Dominic White

Thanks to the Department of Home Affairs, it is now possibly to get a bit more creepy. If you know someone's ID number (not a hard task) you can now find out if they are dead/alive, in the process of obtaining a new ID book or married (and when).

• Are they alive?
• Married?
• Applying for a new ID book?
  

While these would make a great addition to Maltego as new transforms, given how poorly protected our ID numbers are, I'm reluctant for the DHA to be making this info available. While this information certainly isn't a deep invasion of privacy, I am worried about them expanding the service. Additionally, the existence of these services implies that there is a DB full of juicy ID data connected to the internet, and I'm not sure they've secured it very well.

ClassicFM just phoned me for comment on this story. I did some quick research and was rather dismayed to find that this appears to be an attempt to drum up some press references for marketing rather than a responsible informing of the public.

Update: ClassicFM has put up the story with a soundbite.