Personal identification

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Personal identifiers are combinations of alphanumeric characters that are assigned to a specific person . This term is particularly relevant in connection with data protection .

purpose

In theory, personal identifiers - like their counterparts from the automotive world - should make it possible to distinguish them from all other people in the largest possible group, mostly a state. In practice, however, this is not so easily possible, since data twins make it difficult to clearly distinguish between them and the assignment of person and personal identifier is therefore not always clear.

From a data protection point of view, personal identifiers are problematic because they allow different areas of life to be brought together and thus to create comprehensive personality profiles . The intensity of the encroachment on fundamental rights increases with the scope of the use of the personal identification number.

Identification systems

Germany

All German soldiers and those doing civilian service in the Bundeswehr or the Federal Office for Civilian Service are listed with a personal identification number (abbreviated PK).

On July 1, 2007, an unchangeable tax identification number was created for each resident . It is valid from birth and is only deleted 20 years after the person's death.

In addition, every employed person can be identified by the so-called insurance number of the pension insurance.

In the GDR, every resident was registered using the personal code from January 1, 1970 .

In the 1970s there were plans for a personal identification number in the Federal Republic as well; this should streamline administrative processes by bringing together the personal data of all residents in a central file. However, the plans were not implemented; Even at that time there were concerns about data protection.

"What should we say about the fact that a draft law of the federal government provides for the introduction of a personal identification number in the form of a twelve-digit number for all citizens of the Federal Republic for this year, but at the latest next year? Don't we have to defend ourselves against the beginnings, since we have been warned by Orwell? [...] If only the technology had its way, every citizen who leaves personal data to a computer would have to expect that this data would remain available for any access for an unlimited period of time. [...] A data shadow may then accompany us our whole life, whether we want to shake off this shadow so badly. "

- Harald Weinrich

Decision of principle 1983

As early as the so-called census judgment of December 15, 1983, a basic right to informational self-determination was postulated and personal identification numbers were repeatedly addressed and such serious concerns under data protection law were compared. The actually planned population census basically boiled down to recording the entire population using the means of electronic data processing and, in practice, the introduction of a personal identification number was imminent. In its 1983 judgment, the Federal Constitutional Court expressly forbade the assignment of personal data using a serial number. The data from the 2011 census will be assignable in the first four years using a unique personal identification number.

The Federal Constitutional Court confirmed the concerns on the occasion of the ruling on online searches by formulating a basic right to guarantee the confidentiality and integrity of information technology systems . The realization that there is no irrelevant data when data is collected established data protection as a protection of privacy.

Austria

Although the Austrian legal system does not explicitly prohibit personal identifiers, the prevailing doctrine prohibits the use of personal identifiers for reasons of data protection. Nevertheless, there are a number of quasi-personal identification numbers in the Austrian legal system, whereby the social security number is to be regarded as a real personal identification number due to its high degree of distribution.

With BGBl . I No. 10/2004 the e-government law was introduced , which brings about a new, data protection-compliant solution to the personal identification problem.

Examples of personal identifiers in Austrian law

Switzerland

In Switzerland , a new social security number ( AHV ) was introduced on July 1, 2008 , which no longer contains personal identification numbers . It is also used in disability insurance and the income compensation scheme .

The Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (EDÖB) was commissioned to issue an expert opinion in 2015 on the use of the AHV outside of social security, in particular as a tax identification number ( TIN ) . According to the AEOI law of December 18, 2015, the AHV insurance number has also been used as a tax identification number for natural persons as part of the international automatic exchange of information in tax matters since January 1, 2017.

Chile

In Chile, since 1990 (at the latest) every newborn and every immigrant has been assigned a personal identification number (Spanish: Rol Único Nacional , RUN). For natural persons, this also functions as a tax identification number (Spanish: Rol Único Tributario , RUT), social security number, ID card number, driver's license number, passport number and for many non-public purposes. Legal entities also have tax identification numbers (RUT) that do not overlap with the personal identification numbers and are naturally only used for tax purposes.

The personal identification numbers consist of 7 to 8 digits plus a check digit (e.g. xx.xxx.xxx-z); they are assigned continuously and therefore do not contain any further coding.

France

Every natural person born in France or subject to social security contributions is assigned an identification number. This is almost everywhere, also in official correspondence, referred to as Numéro de sécurité sociale (social security number). However, it is not managed by social security but by the INSEE state statistical office , and its official name is Numéro d'inscription au répertoire des personnes physiques (registration number in the register of natural persons, abbreviation NIRPP or more often NIR).

Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark

In the Scandinavian countries there is a personal number consisting of the six-digit birthday in the form YYMMDD (Sweden) or DDMMYY (Denmark, Finland and Norway) followed by 4 digits (in Norway 5 digits), which encode the gender, among other things . This number is used as a key by both public and private entities.

United States

In the United States of America , the social security number has generally been used as a personal identifier for many years, as there is no general reporting requirement.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "A data shadow may then accompany us our whole life" (excerpt from the program "Computers für Laien" from April 4, 1975; also to be listened to as MP3). In: Sendezeichen (broadcast on DLF ). March 14, 2012, Retrieved April 26, 2012 .
  2. ↑ The new AHV number or social security number for Switzerland website of Proxena GmbH, accessed on March 27, 2017
  3. ↑ Use of the AHV insurance number as a tax identification number as part of the automatic exchange of information in tax matters (AEOI) assessments by the Federal Office of Justice, the Federal Office for Social Insurance and the FDPIC, August 5, 2015
  4. ↑ Federal Act on the International Automatic Exchange of Information in Tax Matters (AIAG) of December 18, 2015, AS 2016 1297, Art. 2 Clause 1 lit. f