Fingerprints on Taiwanese ID cards?

In the future, Taiwan plans to add fingerprints to the backs of ID cards. In some countries this is already standard. In my second year of Japanese residence, this feature was added to the alien resgistration cards. I remember feeling slightly like a criminal as I stood there having my prints taken. (I don't know if Japanese nationals have fingerprints on theirs). However, in retrospect, it was more like stamping something with your chop as it wasn't a complete "fingerprinting". In Korea, my prints were taken properly (although not reproduced on my card).

 

Many Taiwanese are against having their prints on thier ID card. Recently there has been a scandal over a personal data leak. Financial agencies and credit investigation agencies leaking personal date; government investigation agencies bugging telecommunications lines and searching records... and law enforcement agents abusing power by selling data gleaned. I am still not sure exactly how and to what extent the "victims" suffered losses... but they are demanding compensation. There are some calling up just to find out if they were victimized without their knowledge. Anyway, people are now asking how they can give  their fingerprints to a government that cannot prevent data leaks.

 

Although Taiwan, like much of Asia, is somewhat cash oriented, the use of credit cards is already more widespread than in other countries. Many of my Taiwanese have as many as 5 or 6 (they can shift their debt from one to the other each month to avoid paying any interest). But what happens when all of society goes plastic and you can pay directly out of your account as in North America... and a NEC sensor that read prints directly from your digits rather than relying on ink prints is used as the ID method rather than a password (the police in Japan is now using this system of IDing)... or when all personal data is contained on one biometric "smart card"? Gattica here we come: Identification and passwords which check features such as irises, veins, vocal pattterns and handwriting. Who knows... maybe the biomentric smart card will be more secure?