Digital Rights Ireland

PPS Numbers and “Cradle to Grave” Tracking

Cian Murphy gave an interesting talk on the privacy implications of PPS numbers at the recent IALT Conference:

Since September 2003, the PPS Number has been allocated automatically on the basis of birth … A PPS number is required for revenue purposes in all employment, for welfare receipt, local authority grants and tax relief at source. It is, in effect, almost impossible to function in the State without a PPS number.

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While originally the list of bodies concerned was relatively limited, the spread of use into areas of security and the private sector, albeit to a limited extent, makes it increasingly likely that it is only a matter of time before the Number is universally used.

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The PPSN is clearly well on its way to becoming a national identity number … From birth, a person’s progression through different life events will all be capable of being monitored through the use of a single eight digit number: full ‘cradle to grave’ tracking will be possible.

With his permission, the full paper is now available here .

13 comments April 20th, 2006

TechCamp Reflections

Digital Rights Ireland had its first outing into the public eye courtesy of a presentation at TechCamp last Saturday. I just thought it might be good to post what we learned from the experience, and to give people who were there, or who weren’t but were interested in the topic, a chance to dig a little deeper. That comments button is there for a reason, after all.

Continue Reading 15 comments October 18th, 2005

DRI @ TechCamp

On Saturday last, DRI Chair TJ McIntyre and director Damien Mulley introduced Digital Rights Ireland at TechCamp Ireland. Although not a formal launch, which we are in the process of planning, this was our first major opportunity to introduce our aims and objectives, to gather feedback, and to hear what others are interested in.

Our 30 minute allocation expanded into a session nearly 3 times as long, as the discussion continued and we received a healthy amount of feedback on issues such as Data Retention, ID Cards, and Digital Rights Management.

Photos of Techcamp are available in a flickr pool, and you can read write-ups about our session from Bernie, Damien, Joe or Darren.

1 comment October 18th, 2005