Devil's Advocate: Your life in one chip

In the first of a new weekly column for silicon.com, Martin Brampton, director at consultancy Black Sheep Research, considers the dangers of storing personal information on a single smartcard. Every week he will question the consensus on various ebusiness issues. Every week, he will play devil's advocate...

The government e-envoy Andrew Pinder reckons we should standardise on a single smartcard for both government and commercial purposes. And indeed, there are currently a variety of different schemes for smartcard adoption under way. But I ask: is it really in our interests to combine them into a single standard?

It's true that loyalty cards are getting out of hand, and now I tell shops pressing me to join their scheme that there is no more room in my wallet. But I rather like having cards from several different providers. Quite apart from playing them off against one another, I don't like the idea of one organisation knowing everything I am doing.

You might say I'm paranoid. The hoary old argument is that there is no need for privacy if you have nothing to hide. Well, I'm not saying I've something terrible to hide, but I do like a certain amount of privacy. And I do like spreading my bets.

The vital part of a smartcard is really a tiny computer. It is a technological marvel. I'm sure there are lots of uses for them. I just don't want to commit my whole life to a single silicon chip. If I lost it, where would I be? Presumably, I'd become a non-person, unknown to banks, petrol stations, government and just about everyone that matters. It gives a whole new twist to the old euphemism 'cashing in his chips'.

Maybe if it were that important people wouldn't lose them? I doubt it. One of my most useful gadgets is a Nokia Communicator: phone and organiser combined. So long as I have it with me, I can keep in touch and I'm an amazing fount of useful contact information.

It also tells me what to do next by keeping my diary. That wasn't enough to stop me putting it down on the table directly in front of me in a motorway service area, then walking away without picking it up. And I'm not the only one - not only phones, but thousands of laptop computers are left in London taxis every year.

Thinking again of secrecy, the government is rather prone to hiding things. Often it does have something to hide.

When I was a child, there were terrible floods in north Devon, and it was naturally assumed that they were the result of the unpredictable British weather. Now, evidence is coming out that it was the result of the RAF experimenting with artificial rainmaking. Who is it that was talking about having nothing to hide?

Likewise, several commercial organisations have been caught red-handed taking personal information from users of computer software. So, while I don't want to become neurotic, I'm cautious about arrangements that rely on the honesty of companies. Particularly as these days some companies describe lying as 'playing hardball' and seek to take credit for it. Again, I'm not the only one. Consumers are becoming rapidly more resistant to parting with personal information.

The real problem is that the ability to collate information about people really does change things. Up to now, we have been protected by the difficulty of doing it effectively. The technology is getting better and better, though. The universal smartcard is a technologist's solution, one that ignores the political issues that are important to the individual citizen. Each step that increases the information held on individuals is a step that potentially disempowers them.

Of course, technology will roll on and change will be inevitable. We must hope, though, that truly effective regulation will be in place before it goes too far. The current situation is laughably inadequate. The Data Protection Commission is unable to stop people receiving unwanted faxes, let alone effectively protect their privacy.

It is best to resist unnecessary steps that have the potential to aggregate personal information. I don't want a single, universal smartcard. No thanks.

** Martin Brampton is a director and founder of Black Sheep Research (http://www.black-sheep-research.co.uk ), an independent consultancy providing research, writing and speaking services on a wide range of business and technology subjects. Martin was previously a director at Bloor Research, and has worked with IT as a user and analyst for over 20 years. He can be contacted at silicon@black-sheep-research.co.uk.