One of the many benefits offered by cash is that consumers can enter transactions anonymously. No record is generated which enables a link to be made between the purchase and the purchaser. Marketing Smart card operators are promoting their smart card systems as a means to collect detailed information about customers, adding profitability to the card for all scheme participants. The profits might come from using this information to target consumers more accurately for marketing purposes, or by providing customer information to third parties. Smart card promoters will, in effect, be obtaining personal information from consumers, and then selling it on to other parties.
Many government agencies have sweeping statutory powers to access such records.
It will now be feasible for agencies such as the Australian Tax Office and the Department of Social Security to seek access to records of smart card use to check records of expenditure. Law Enforcement Agencies Law enforcement agencies, including the police, will also be able to gain access to smart card records, granting them a detailed insight into the private lives of card-holders. Law enforcement agencies would be very interested in being able to re-create the movements of individuals on public and private transport, and to track the time and place of their transactions. Private Litigants Individuals involved in civil litigation may find that access to their transaction records is sought by their opponents. Some examples of litigation where smart card records might be of interest are family law proceedings and employment law proceedings.