By Andy McCue, 22 November 2004 15:45
Didn't we used to have ID cards back in World War II?
Well spotted. The UK last had a paper-based ID card introduced during the second world war to allow people to get their food ration, stop them from dodging conscription and make sure they weren't German.
But we got rid of the ID cards after the war didn't we?
Correct again. They were dropped in 1952 but the UK government will formally launch a bill to introduce mandatory ID cards in the Queen's Speech this week. And this time we're not talking about a flimsy bit of paper with your details on it. The Home Secretary David Blunkett wants an all-singing, all-dancing compulsory high-tech biometric ID card.
Doesn't he know the Cold War's over? Why do we need ID cards again?
It's a different kind of threat we're facing this time, according to Blunkett. He believes a biometric ID card will help in the fight against terrorism, illegal immigration, illegal working and organised crime. More specifically he says it will stop criminals being able to use multiple identities and will save the taxpayer millions by making sure only those entitled to use public services such as the NHS actually receive them.
Sounds a worthy enough reason but how much is it all going to cost?
It's currently predicted to cost around £3bn. The government claims most of the cost will be covered by the charge for the ID card.
The new ID cards will cost £15 and will be issued alongside passports, which will double to £85. But there's already controversy about how much it could actually end up costing with many opponents saying this calculation doesn't take into account all the biometric card readers that will need to be installed everywhere from GPs' surgeries to Post Office counters.
Some experts have also questioned whether it is a proportionate response to the stated threats that Blunkett believes we are facing.
What biometric technology will be used on the card?
The government is investigating this at the moment but Blunkett wants as many biometric identifiers as possible on the card. The Home Office ran a trial over the summer – which silicon.com took part in - enrolling 10,000 volunteers for a mock ID card using iris scans, facial recognition and a fingerprint scan. The results of the trial will be released later this year and used for the basis of a decision on what biometrics should be included.
Is the technology up to it? I thought using biometrics on that scale was just something out of Minority Report?
This is another bone of contention for opponents of the scheme. Blunkett says biometrics would have to be introduced with or without an ID card in order to comply with forthcoming international border arrangements that mean travellers going to places like the US will only be allowed in with a biometric passport.
Opponents, however, claim biometrics have never been deployed on this scale for such an important project. Indeed, payment industry body APACS recently said the banking industry had ruled out biometrics on credit and debit cards because the false rejection levels are still too high for use on that kind of scale. For the low-down on biometrics, check out another of silicon.com's Cheat Sheets here.
So how will it all work?
The idea is that on a day-to-day level if you visited your doctor or went to claim some state benefit payment you would present your ID card, which will have an embedded chip that holds all of your biometric data on it. The person checking the card would use a card reader in conjunction with a biometric scanner for one of the identifiers such as iris or fingerprint. You would be scanned and this would then check it matched to the information on the card.
What about this big central 'Big Brother'-style database that goes with it?
There will be a vast National Identity Register, which will hold all sorts of your personal details, which can be accessed by various government departments and agencies, intelligence services and the police. Every time you use the card, that 'transaction' will be logged on the system.
Whoa there - doesn't that mean the government will be able to track my every movement?
This is another bone of contention. Blunkett claims the proposed ID card Bill provides enough protection to individuals that their data won't be accessed by anyone who shouldn't see it and that it won't be misused and there will be an ID card 'commissioner' to oversee this. Blunkett even suggested recently that supermarket loyalty cards are more of a privacy threat than ID cards.
He's got a point, hasn't he?
Yes, except private sector firms have to comply with the UK's Data Protection Act, which governs how your data can be used. This is overseen by the Information Commissioner, who believes the ID card bill currently won't comply with the DPA, particularly because it does not allow for the commissioner to audit or check the ID card system without prior permission from the government.
While most of us won't leave very interesting data trails, privacy activists argue it will lead to the targeting of certain racial and religious sections of society. Blunkett's response has been to dismiss the Big Brother surveillance accusations as "ludicrous" and tell privacy activists to "get real".
What if I don't fancy one of these ID cards?
Then you'd better get saving up because you'll either have to move to a different country or face a £2,500 fine for refusing to get an ID card.
Looks like a done deal then. When do I get one?
The ID card legislation will start its way through Parliament this week with its inclusion in the Queen's Speech. The government wants to get it approved before the general election next year. Once it gets the expected green light from MPs the procurement process will begin. And from 2007 everyone applying for a new or renewal passport will pay the extra charge to get their compulsory biometric ID card.
Comments
There are 32 comments. Join the discussion
1. Roger Huffadine
Dead Bodies Everywhere
I'll say it again - Old people lose things like cards. The idea that you can't have NHS treatment without your card is stupid. the Older folk are the ones who have - so far - put most into the UK and are the very ones whom Blunkett is threatening to exclude from treatment on the NHS.
Like all 'secure' systems this will need a trapdoor to permit folk who 'claim' to have lost their cards to get treatment and that is the area where the fraud will happen.
Just like 'chip and PIN' where if you claim to have forgotten your PIN number the merchant can opt to conduct a signature transaction - there are always trapdoors to let fraudsters in.
So why bother - you can't stop the fraud you can only make it a bit more difficult - in this case with disproportionate cost.
2. Richard Sarson
Yes, but non-dead oldies were used to carrying their ID card in the war and for seven years after that, so they would be more likely to carry the new card today than idle teenage scribblers. Just for laughs, I have dug out the one I carried until I was 22, and take it everywhere.
3. Britain Bites
Was'nt the old ID scraped because the police started to misuse them? Ofcourse the present government would never do that, would they!!!!!!!!
4. Justin P Wright
It's intriguing that the government see all the ID card costs as additional expenditure. When implemented, it should cut costs in most government departments, that's the way the government would tell the private sector to run a project! But of course it will drive government expenditure upward, increase costs for everyone else (doctors, police,hospitals etc)and result in DSS, DVLC etc all maintaining their own cumbersome unique ID tracking processes and massive costs. What a joke! But never mind, we'll just pay through more stealth taxes
5. James Button
The main problem with 'ID' cards is ID verification, that is, closely following intent determination.
The policeman/whatever can see I match the picture on my free 'Local Library issued Oyster card'
(They said it would cost more in administration to charge for the card than it costs to issue it)
The Oyster system recognises the data on the card and matches it to the central records -
But how does the policeman check the data sent for checking matches the person presenting the card.
Correct eyeprint according to his portable reader, correct fingerprint according to his other portable reader. Photo matches according to his hand-held PC.
But how can he (yes sexist) tell that I am a nice law abiding person - not a grief 'crazed' potential assassin who's liable to throw a block of cement at the passing nuclear waste train?
And - if he could - then what is he going to do about the POSSIBILITY.
Finally:
In the UK, if you haven't got a NI number, then surely you are an 'alien' and should have a foriegn issue passport or id card.
6. anonymous
The Govt could respect Human Rights and follow DPA and deliver ID cards on the back of services where card holders opt to use these and have control over transactions and data. Instead we cannot see our own data or monitor its use or access.
Why do we need to be compelled to conform to this flawed and expensive fiasco. Without a bank statement would you know what happened to your money or when and who accessed your account? Why can't we have any say or control in this issue? What exactly do Blair and Blunket think compulsion and secrecy deliver to them or protect us from? Why not be open and accountable? Why will data held on us be secret to us and what use will 'they' make of it since it seems that citizens have no say in what is held or who sees or uses it?
Fundamental to democracy is the need for balance between individual and state roles and rights. The line should be drawn from an informed consensus, not by force.
I guess I must have something to hide as an enemy of the state to have such concerns - at least that is the message Blair has given - I guess I'll never know - just as I'll never notice atheft of my identity until its too late as only the government will see the transaction information and how will they know what acts are legitimate or not?
7. anonymous
What everyone seems to be forgetting is that the Government & Associates, whether it be central, national or local, already holds (or has access to) a vast amount of info on each of us (think birth/death certs, wills, driving licences, DVLA, passports, UK census, TV licence, electoral roll, Inland Revenue, tax returns, Council Tax, NI No, NHS No, bank account/savings/credit/debit card details, telecoms, utility bills, store cards etc, etc.
If only they could/would communicate with each other (something I'm sure they do covertly anyway) subject, of course, to the rigourous enforcement of the DPA, in an honest, trustworthy & efficient manner (this is where the argument for ID cards will probably fail), then no honest, hard working person should reasonably object.
Except for the fact that, although we already pay far too much in taxes (which don't seem to be efficiently allocated to those worthwhile public beneficiaries - NHS, teaching, transport etc), we are expected to have to pay for a 'legitimate' soltion to spy on us!
8. Paul
I don't know anyone who wants these 'entitlement cards'. This term is more worrying than 'ID card' because it implies if you don't take the mark, you don't have any rights. You cannot receive heathcare, benefits, open a bank account, have a job, own or rent a house, take out an insurance policy etc.
Anyone with any common sense knows the only reason for these cards is to track and harass people who the state don't like; i.e. protestors, dissenters, minority parties and people with alternative lifestyles, as they have done in the past both here and abroad by the 'intelligence' services aka secret police. Just ask the Jews who had the "J" stamp, even the Harold Wilson government or the DSEI protestors.
Surely everyone can see what a ridicuolous idea it is? Millions of poeple will outright refuse, which will make it into a disaster.
It is still a long way from being implemented as it is though. Labour have to get re-elected first which is looking fairly unlikely. Just look at the new bills proposed - welcome to ingsoc!
9. chris rees
If id cards are such a great way of fighting terrorism why wait till 2011 to implement them? The answer is they provide no assistance whatsoever. They are great news for an authoritarian government who wish to keep us all in our place
10. Richard Sarson
Paul, now you have met someone who wants entitlement cards. You are also wrong about them being there to harrass protesters etc. I have asked my more radical mates from the '50s, ex-commies, fellow-travellers, Aldermaston marchers, whether they objected to carrying ID cards. Not at all.
There is a curious idea among the young that there is something "Nazi" about ID cards. They were brought in to combat Nazism, weren't they?
I apologise for intervening twice on this topic, but the noisy civlib lobbyists seem to have taken over the site.
11. Malcolm Ripley
ID cards are inevitable. They are already compulsory in some countries and others will introduce them. The US with its paranoia (hence Bush re-elected!) will have them as well. After that you won't be able to visit certain countries without an ID card.
So you have 2 choices: either complain bitterly and oppose every move to have them introduced which will ensure that your complaints are viewed as from "whining liberals" and thus ignored. This will result in a draconian introduction. Or you can work with the introduction and ensure that sufficient safeguards are put in place.
The solution to the unauthorised use of the information is simple. Everyone has access at to their own information at all times. That information contains a record of who accessed the information and when. Data not in the database cannot be used in court (hence no secret information about you). The recording of the access history will prevent victimisation. As for the secret un-recorded access of the data fears, well that's already possible. Every email, phone call, financial transaction, car number plate logging as you travel the highways etc etc.
One last thing if "old people" forget to carry their card then they are just as likely to forget their purse,wallet, keys, appointment date ! Please that's a silly argument against ID cards that provides the pro (draconian) lobby with a reason to ignore valid points that should be addressed.
12. Jim
Will this be another government IT failure. They seem to be having enough trouble handling the projects they already have in hand, without implementing a new one.
I have no confidence in the government's ability to manage any project within time and budget constraints. The charge of £15 has already increased to £85.00 for a passport and will end up at several times this by the time it is fully implemented.
Criminals et al will have plenty of time to work out ways of duplicating/forging the ID cards and will defeat the alleged purpose of the cards. It will be neccesary for the those who check the ID cards to have immediate access to the central data bank, which will add to the costs of those bodies which have to do the checking and the focasted cost estimate of £3000 million will escalate.
The merger of the Benefits Agency And Inland Revenue Data files caused the loss of 100s of thousands of records (including mine). What will happen if your records on ID database are "lost" or the wrong information is recorded?
13. Mike Pascoe
Unfortunately this is yet another example of the government attempting to impose restrictions on our privicy. Sure maybe this data is already held in lots of other databases ! The issue here is oversight and access by the citizens.
There is nothing to prove that an ID card will prevent terrorism or reduce fraud. You've only got to look at other countries who run national ID systems to understand that.
It's going to cost a fortune, which could be better utilised elsewhere in society, purely to give the government easier ways to flout our civil liaberties.
Anyone willing to vote for this bunch of power crazed maniacs needs to sit down and take a reality pill.
14. Rob H
I think that the gov't should not make us pay for the cards, afterall it is thie idea, as other documents, driving licence, passports, they are not mandatory, as well with theese new cards the ICT system network the data is on will be a new target, as well as exploiting flaws in it, which being uk law and govement it will be full of faults
15. Bitter
I pay my F**king taxes like everyone else, and National Insurance, and now they want me to pay for yet another gimmick and if I dont, I will be fined or refused treatment. I already have private healthcare and private pension so what the hell am I paying for??
I will refuse it point blank, and refuse to pay the fine, and either go to prison or be extradited. Where are they gonna send me? Eh, I am british you dumb F**ks cant you see that??
16. anonymous
Anyone who says "if you've got nothing to hide then you've nothing to fear from ID cards" clearly hasn't understood or thought through the full implications for the honest citizen and the ease of getting fake IDs for the dishonest ones.
17. David B. Wildgoose
Jews living under Nazi Rule were forced to wear yellow stars and told "If you've nothing to hide, you've nothing to fear".
And please remember that the Nazi regime was preceded by the liberal democratic Weimar Republic. We don't know what will happen in future, so it's best not to leave ourselves a hostage to fortune.
And in any event, ID cards are a single point of failure that will be targetted with glee by criminals and terrorists. We didn't need them when the I.R.A. were planting bombs, so why do we need them now?
And don't forget, foreigners can come here on holiday for up to 3 months without requiring an ID card. This is all about controlling the UK population, and has nothing to do with foreign terrorists.
18. David B. Wildgoose
Jews living under Nazi Rule were forced to wear yellow stars and told "If you've nothing to hide, you've nothing to fear".
And please remember that the Nazi regime was preceded by the liberal democratic Weimar Republic. We don't know what will happen in future, so it's best not to leave ourselves a hostage to fortune.
And in any event, ID cards are a single point of failure that will be targetted with glee by criminals and terrorists. We didn't need them when the I.R.A. were planting bombs, so why do we need them now?
And don't forget, foreigners can come here on holiday for up to 3 months without requiring an ID card. This is all about controlling the UK population, and has nothing to do with foreign terrorists.
19. anonymous
If we are going to trust somebodies ID to a card, it will surely make things simpler for terrorists. Once they have managed to forge them well (and lets face it, we wont be changing the design of security very ofton due to the sheer volume) we would have no reason to dispute their identity.
If we decided then that we could not rely on the cards as ID due to forgery, then surely that places the whole idea as a fiscal waste of time and money for us all both in our taxation and purchase cost.
To summarise, would the last person out of the UK please switch off the light.
20. peter stearn
Cheating on expenses and fast tracking immigration requests, would ID cards prevent these crimes?
21. peter stearn
Why is the UK a testbed for daft expensive IT projects?
Politicians when out of power rant on about the idiocy of these schemes and as soon as in power they're all for them. Makes no sense, maybe it's to do with money.
22. anonymous
When will these people realise that if something can be manufactured then it can be counterfeited, more easily probably with electronics than with anything else. How long after their introduction will we have fake ID cards that clone somebodies identity?
The other question is - What if I object to iris scans? I know everybody seems to say that they are safe but has anybody been subjected to the number of laser intrusions into the eye that this is going to cause us to have? Is the governement going to indemnify everybody if this technology is found to cause a probelm 25 years down the line?
I don't know whether or not I object to ID cards but the ramifications that they may cause are a bit staggering.
23. Ben Stanley
How can anyone counterfeit an id card with someone else's biometrics in the chip? I can't see it being possible.
Once you register for the card, your biometrics are registered together with all your other details and that's it.
If you initially register with falsified documents, you will have to stay that identity until you die because your biometrics don't change.
So the fact that carrying the card is not compulsory means that if you are stopped by the police all they have to do is get out their little readers and ask you for your fingerprint impression. They'll be able to tell you who you are against the national database.
Would be immensely helpful if this was in place now in helping identify unrecognisable victims of the Asian Tsunami who may be british.
24. Chris Goodman
The machines used to produce the ID cards will be commercially available to anyone who can afford them. This means quite simply that within a very short time there will be perfectly "genuine" forged ID cards in circulation. That they may contain "ID theft" data or "cloned" data is irrelevant, what is relevant is that the moment forged ID cards appear then the whole system is invalidated. Another government failure, politicians and the mandarins living in another world, another £3 billion plus wasted.
And the great question - what does the ID card do? And what happens when for some reason it doesn't? If a reader goes wrong or the software gets a glitch and people are not recognised - are they immediately classed as illegal terrorists and benefit claimants trying to improperly get medical treatment on the NHS and taken out the back and shot?
It definitely is Big Brother but will not be a very efficient or effective Big Brother. I would be a little happier if all the Ministers and all the senior Civil Servants involved were to offer their resignations and revocation of pensions if the whole thing turns out to go over budget or turns out to be an ineffective failure.
25. Tony Groves
I'll check that out Richard Sarson. Perhaps you can help me out with my £2500 fine?
26. anonymous
Big Brother is already watching you, the id cards will just make it easier
27. A loyal gun-owning American
Folks in the UK seem to have a higher level of trust in their government than Americans generally do. I'm amazed that government-required identity papers receive little political opposition in the UK.
Basic American traditions include our distrust of government overreach -- the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, checks and balances, and separation of powers between the three branches of government try to prevent this.
Yet today we have a President who systematically undermines these checks on absolute power. The Patriot Act, for example, authorizes secret searches and does not require judicial review nor probable cause for FBI searches.
As far as ID cards go, Mr. Bush sneaked the "Real ID" act through Congress by attaching it to a bill that allocates money to our troops (can't vote against that, can you?). It mandates a form of "national ID" through state drivers' licenses.
What a tragedy the Bush presidency is... soon I'd be better off with British nationality and the UK ID card!
28. anonymous
As a member of the Armed Forces I have been carrying an ID card for many year.
I do not feel this as an infringement of my rights and fully support the introduction of ID Cards within the UK.
For many years now I feel that a lack of a formal ID System has propagated fraud / false identity and other linked crimes.
One point should be that they should be free !
29. LOGIC DOCTOR
OTHER MAIN POINT
THEY SHOULD BE VOLUNTARY,PLUS
CARRYING AN ID CARD IN THE FORCES HAS NO BEARING ON THE UK
SCHEME THAT IS EMERGING
30. LOGIC DOCTOR
TO A loyal gun-owning American
WHO ARE THESE TRUSTING INDIVIDUALS, I DONT ACTUALLY KNOW ANYBODY PERSONALLY WHO BELIEVES OR TRUSTS IN THE UK GOV
WHATSOEVER
WHERES YER HEAD AT MAC
31. Mo
"if you've got nothing to hide - you've got nothing to lose" Only somebody who wishes to cause harm or do bad will not want the ID card. Other Countries use them and nobody complains. Here in Poland, they've been around since before the War.
Anyway you should see it as a benefit, it could and should contain all my medical information and other details, that I would no longer have to go running around chasing people for - its a timesaver.
When I come home, I want one and will be more than happy to pay the price for the hasslefree lifestyle that will no doubt follow. :)
32. Dawna T. Illuminata
I am young and would prefer going about living and producing, innocently, whilst not having my every move being monitored and documented by a government with primarily CORPORATE INTERESTS