Lot of fuss about National ID cards for the UK at the moment. Basically, as currently discussed, I’m not convinced this is a good idea at all.
There are a huge number of unanswered questions. Not least, what is/are the underlying reason(s) for the introduction of the cards in the first place? What data will be stored on the cards? Who will be able to access this data? Will all card readers be able to access all data? Will the card holder be able to access the data? etc. In terms of underlying reasons for the cards’ introduction, I don’t think this has really been answered satisfactorily by anyone. There have been various mumblings about “it’ll stop terrorism”, which of course it won’t. Even David Blunkett has said “only 35% of
terrorists had false identities”, meaning that most people who turn out to be terrorists use their legit identities. And if they are suicide-bombers or similar, then knowing who it was for ‘next time’ won’t really help.
The problem I foresee is that these cards will be considered a definitive form of personal ID, which means that people may blindly trust them. Despite assurances to the contrary, people will manage to forge them, or obtain real IDs in false names.
There are some amusing (or really scary, depending on your point of view) aspects to this. A company Qinetiq has been mentioned as one to work on the ID cards infrastructure. A while ago, they won a government contract to put national census data online for people doing family-tree research. The web site crashed on the day it opened and remained offline for over 12 months. Does anyone think that a company that can’t build a simple web site can provide a working ID cards system?
There is some discussion about this at Stand.
Update 28.04.2004 10:04: Given that these cards will probably be compulsory and that the individual will have to pay a substantial amount (anything up to 100 UKP is being suggested), this has caused one observer to call this an Identity Tax. Nice phrase, I shall use that …
list/database of persons was very useful in WWII.
A certain Mr Hitler was able to use the German system to great effect. But of course the inferia French/Belgian system allowed more people of Jewish origin to escape as there were no decent records of them.
Now I know it’s along way to go from New Labour to the Nazi party, but I did think it was an interesting comment..
Also I wonder how the Swedes/ French etc feel about this debate in the Uk and USA? The Swedes not only have an ID card, but also a single number for all government related transactions. It’s your passport number, driving license number, health number etc etc.
Also Qinetiq were called DERA before privatisation…
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