and speak to someone in person.

This new system follows various personal data breaches overseas, including the Cambridge Analytica scandal where Facebook failed to protect the privacy of more than 87 million users.

“The problem with using biometrics is you can replace a stolen password but you can’t replace your biometrics if they are stolen,” says chair of the Privacy Foundation’s health committee Dr Bernard Robertson-Dunn.

Dr Robertson-Dunn said the government also needs to have measures in place to deal with situations where a person’s face may be altered due to medical illness or an accident.

The Australian government said it will protect people’s privacy by using “double-blind” architecture.

A person’s biometric data will not be stored centrally and the Australian Taxation Office which will be the identity provider won’t know which services users are accessing.

“Once an identity is verified, only the essential information will be retained, the rest will be discarded. This minimises security threats and limits ‘function creep’ (widening of the use of a system beyond the purpose for which it was originally intended),” the government claimed in documents outlining how the new technology will work.

“Under our digital identity solution, citizens will only need to establish their identity once, and can then use it multiple times to access multiple government services,” Mr Keenan said.

What are your thoughts on this new technology? Let us know in the comments below. 

Tags:
benefits, change, welfare, drastic, recipients