Friday, September 21, 2018

Shortsighted

I attended a briefing by the Privacy and Data Protection Commission (PDPC) on the recording of NRIC No in computer systems.

The PDPC said that the NRIC No can be recorded if it is allowed by law. If not, the new privacy law does not allow the NRIC No to be recorded.

The PDPC spelled out the situations were the recording is allowed, and other situations were it is not allowed. This includes the recording of NRIC No for lucky draws and for visitors to buildings and condominiums.

The PDPC suggested that a hybrid code comprising of partial NRIC No and other unique identification can be used for identifying the person.

This is absurd. The PDPC expects the private sector to waste a lot of money to change computer systems and an inefficient, costly and confusing way to identify a person.

The PDPC recognizes that the public sector needs to identify a person, but they do not see a similar need in the private sector. I am amazed at this kind of thinking.

The PDPC said that government grants are available to help the small enterprises to cope with the cost of converting the computer system. Why incur this unnecessary and wasteful cost in the first place?

The big companies does not seem to need any help in meeting this additional cost. Of course, they don't. They are able to increase their fees and prices and maintain their profit margins. The is how cost of living can be so high in Singapore.

We will continue to be wasteful when the people in our government is so short sighted.












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