Russia is set to revolutionise its identity cards
Russia's big brothers are watching you and with a new electronic ID card they will be able to provide everything you need on a single piece of plastic.
The unified card will serve as everything from personal ID to banking, allowing users to collect their pensions, pay taxes and go shopping.
One card to rule them all
The UEC (Universal Electronic Card) will be issued from Jan. 1 2012 until Dec. 31 2013 for those who apply for it and from Jan. 2014 for every Russian national older than 14, RIA Novosti reported.
In the end of 2009 Russian President Dmitry Medvedev suggested the creation of a unified payment system and social cards based on this system for all Russians.The new card will operate a chip and PIN system to make it work online, in cash points, on public transport and in shops.
At the moment Sberbank, Uralsib and Ak Bars banks are taking part in the project with Bank Moskvy holding talks.
The card will have an large quantity of personal information on it date of birth, name, signature, bank account number, pensions account number and the owner's photo at request.
Data is safe, claim manufacturers
All that might prompt fears of identity theft and fraud, but UEC's operators insist that it is not a store for data, merely a pathfinder to get the appropriate records from government agencies.
This, they say, means losing it does not present any increased risk of fraud.
The card has anti-forgery encryption, and has false PIN numbers in case someone is forced to enter one that allow to win some time and call for help.
Some operations with the card may be additionally restricted by the owner or entirely prevented.
Learning from errors
On paper the list of services available to pay with the card looks impressive and will include thousands of items, like utilities bills or some taxes, buying plane and train tickets, signing up for a doctor's appointment or paying for prescriptions.
However, previous experiments with single paying system in Moscow all but failed. The Muscovite's social card for pensioners, students and other residents who qualify for benefits when introduced was supposed to act as a bank card, ID card, and a way of paying for transport.
However, not all shops and organisations work with them and the project has incurred losses, VTB head Mikhail Zadornov told RIA Novosti in June.
Moreover, ambitious plans to open all sorts of government services online also did not work out as intended. And if Moscow's hospitals are still not ready for electronic queues after years of discussing it, then getting the whole country ready for it seems like an insurmountable task.
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