The introduction of integrated circuit (IC) national health insurance cards will seriously damage privacy and human rights because the government cannot prove the system is safe, human-rights groups said yesterday.
"Employers, drug manufacturers, insurance companies, government departments, even intelligence agencies, would be able to easily access personal and private information if the policy is put into place," said the Personal Information Protection Alliance (PIPA), an association founded by 56 groups.
The government began validating IC national health insurance cards on July 1 and plans to completely phase out paper ones by Jan. 1.
"The biggest problem with this policy is that the public was not able to participate in the decision-making process or have a say in this," said Ivory Lin (
People should have the right to decide what kind of personal data will be put on the chip, Lin said.
"But they don't. I really cannot see where the government's concerns for human rights are," Lin said. "I think I have the right not to let others, except the doctor, know when my last period was when I visit an obstetrics clinic."
Technical problems will also hamper the introduction of the new system, PIPA said.
"Errors may happen when millions of pieces of personal information are inscribed on the chips," warned Chuang Tyng-ruey (
"Many patients' medical records have leaked out from hospitals in the past," Chuang said. "It's hard to imagine what will happen next year when the control mechanism is so loosely constructed."
Computer networks linking hospitals would face attacks by computer viruses and hackers would try to break into the system despite the protection of firewalls, PIPA said.
"We have met with government agencies to discuss this several times. We even sent letters to President Chen [Shui-bian] (陳水扁), Vice President [Annette] Lu (呂秀蓮) and Premier Yu Shyi-kun, but there has been no positive response from them," said Serena Chuang (莊紀婷), international affairs director of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights.
PIPA urged the government to postpone the IC card plan while doubts linger over the security of the system.
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