Automatic voter registration and the protection of our digital identity

I heard on the radio that the UDI (Chile’s main right-wing party) opposes automatic voter registration and voluntary voting. The government, of course, criticizes this stance.

Personally, I’m in favor of automatic voter registration. If at 18 you are automatically registered for military service, why isn’t the same done with the right to vote?

That said, I believe voting should be voluntary. Voting is a right, and you should be free to choose whether to exercise that right or not.

But before approving automatic voter registration, the government should also ban the sale of the electoral roll, which is what SERVEL, the electoral service, does today.

That information cannot be distributed, because it is being used to feed marketing databases and commercial records, and it can even be used to commit crimes.

One thing the authorities don’t understand is that databases get cross-referenced, and in Chile cross-referencing databases is very simple because we have an ideal primary key: the RUT, the national ID number.

The abuse of the RUT

Why do you have to enter your RUT to check the usage of your BIP transit card? For that matter, why does that service hand over so much information!

In Chile the RUT is used for everything, even as the login for checking your bank account online. That is a terrible practice, and nobody has ever questioned it.

I once tried to subscribe to a news portal and the form asked for my RUT. What do they need to know my RUT for?!

Public databases, when they exist, must stop including the RUT. That would be a big step forward for our privacy and for the security of our digital identity.

Don’t hand over your RUT on whatever form shows up on the web! Least of all now that our data is circulating freely.