Loss of Privacy

Biometric identifiers are supposed to make your passport more secure, however, the Dutch fear that the fingerprints in their passports aren’t really theirs. Fingerprints are required in all Dutch passports, but local offices aren’t checking them to see if they are correct.

Mr Van Raak says there is a significant chance that the fingerprints in your passport belong to someone else or that they will be not recognised by the system. The prints are not checked when they are issued at a town or city hall.

Speaking in a radio interview, the Socialist MP warned that innocent people are at risk of being misidentified as criminals or even terrorists. Apparently, six percent of fingerprints kept by the police are incorrect.

The fingerprints will be stored in a national database and no one is sure how they will correct the problem, should their prints match up with a criminal or terrorist. Even though only six percent are incorrect, that is still six percent too high as it is extremely easy to check and verify the fingerprints.

Alberto Stegeman is known for showing the security flaws at Schiphol airport. Now, he has a new special that shows how easy it is to get all the liquids you want past security.

The reporter found the security flaw in the airport’s duty-free shopping system. At Schiphol airport, passengers flying to countries outside the Schengan Agreement Area can buy bottles of alcohol at duty-free shops before going through security. They are then permitted to take these bottles onto flights, provided that they have the bottles sealed at the shop.

Mr Stegeman bought a bottle, emptied it and refilled it with another liquid. After that he returned to the same shop and ‘bought’ the refilled bottle again. The shop sealed the bottle in a bag, allowing him to take it with him through security and onto a London-bound flight. In London, he transferred planes and carried the bottle onto a flight to Washington DC.

This isn’t the first time that Mr Stegeman has found a security flaw in at Schiphol airport. When he went through security, he was recognized and was subject to an extra-thorough check. However, officers failed to check the sealed bag.

Bruce Schneier notes that, “The flaw, of course, is the assumption that bottles bought at a duty-free shop actually come from the duty-free shop.”

But note that 1) it’s the same airport as underwear bomber, 2) reporter is known for trying to defeat airport security, and 3) body scanners would have made no difference.

You can watch the video here. It’s mostly in Dutch, with a few bits in English. You can still see what’s happening even if you don’t speak Dutch.

In an effort to cut carbon emissions, The Netherlands is implementing a scheme that will tax vehicles by the kilometer. Officials believe that this new tax, set to go into effect in 2012, will reduce traffic conditions in half. The Dutch cabinet approved the bill, but it needs the backing of Parliament before it can become a law.

“Each vehicle will be equipped with a GPS device that tracks how many kilometres are driven and when and where. This data will be then be sent to a collection agency that will send out the bill,” the transport ministry said in a statement.

By forcing people to have GPS devices in their cars, the government must be ready to deal with the fraud that will come with it. The devices will be tampered with as there will be people that do not want this new tracking system.

The simplest answer is to raise the tax on gasoline. It, in effect, does the same thing, taxing mileage, without the use of a complicates GPS system or the tracking of individuals in their cars.

Ownership and sales taxes, about a quarter of the cost of a new car, will be scrapped and replaced by the “price per kilometre” system aimed at cutting the Netherlands’ carbon dioxide emissions by 10 percent.

Every vehicle type will have a base rate, which depends on its size, weight and carbon dioxide emissions.

Taxis, vehicles for the disabled, buses, motorcycles and classic cars will all be exempt.

“An alternative payment will be introduced for foreign vehicles,” the ministry statement added.

While the ownership and sales taxes will help those who only drive occasionally, not exempting vehicles for business is a bad idea. That delivery company is now going to pass their tax onto you. Now, you’re not only paying your tax for peak times, you’re paying for other companies too.

Dutch motorists driving a standard family saloon will be charged 3 euro cents per kilometre (seven US cents per mile) in 2012. That would increase to 6.7 cents (16 US cents per mile) in 2018, according to the proposed law.

If you want to cut down on rush hour traffic, then introduce a system that rewards drivers, not one that punishes them. Taxing people more is only going to anger them. Offer discounts if they travel by train or bus. Creating a tax that penalizes people because they have to go to work is illogical. Taxing everyone taxes unfairly. The Dutch need to find a way to implement a road tax that is fair and does not track people. Until then, they are only leading the charge to ubiquitous tracking.

The city of Rotterdam, The Netherlands has installed cynicism hotlines so that individuals can report their coworkers who are too cynical about work.

Since last week civil servants in Rotterdam can report ill-tempered colleagues to an online ‘cynicism’ hotline. The city says the move is part of a drive to improve the working environment.

The announcement on the city administration’s intranet has caused a stir among the more than 14,000 civil servants in Rotterdam. Some say the measure is superfluous; others fear it will encourage snitching among colleagues. “It’s just another case of the nanny state,” sighed one civil servant who requested anonymity.

A spokesperson for the city denied the initiative encourages snitching. “Perhaps the word hotline was ill-chosen, “he said. “It is not about punishment, but about support. It is not about specific people, it is about a specific type of behaviour. People are bothered by negative behaviour.”

I’m afraid my first thought was not nanny state, but big brother and/or stasi state.