By Jo Best, 3 December 2003 16:10
NEWS The government has today announced the launch of a trial to pave the way for its compulsory ID card scheme.
The trial will use 10,000 volunteers and test out various biometric elements for the card, including iris identification, facial recognition and fingerprinting.
The volunteers will carry their own card with their personal data stored on it and the results of the trial are intended to set the stage for the introduction of mandatory identity cards, as well as help the government in its roll-out of biometric passports and driving licences.
The trial will last from January to June 2004 and will be run by the UK Passport Service in conjunction with the DVLA and the Home Office. Among the elements under review will be the effectiveness and use of the biometric element, the cost and public reaction.
Beverley Hughes, Home Office Minister, said in a statement: "We are building the foundations for a compulsory national identity card scheme, and are moving ahead with the development and testing of this cutting-edge technology. This large-scale trial into the practicalities of recording and verifying biometrics will play an important part in that process. The issuing of upgraded biometric passports from 2005 will help build the base for the identity card scheme."
The on-again, off-again passage of the ID card scheme has been fraught with political tension and it's predicted that David Blunkett will have to overcome some massive obstacles before he can get the cards into the UK's wallets.
If you'd like to take part in the trial, you can register your interest with MORI. Call Melanie Briere on 020 7347 3023 or email trial@mori.com.
Comments
There are 39 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
presumably the id-card trial will include some trial arrests for not carrying their cards at all times, just to make it truly representative.
2. anonymous
What will it prove?
The real issue is whether UK pop of 60m will deride any benefit from this. How can 10,000 volunteers give an insight into this.
Also if they are volunteers - how will this experiment guage the impact of the refusniks?
3. ferg
if this flys then our government will go for the "chip" which is already being made, but it will be manatory, like getting your drivers licsence renewed. Or school loans, ect
4. anonymous
If this becomes law, I will 'accidentally' lose mine, and every time I am send a new one, will 'accidentally' misplace it again.
5. anonymous
Why bother? We know the result!
If the trial is to use volunteers, it must by definition be using people who don't mind carrying ID cards in the first place.
It's a situation that mirrors the "consultation" where feedback from organisations opposed to the scheme were ignored and surprise surprise, the public was in favour.
I guess you can fool some of the people all of the time!
6. steve watkins
As 'anonymous' says, the trial (nice word) might aslo include some arrests to make it truly a 'trial'. knowing the way this government works, is it not more likely to be 'fines'? and the 'volunteers' going to pay them??
how are the 'volunteers' to be chosen? no doubt they will be carefully selected stooges to tell home office just what it wants to hear.
i have said it before and i will say it again, id cards are evil and anyone who thinks otherwise has the mentality of a slave.
7. Mike Taylor
I welcome the idea. No law abiding citizen has anything to fear if the scheme is operated properly and I would be happy to be one of 10,000 volunteers. It might even save your life if blood group was included.
8. Will McMeechan
If the scheme is designed properly there need be no requirement to carry the card. If someone is stopped and doesn't have their card on them, they need only give details of their identity. Their biometric (e.g. iris pattern) can then be taken and compared against the stored biometric relating to the claimed identity. A positive result will afirm that the individual is who they claim to be.
9. Craig Cleaver
How do you get selected for the trials? Personally I can see the mass effect this will have on the UK as a whole, not only for consumers but for business. Companies will be able to monitor your shopping trip through scanners reading your card as you enter a shop. Opening a new revolution into personalised advertising.
10. Rachel England Brassy
I second that - how you do get selected?? I for one would be interested in volunteering.......
11. anonymous
Has anyone seen the movie Minority Report where everyone has cornial implants and all the advertising bulletin boards speak to you by name?
What's next? Screens in our homes that never shut off a la the book 1984? It is scary that our society is progressing this way.
12. anonymous
There could be benefits but the chance of getting them is remote. A vast computer system would need absolute perfection in operation and security. With NHS, Inland Revenue, Child Support and Passports as examples we all know how likely that is.
13. na.
The bible said that if you except the mark of the beast you damed. Computer mathmaticlly equles 666 the mark of the beast. If one excepts this card or chip they become marked. The seven points on the Statue Of Liberty has seven pionts to it's crown, which stands for the seven nations. The United States is the head of the beast. read Revalations
14. Steve Reed
Why not stamp the Mark of the Beast to your forehead while you are at it ? These cards are to control you rather than protect you.
15. Simon Hobson
Mike Taylor writes : "No law abiding citizen has anything to fear if the scheme is operated properly"
Quite, I agree 100% with that. But this is the British Government we're talking about - so the chance of it being operated properly is about 0%.
Think about it, we use a biometric signature to authenticate 'something', just how do they propose to allow for that signature to be changed WHEN (not if, this is a definite WHEN situation) the database is compromised.
16. anonymous
This will be like the poll tax all over again. Blunkett and all those other right wing labour trash should know I'm off to buy a new balaclava. (Actually I might be to old for that sort of direct action now, but I'll definitely got to jail if necessary)
17. Craig Hill
Too late to worry about this Orwellian devlopment, my son's school card is a smart card.
The acceptance of such technology will not be an issue for the next genration, the battle is already lost.
18. Colin Gardom
Mike Taylor writes : "No law abiding citizen has anything to fear if the scheme is operated properly"
Does Mark Taylor take illigal substances whilst in bed, does he partake in a joint whilst on the loo?
No I'm sure he doesn't - therefore he wouldn't mind a camera stuffed in every room of his house just to make damn sure. I mean - he has nothing too worry about so why object!
We're realy talking the thin end of the wedge, or did that start with "safety" cameras. Gatso's have replaced coppers on many roads do you realy think they won't try and expand this type of policing method.
If you haven't anything to worry about then you shouldn't mind your privacy, your identity, your time, and of course your money, coming under full control of the USE[less] United States of Europe mind control machine.
Bet you don't publish - mine never are!
19. anonymous
The thing that scares me, is that the contributors to these comments are the kind of people who will be charged with making this kind of scheme work.
If the standard of spelling and grammar are an indication of their professional skills and abilities then I, for one (who have already volunteered for the trials), am scared!
20. anonymous
The thing that scares me, is that the contributors to these comments are the kind of people who will be charged with making this kind of scheme work.
If the standard of spelling and grammar are an indication of their professional skills and abilities then I, for one (who have already volunteered for the trials), am scared!
21. anonymous
What a complete set of twisted, tortured, paranoid individuals we have on this thread. Minorty Report, Freedom Fighter, balaclavas. How sad. Me, me, me. What about fighting crime. If we make it more difficlut for any terrorist or credit card thief to operate without detection, we cut losses, improve our world and can start to relax and meet each other again.
I left UK 6 years ago, and am now living in France. People still count here. Sure, its not perfect, but I'd rather live with people than with twisted, tortured, paranoid individuals.
And the food is better to :^)
22. A Pick
Claptrap, scaremongering and paranoia!
For heaven's sake (can I say that without feaf of a bolt from the sky striking me down),what is everyone worried about. To the "god" followers I suggest that biometric smartcards are not likely to invoke the devil. To the paranoid I say what are you worried about, are you that improtant that "big brother" wants to watch you?
23. Daniel Walsh
Facial Biometrics will also work. We always carry it with us, and it changes very little over time !
24. anonymous
A lot of very worrying responses here. Paranoia, misunderstanding of the technology, fear of the unknown. How about starting with some education and explaining of how this system might work? That it is not so much different from having a passport, except that the biometric data (shape of your face etc.) on your passport photograph are encoded on the chip along with some more similar stuff. Your passport data also sit on some computer somewhere ...
Are you offended when the traffic policeman asks you for your driving licence, even though it contains your address and your 'biometrics' if you use the new ones with photos? Are you worried about using Sainsbury's or other customer cards, even though they relate your shopping to your address? Well, I don't like the latter, frankly, but the ID cards would not be checked in supermarkets ...
Would it not be nice if a benefit frauster stealing from us all could not claim he is someone else and take YOUR money? This is actually happening.
While I can't see how an underfunded police officer would find time to make these strange remote checks on me, which are firstly physically impossible, and then not really practical. And what would he learn if he did, and assuming he could? Not much, really.
On the other hand the ignorance of many posters here of the real possibilities of technology is frightening. If a government agency or even an individual with a lot of money really wanted to know a lot about you, they will anyway. It is a matter of resources only. And we cannot do much about it.
25. Gary Davies
The only way to make sure that you and your identity cannot be used by some one else to do wrong, if you are an honest citizen, then of course you should have your photo/fingerprint on a ID card, its needed in this world of fraud.
26. anonymous
I would much prefer a check by iris-scan or fingerprint to having to give personal data, such as date of birth or nationality, to all and sundry. A scan confims that I am who I am, whereas intimate data invades my pivacy and also gives scope for misuse.
27. anonymous
Everyone accepts the need for a driving licence and pasport and the use of credit and bank cards has become commonplace. Chip and pin will soon be with us. The only persons to fear ID cards are he criminal element in society.
28. anonymous
I think the idea of an ID card for the Uk population is long overdue. We would not have a lot of the trouble we have in this country now if we had a national card.
Paying for our own cards, is taking the "P" though. It should be means tested the same as most things we have.
I would gladly take part in any trial of the cards if it will hasten their arrival in our pockets.
Why we have to wait another 10 years, god only knows.
29. anonymous
I would like to volunteer for this too, how can I find out what to do?
30. Elizabeth Smith
How do I get one?
31. anonymous
I think the idea is a brilliant one. Surely, if you have nothing to hide you haven't anything to fear? Personally i'm a believer in a dna sample being taken from birth - again - if you're a law abiding citizen - where's the problem? I don't agree with what it's going to cost however and like Simon, worry that the government won't be able to organise it properly - much like everything else at the moment.
32. anonymous
I think that if these cards are to be compulsory then making us pay £35 for each card is disgusting. If the government want it then they should pay for it not us.
33. Devon Mum
£35 each for a large family on low income would be virtually impossible to find. I wonder then, would they be breaking the law because they simply couldn't afford cards for their family and what would the penalty be?
34. anonymous
what a good idea. there is a need to monitor identity nowadays. both to protect the innocent and deter those who wish to take advantage.
35. Damien
Happy to particpate / help. I have nothing to hide, unless of course, someone knows better!
Lets face it though, Mr. Blair can't even decide on Europe. This will take decades to bring in, by which time, the wheel will have come full circle, and it will not be neccessary :-)
36. Peter M. Kenifeck
I believe that there is a need, more than ever that ID cards are a must.
My only ambiguity is that in future years, Great Britain votes in a right wing government."due to racial or religeos over reaction " That that government could use the ID card against the people. I would like to see a get out clause whereas the people can vote it out.
If ever there was a need for a referendum, this is one case for sure. FOR THE ID CARD. and to be set in law a vote for every 10 years whom ever was in Government.
37. Beth Walmswell
Not only is the scheme a blatant breach of human rights, the £6 billion set to be spent on the investment is an insulting waste. If that money was invested into further education, university top-up fees could be halved indefinitely and, although this would be equally ineffective at stopping benefit fraud, it would create a fairer and, in my humble student view, a lot more stable society.
38. Joe Millionnaire
I have nothing to hide, and nothing to fear with regard to the introduction of Identity Cards. I would only feel truely safe however, by the implementation of compulsory biometric chip implants. I very much welcome the sight of cameras on the street, and am reassured by the number of covert surveillence cameras too, that are in operation around the United Kingdom. As long as I continue to behave like a law abiding citizen, why should I concern myself with such triviality as being monitored 24 hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week? As long as: Coronation Street; Big Brother; Pop Idol; Survivor; I'm a celebrity...; Who wants to be a millionnaire; cannabis; tabloid journalism; sexual content on the television are there for me after a long day at the forced labour camp- it's all fine by me!
Please Mr. Blair, the biometric implantable chip is the only answer!! Think about the childen!!!
39. Irene Davidson
No problem. I've got nothing to hide, have the objectors?