Advance Australian Bureaucracy Government made simpler

Terrence Miao - 2012-05-08 10:06:57+1000 - Updated: 2012-05-08 10:07:05+1000

Advance Australian Bureaucracy

Government made simpler - Dealing with the Australian Government online just got easier, with a single account to sign on to multiple agencies.

I have registered an account in Medicare Australia ten months ago. Yesterday, when I tried to log on it just asking for a replacement card, Medicare redirected me, by default or by force, to Australia government portal. Above claim was what I saw.

It seems government has secretly set up of a national integrated database, just like Big Brother did in Yes Minister, and brings in the first national identity (citizen id or user id) online.

After reluctantly filled private personal information and five secure self-ask, self-answer questions, I was allocated an unique User ID. With this ID, from now on, I should access all the government agencies services online.

In next hour, I wandered around government website looking for "DROP DATABASE" and "DELETE FROM" services ...

http://australia.gov.au/

Terrence Miao - 2012-05-08 10:08:22+1000

+Oleg Kiorsak Have you registered your Australian Government's "National Identity" online service? :-)

Oleg Kiorsak - 2012-05-08 11:18:47+1000 - Updated: 2012-05-08 11:19:40+1000

+Terrence Miao I made an attempt some time ago when logging into CentreLink... it wasn't by "force" back then, just a suggestion, but I thought I'll give it a try... the registration "wizard" was rather very cumbersome and clunky and when I was presented with a screen where I was required to come up with 35 or so (I kid you not!!) "secret questions" (that "only you know the answer"), I gave up... in fact I don't think I gave up right away... I recall now that I honestly started filling it in, but when I was about half through this epic task, I had the naivety ((like a mere user, a very dumb thing for an IT-pro to do ;) of clicking on some other link there on page (like "help" or "more info") and - in the best classic traditions of crappy web sites - it opened some other page and have blown way and wiped all the hard work I've done... so I felt stupid, defeated and gave up!!! ;-)))

Terrence Miao - 2012-05-08 11:46:52+1000

+Oleg Kiorsak hahaha, there is no way you can beat red tape, bureaucratic government administration!

Bryan Murphy - 2012-05-08 11:56:38+1000

We used to be worried by all this but now we are happy to put all our data, contacts, social relationships, watching habits, buying habits, and most forms of communication in the hands of a few large private companies. National Identity card, linked government databases - whatever!

James Gemmell - 2012-05-08 16:32:46+1000 - Updated: 2012-05-08 16:33:18+1000

The difference is that my online identities are held in islands of data and are little more than avatars, each representing a certain piece of information about me. Amazon has book buying habits, Linked-in my professional persona, G+ my geek persona ~~and Madam Lash's House of Pain~~ ... - Taken collectively, perhaps linked through a credit card, these sites represent my online identity. No one of them has it all. I can shut a user down or stop using a service any time I like.

A central government database gives me no such luxury. They (UK gov) have proved themselves incapable of keeping my details secure. I've no reason to believe the locals will be any different. I don't trust them now and I don't know with whom they'll share my details in future.

Kieran Simpson - 2012-05-08 16:38:06+1000

I figure that when the government demonstrates that it can spend my tax dollars wisely then all my base can belong to it.

I think that's not going to happen anytime soon.

Kieran Simpson - 2012-05-08 16:46:06+1000

+James Gemmell Madam Lash is currently discounting (the economy you know). Make sure you get it!

Oleg Kiorsak - 2012-05-08 16:56:34+1000

depends what you guys are concerned about... for a "serious" government-backed agency it is somewhat trivial to consolidate all the info from all the sources anyhow... especially now when they got mandates to demand info from any ISPs, online services (eg Google) etc

(just in case, for a record - I have nothing to hide ;))

Casper Casper - 2012-05-08 17:59:48+1000

that's still a lot simpler and less invasive than signing up for certain MMOs.

Robert Caldwell - 2015-08-06 23:59:06+1000

Putting my doleform

Robert Caldwell - 2015-08-07 00:01:21+1000

Australian Goverment Depatment of Human Services Centrelink