Yes, privacy is a problem. Of course not just anybody can look up anybody else, but the workers in the town office (who have to issue these forms) or police officers can look up a lot of information.
(In theory, they are prohibited from looking up information unrelated to their duty. In practice, I'm not sure how well that is enforced.)
On the other hand, as kijin said, government is going to have that information anyway. Better put it to some use. So it's a tradeoff, and the system has problems, but for the most part it's a reasonable tradeoff, IMHO.
(For example, all the current debate about "voter suppression" (aka voter ID law) in the US strikes me as completely bizarre. In Korea, if you're in the voting age you have a government-issued ID. You use that ID card to vote. End of story.)
Even if you're under the voting/driving age, any Korean citizen over 9 years old can ask to get an ID card for opening (non-credit) bank accounts, taking tests, getting discounts, and accessing various government services.
I live in a low-income area where lots of kids are on their own because their parents are alcoholic, disabled, always away, etc. The underage ID card helps them navigate the world.
It baffles my mind that anyone in the developed world in 2016 should be unable to prove such basic things as who they are and what country they belong to. If we're going to have pervasive surveillance, at least we should get some benefits out of it!
It baffles my mind that anyone in the developed world in 2016 should be unable to prove such basic things as who they are and what country they belong to.
In the U.S. the problem is not proving basic things, but preventing the government from building up a huge profile of everything about you, from what you ate and where you've been to the size and color of your underpants. Even that wouldn't be such a big deal if the government wasn't ultra paranoid and just constantly spied indiscriminately on everyone, actively trying to use that information against you, under the auspices of "protecting" you.
Bureaucracy in the U.S. is actually pretty simple and straightforward, and it works. For example, every time I compare how easy it is to buy, insure, register a vehicle, and renew its registration in the States, and then compare with a certain country in central Europe, I just want to scream and tear my hair out. In the States, it's a straightforward, practical, uncomplicated matter: after all, owning and driving a vehicle isn't a big deal, and shouldn't be one. The European country in question? WOE TO YOU: prepare for a protracted ping-pong between the local police station, the central police authority (ministry of internal affairs), the insurance company, back to the local police authority, then the technical inspection station, then the local police authority, and let's not forget at least two trips to a notary public. Oh yeah, and I almost forgot to mention at least one trip to the tax authorities. Payment to authorities? Not before you've been sent several times to a local newspaper kiosk, after waiting for up to two and a half hours in a line, to buy special government stamps, which then only the bureaucrat is allowed to affix and annul with a seal on the actual documents. And the entire time they all arrogantly stare at you wide-eyed, "but sir, what are you getting upset over?!?" Oh yeah, and your documents, like a birth certificate, aren't allowed to be older than six months. I mean that's "completely logical", because we all know that the place and time of one's birth is an ever changing variable, right? And yet, my driver's license which I've had since well into the last century isn't up for renewal until 2069... but get this, if you're tech savvy enough and get a login and a password(!!!) in a special governmental database (only in person at a physical teller, of course!), you can print some of these documents at home, SHA-1 check summed with a crypto key from the ministry of internal affairs, gratis... super consistent and fair to all citizens, huh?
In some things, U.S. is light years ahead. And when I see how easy it is to do things like that in the U.S. I feel I'm completely justified to question why the process cannot be as simple and as uncomplicated as it is in some other countries. In Singapore for example, it's enough to fill out one paper and get a company registered in up to 15 minutes; if it works there, it can work everywhere.
The obsession with cars is part of the reason why the U.S. doesn't bother to come up with a better way to identify its citizens. Nearly everyone has a driver's license, so why use any other form of photo ID?
A good American just gets a license and buys a car.
As far as I know, all states in the United States union have a photographic identification card which is almost identical to the driver's license, except that it is not one.
the really slick thing about the States is that a driver's license doubles as an identity card. I can show my driver's license anywhere in the 50 states and immediately authenticate myself, but if I show any of my other driver's licenses in the countries of their issuance, not one will accept it for proving my identity; they all require me to show them their respective identity cards. Such bureaucractic nonsense!
This is what I referred to in one of my earlier posts when I wrote that if it can be less bureaucratic and streamlined somewhere else (I used Singapore as an example then, in this case, the States), then it can work elsewhere too. Instead, people just come up with nonsensical excuses why it cannot work, for example that's just the way it is here, accept it! Such nonsensical arguments infuriate me.
States also offer ID cards that are not driver's licenses. Usually you apply using the same information, at the same locations and pay a lower fee than for a driver's license.
East Europe there. My car dealer did all the registration and insurance stuff. Came in once, signed the papers. Came back few days later, picked up the car with insurance and papers in glovebox, numberplates attached. They did have to go to gov agency to pickup the numberplates for me though.
When selling my old car, I gave the papers with my names to the new owner. Uploaded our printed&signed agreement to gov-run website. the new owner did the same. He had to go in-person to pick up the new papers with his name. It'll get even easier next year, new papers will be mailed to the new owner.
What is registration renewal? Over there, as long as you have valid insurance and roadworthiness test, you're good forever.
"Registration renewal", as it is known in the United States, is the equivalent of renewing one's motor vehicle and license plate registration in one - Fahrzeugausweis / prometna dozvola / etcetera. This is trivial to do in the United States, and is as simple as paying around $30 per year to the department of transportation of the state one lives in (it's an extra income for the state). In some european countries, it's a bureaucratic nightmare. I'm purposely not mentioning which ones, so don't ask. I will mention that some european countries do not have registration renewal at all - a Fahrzeugausweis is forever and does not expire, and there is no such (idiotic) concept as a "license plate renewal".
In my state the car dealer can register your vehicle for you. You call up your insurance company to insure it and give the dealer your policy number. The dealer types a few things into the computer. Bam, you're vehicle is registered. They open up a drawer to get your new license plates, affix them to your car, hand you your proof of registration and you drive off the lot.
I am not in France; there are other countries in Europe which have the byzantine stamp system of paying for fees; several of them in fact.
As far as Japanese bureaucracy goes, I've only had the "pleasure" of dealing with the process of obtaining and converting the voucher for the Japanese Rail pass. "Interesting" procedure, to say the least, and I think it offered a view into the dealings with Japanese bureaucracy.
After the initial confusion, next time I go to Japan, it won't be nearly as confusing, but it's pretty clear that the Japanese society is pretty bureaucratic.
(In theory, they are prohibited from looking up information unrelated to their duty. In practice, I'm not sure how well that is enforced.)
On the other hand, as kijin said, government is going to have that information anyway. Better put it to some use. So it's a tradeoff, and the system has problems, but for the most part it's a reasonable tradeoff, IMHO.
(For example, all the current debate about "voter suppression" (aka voter ID law) in the US strikes me as completely bizarre. In Korea, if you're in the voting age you have a government-issued ID. You use that ID card to vote. End of story.)