16 January 2009 Lack of Privacy

Earlier this week, I obtained an important Thai document, my Yellow House Book.

In Thailand, Thai citizens must be recorded in a House registration Book called a “Tabien Bahn”. For Thai people, their name is recorded in the blue registration book for the house that they live in. If they are not “permanently” living in one place, they have their name registered in the house book of one of their parents or grandparents. Thai people who rent a house, condo, or apartment are registered in the respective house book.

The house book is used to establish identity along with the National ID card for legal matters such as voting, banking, getting a driver’s license, registering motor vehicles, obtaining utilities, obtaining credit, getting married, getting divorced, and receiving certain government services.

For foreigners like me, the “Yellow House Book” will allow me to register a car in my name, and most importantly of all help me in proving my residence to Thai authorities.

Obtaining my yellow book was a rather involved process. We had to go to the Amphur Office, a sort of state office. I had to submit stamped translated copies of my US passport title page, and Thai Visa page. Along with those papers, we had to submit our marriage certificate, and Duang’s Blue House Book. There was also a requirement to submit two passport photographs.

The process had several steps. After each step, we had to go to the next room and obtain Xerox copies – along with everyone else who was doing official provincial business that morning! There is only one Xerox machine and one operator so the line and wait to get your documents can run up to 15 to 20 minutes – EACH TIME.

Fortunately the process of getting a Yellow House Book was on the same floor as the Xerox machine. When we registered our marriage in December, we made at least 6 trips up and down the stairs for copies and signatures.

The final action prior to picking up my yellow book was to sign the plain paper ledger book where my photograph and a bunch of Thai writing had been added. The completed book was available to pick up a week later.

Like many countries in the world, Thailand has a National ID Card. There is no current National ID Card required in the USA. Such a requirement is opposed by many people based upon personal privacy issues and others for religious beliefs.

There is a prophecy in the Bible that predicts a time when everyone will have to have a mark or a number, without which they will not be able to participate in the economy. Some Christians believe that this imposition of a National ID Card will fulfill the prophecy for the “mark of the beast” in the “Last Days”.

The day that we registered our marriage, Duang also changed her last name from “Veeboonkul” to “Hale”. This necessitated her to also get a new National ID Card.

The National ID Card is a credit card sized plastic card similar to a driver’s license in California.
At the top of the card is a unique 13 digit number. Below the unique ID number is the person’s name written in Thai. Below the Thai spelling, the name is written in English.

The date of birth is written underneath in Thai followed by the birth date in English. Following the birth date information, the person’s home address is written in Thai. The last section of the center of the card indicates in Thai as well as English when the card and when it will expire (7 years later on the day before the person’s birthday).

In the lower right hand corner of the ID card is a photo (mug shot) of the person digitally taken when the card was created. Underneath the picture, Duang’s previous ID card number was printed.

There is a bar code on the left hand side of the card.

The big feature of the card is located on the left hand side of the card approximately ½ way down – an embedded computer chip. This chip is amazing. Prior to giving the new ID Card to Duang, the government official placed the card into a card reader. The computer on the desk top quickly refreshed and showed Duang’s information – everything that I have described previously PLUS digital copies of her fingerprints from a central government database.

The computer chip has holographic protection on its reverse side. The entire ID Card has holographs on its face as security protection.

This was astounding to me.

Privacy is a big issue and concern in the United States. My opinion is that it is already a lost cause.

Although there is no National ID Card in the USA, much of the information expected to be contained in such a card as well as much more that we may prefer to keep private is readily available from other sources.

Remember those unsolicited offers to refinance your house mortgage that you got in the mail? They had your address, the current balance outstanding, as well as your current monthly payment – all correct and obtained legally from public records.

Some time ago, I purchased a camera lens on EBAY. It was a large lens with limited application. When the lens arrived, I was curious about the person that I purchased the lens from. I knew his name from EBAY. The person had included a return address on the UPS box.

Using Google, I searched the Internet and determined that this person was associated with two of the largest sporting goods stores in the Chicago area.

From the zip code of his return address, I went on the United States Census website and determined more about this person. From the Census site I found out the median income of families in that neighborhood, education levels, racial make-up, family size, as well as other details – quickly, easily and legally.

My curiosity was appeased and I ended at that point. I had invested little time and no money to get a fairly good profile of this “unknown” person.

If I had wanted to spend some money, there a multitude of services that will provide detailed information from public records such as birth certificates, marriage licenses, divorce papers, court records, etc.

With a person’s social security number, a copy of their credit report can easily be obtained which provides very detailed financial information.

As part of developing my photography website www.hale-WorldPhotography.com, I obtained a free Google “key” that allows me to geo tag my photos on Google maps.

Google maps use a combination of commercial satellite and traditional maps to locate coordinates around the world. Coordinates can be uploaded from a GPS unit tied to the camera, manually entered, or determined by locating the spot form Google maps/satellite photos.

My efforts were astonishing. In late July, I had photographed Duang’s relatives planting rice. They were planting rice on their plot of land outside of Tahsang Village about 10 miles from Kumphawapi in the Isaan region of Thailand. Kumphawapi has a population of 29,000 so I did not expect it to “be on the Map”

Utilizing a combination of traditional map along with satellite photography I was able to see and identify the actual field where the photos had been taken. A small field in the middle of rice paddy country in rural NE Thailand easily identified with readily available resources – to anyone.

Intrigued I used Google Map and www.zillow.com to find my property in Walnut Creek. Sure enough, I was able to view my house with my former car parked at the side of the house. Tweaking the system a little more I was able to view a ball park in Walnut Creek to such detail that I saw people playing on the field. I could not identify them but I could count them. This was performed using commercial satellite technology. I can only wonder what “state of the art” technology is capable of doing.

The battle for privacy was lost long ago.

Be it in Thailand or the USA, your information is available – it is only a question as to the ease that it is available.