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Yesssssssssssssss. Keep making laws as you go along. I love it.

http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090 ... 06889/1133

It was never going to get done in the time period origionally envisaged, so this really is no surprise.

they are stupid, how they expect to do this when they don't have the proper number of staff to do it all over UAE ? and what about that dump procedure you have to go throw to submit your application and the waiting ahhh ?

the worst thing is the tiny places they expected to fit all the customers in eerrr

Besides the problems with the procedures to obtain this ID, how come there has been very little debate about the privacy issues involved? Predictably, none of the UAE newspapers have brought it up but I would have thought that the general population would at least wonder if all that data about them would be kept safely.

What? You think government workers are pure and incorruptible? Such a database would provide data thieves a mountain of ammunition with which to scam/spam/phish and all manner of other potentially dangerous activities. What about the technical aspects? How secure would all this data be?

And I haven't even brought up the fact that most people who sign up for this ID card are giving a LOT of information over to authorities that do not represent their best interests.</cynic>

Next in line? DNA sequencing and RFID tags injected into our bodies?

I guess this will work like the social security card in the USA, the number in the card gives every single details of your life ,everything you have done, and your finical statues but not all your file sections can be provided for public, like for example if you want to rent a house there they'll ask you for your card number and the only thing they can check is how good were your payments in your previous resident. the same thing goes when you apply for a credit card, they only can access your past payment but I believe in a ranking of some sort not in details.

for the security issue, I don't think they going to be that be that good, but I guess that depend on how good the companies that prints those card are, if it's a local one then I guess we are doomed LOOOL

Yea, the social security card/number in the US is another example of bad procedures. Its original intent was for social security purposes, meant for tracking taxation, etc. Now it also doubles as identification at some places, which is silly considering how many organizations will end up having your number. On top of that, it's not that hard to memorize (only 9 digits). At least the UAE ID card won't be as lame as that.

Still, consider what would happen if all that data were to fall into the wrong hands. Some would say that applying for this ID is akin to voluntarily handing your data to the wrong people.

From the National Article: "While it was still recommended that non-national white-collar workers registered for an ID card before the Feb 28 deadline, Mr al Zarouni said they would not be denied access to government services if they did not."

Does this mean we have til 31 Dec 2011 to meet the 28 Feb 2009 deadline?

Cool.

aw thats cool

Hamdullah!!

As an IT Security expert friend pointed out to me today, what they need here is a proper database, not another ID card. I'm an expat obviously and I already have lots of forms of ID. I have a passport, driver's license, labour card, health insurance card, etc.

Now the basis of everything you do in this country is the passport, because of there being so many expat workers. To get anything you need a passport copy, as I'm sure everyone is aware. Is this system fundamantally flawed? No idea, but it seems to work pretty well at the moment.

The idea of a national ID card works in principle, but it's effectiveness (over a passport copy) is only in the database that underlies it and the systems that use that database.

Based on the monumental muck-up that this ID procedure has turned into I have very little faith in the underlying database. If you can't a) organise the right number of staff to process them or b) realise that the system is flawed and take steps fix it earlier than 12 days before a panic-inducing deadline, then what use is the system itself going to offer?

Who is running it? How easy is it to access for banks/police etc? HOW MUCH BETTER IS IT THAN THE PASSPORT SYSTEMS?

PS: As for the security issues, the passport number could do this just as well. As I said, it all depends on the way it is used. Someone could already find out where I live, what my phone number is, where I work, what I drive, who I sponsor, what my health check results were etc, because I used the passport for all of those. It all depends on the database behind it. An additional ID card (obtained using a passport) is not going to change anything.

PPS: This obviously applies only to non-locals, but isn't there another form of ID that is used for locals already? It's not like the government doesn't know everything about them already.

The whole system was funded by Xerox and HP

Apparently the Government was offered a incentive by the Copy and Print manufacturers, because after the introduction of the ID System ,then copies of the passport and ID Card would be required.

Nothing more than a Federal Govt money making exercise

Captain Australia wrote:As an IT Security expert friend pointed out to me today, what they need here is a proper database, not another ID card.

That's true. The national ID card I received last year includes all data from my passport and visa. So if I still need my passport copy everywhere it means that a ID card database is totally independent on an immigration one...

In the current system with requiring a passport copy or some other photographic identity, it is possible to find out information about a person. What this new ID card does is make the current situation even worse. Now they'll have access to all of that data in one place. They'll also have even more data (including biometric).

I hate that many countries are now requiring retinal and/or fingerprint scans upon entering through immigration. It doesn't make me feel any safer and anyone who does feel safer should realize that most countries' borders are not covered by high walls and armed guards. All of this security theater comes at a large cost in terms of personal privacy, scarce resources, and general good will.

I'm not saying that security isn't important. Of course nations should take measures in order to protect their sovereignty. But what would be worth protecting if you are forced to live under such conditions? No, it's not yet *that* bad but we should never give up our right to privacy for any statistically insignificant increase in security. That's what this ID card is.