Details database proposed

Details database proposed

• Source: Global Times
• [09:46 March 09 2011]
• Comments

Police check the ID card of a man at Dongdan, Dongcheng district, on September 15, 2009. Photo: CFP

By Xu Tianran

A massive nationwide database containing every individual's detailed information might be put into service by the end of this year to curb corruption, State authorities have claimed.

According to Cui Hairong, vice director of the National Bureau of Corruption Prevention of China, the "citizens' personal information database" project is based on the second generation ID card system and will gather personal information such as fingerprints, conditions of individual assets, houses and income, identification of family members and more, the Beijing Times reported.

Introduced in 2004, the second generation national ID cards, or shenfenzheng, have read-write chips to record personal information including name, address and portrait. That data is stored in a citizen's ID information system that was completed in 2006.

"This will facilitate the obtaining of personal information and will effectively prevent corruption," Cai was quoted as saying by the Beijing Times, adding that the project plan is now being discussed and will hopefully be carried out by the end of this year.

"It will be difficult to monitor the situation if an official has three houses but only one is registered under his own name, with the other two registered under the names of his trusted contacts," Cai said by way of example. "But the database can provide information about his relatives, so we can better monitor officials."

The information storage system will not only be used for anti-corruption, but also for education, health, taxation, social welfare and insurance purposes, among others, according to professor Gong Weibin from the Chinese Academy of Governance.

"Enhancing the application of storage technology in fields of social management is a national trend," Gong told the Global Times.

The professor approved of the intention to curb corruption through using the database, but advised authorities to push forward with the plan cautiously.

"To collect and manage the information would be a huge project and there might be technical difficulties to overcome," Gong said. "Secondly, it is important to prevent the illegal leakage of personal information.

"It's a problem of how to balance public powers and private rights," Gong added.

The National Bureau of Corruption Prevention could not be reached for comment Tuesday.