There are more details of the new Brazilian ID card and system on Renato Siqueira’s Conversa Digital blog, including some informative images and photos. It seems that far from eliminating the various different numbers currently used, this new system will merely create a kind of overlay. And, not only that, but the CPF, RG and electoral number will be printed on the back. Unless every single transaction will actually require the taking of fingerprints or the verification of photos, this card will be even more of a convenient source of personal information to thieves and fraudsters than ever before. Plus the chip technology is the same standard format that has proved to easy to clone and access illicitly elsewhere…
ubisurv 
When I was speaking with my partner’s family a few months ago, they were saying that few people actually carried the official version of their card with them – photocopies were usually carried to reduce the (apparent) nightmares of losing your identity card. Do you know if this is the case broadly? I’m not suggesting that this would alleviate the host of identity theft issues that are associated with the identity cards, but it would address the issue with cloning the chips, wouldn’t it?
Christopher – it might be a generational issue. My collaborator, Rodrigo says that he used to carry photocopies because his father had advised him to (mainly because of the bureaucratic hassles invloved if you lose any of these pieces of ID). However in order to be acceptable to the police, if you were stopped for example, the copies would have to be notorised, which makes this all a bit more complicated. Rodrigo might add something about this later…