By Jo Best, 3 February 2005 12:10
NEWS The Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) has published its report into the implications of the Identity Cards Bill - and says the legislation "raise[s] a number of serious questions" on human rights.
The report considers how the Bill potentially infringes the European Convention on Human Rights, which is designed to safeguard citizens' right to a private life, and has found there are several areas where the legislation has been found wanting.
The Convention requires that measures: "interfere with privacy rights to the minimum degree necessary and that their aim could not be achieved by less intrusive means", which, according to the JCHR reports, isn't the case for the ID card Bill.
Among its concerns is that some of the information held by the government's registry for ID cards may not "serve a legitimate aim or be proportional to that aim". It also queries the possibility for information on UK citizens to be held without their knowledge or consent.
The Committee also believes that ID cards could become "effectively compulsory" for certain groups of people and the cards' introduction could see some government and private sector organisations withholding services unless ID cards are produced.
"Under a compulsory scheme, the extent of personal information which may be disclosed from the register to a services provider as a condition of access to public services" is a concern, the report says.
While the report does not consider that ID cards in themselves are against the Convention on Human Rights, it does find the government less than helpful on laying privacy concerns to rest.
Given that Home Secretary David Blunkett previously pronounced the Bill was compatible with the Convention, but without given any further explanation to justify the assumption, the report says: "We consider the absence of such explanation to be deeply unsatisfactory in a Bill which is concerned throughout with the issues of personal privacy."
The Committee has written to both the current Home Secretary and Secretary of State asking for clarification on some of its concerns.
Comments
There are 18 comments. Join the discussion
1. Karen Challinor
If you don't want this then tell your MP
If you do want this then tell your MP
Ranting about it in here won't stop it or support it
Find your MP on http://www.whereonearth.com/commons/ and send them an email
2. Roger Huffadine
I have told my MP
I also supplied information about large databases and search methods describing the problems surrounding 'false positives' and several other concerns such as the ability of the card to have 'secret data' written onto it without the knowledge of any regulator or indeed parliament.
3. Richard Davies
Contacting your local MP about this issue is a waste of time as are they...people in government do not understand the ID card proposal and the risks involved (especially taking into account there past failures) and so should stop it now. Portals like this should collate the views etc. and submit them on behalf of the people. I am fed up of people telling me that you cannot change things.
4. T B Wynne
Someone - Like Silicone.com - should warn MPs that the technology behind IDcards is suspect, at least at two levels:
1) There are questions whether eyeball recognition or other bio-data ID systems will work under conditions of high demand - this has not been tested/perfected.
2) The networks and databases required to support IDcards will not be sufficiently secure and can be tampered with to alter ID recognition results or to steal personal data.
MPs may not be aware of these fundamental flaws/risks and someone should give them the "heads up" so that they can set aside the ID card scheme for good solid practical reasons, in addition to the civil liberty and privacy concerns which are powerful but abstract.
5. Martin
ID Cards have been a part of the Armed Forces for a LONG time. You don't hear them compalining. If anything ID cards have gotten Armed Forces personnel into more doors than people without a card.
As to information being held. Various organisations already hold this information so what's the problem?
Regardless of what we, the public, say. The government will bring this in and will make iot compulsory.
Stop complaining and accept it...
6. Dave Manford
I took the trouble to write to my MP some time ago to express my concerns about ID card security. She replied saying that, basically, she knew nothing about the issues and would vote as her party told her to. So that was worthwhile!
7. anonymous
Yes, come on Silicon, why don't you do what any decent publication does, and get an awareness campaign underway about the dangers. Most people are not aware of the technology shortcomings, which really need to be highlighted, given the potential consequences. It would enhance you reputation, raise your profile, confer kudos etc
8. David Blunkett
ID cards are perfectly safe and I'll tell you why, tery ssfd ksjdf sdjfsdkj sdjfi wqeyon gfoissd fiwhhe.
Wrioidg jdsf ret n posad rt jdfpgoom fsdf gfdfg, dgdfg rert asr bfoghi oszfk anfs-gjdf!
OK?
Did somebody move my keyboard a bit when I wasn't pay attention?
9. Andrew Flack
I'm surprised it hasnt been combined with RFID (see USA Tourists), after all, if you are likely to have your ID card demanded of you at any time it would be a wonderful way of making sure you didnt infringe any court orders etc. The only saving grace is that with the governments record on IT projects this one will also come in so late and so over budget it will either be dropped or obsolete.
10. H C Grant
I hope that Mr Wynne is not suggesting that human rights are an abstraction and therefor should the tecknology be perfected then ID cards are OK? I am not aware of any benefit to ME that an ID card would bring. Since I'm paying for it .. the I dont want one.
Perhaps some other readers might suggest ways that my life will be enhanced by having an ID card.
This may seem trivial to want a benefit to me personally but so many laws and instruments seem to have been introduced lately on the basis that "society" has been benefited but which have been eroding individual rights that I feel that the ME test is important. The price of freedom ...
11. Allan Huss
I guess I don't see the threat to privacy. There's far more info about me in the 3 U.S. credit bureaus than the government will ever get on an ID card. And, on the other hand, a universally accepted and difficult to counterfeit ID will help decrease the rampant incidents of identity theft occurring today.
12. Karen Challinor
I have told my MP about my concerns and I have gone on at length in here too.
My MP dismissed my concerns and sent me an information pack, I am currently drafting a reply.
My apologies if I seemed to be saying that you shouldn't bother debating the issue, please debate by all means but unless you actually tell your MP about your concerns nothing will come of it and the clock is ticking.
13. anonymous
Karen is right. Only MPs can stop this thing. However in this great democracy in which we live not even the MPs have the power (or the guts) to prevent this government from forcing the Bill through. It's the way politics works in this country. Tony and his cronies want the Bill passed... and get it passed they will! It's a foregone conclusion. I've seen it happen so many times.They'll use pay-per-vote MPs and draft in the scots again as well as threatening Labour MPs' jobs. They'll water it down and lie through their teeth to persuade wavering opposition MPs and once it's passed they'll amend it over and over again as the years go by. Let's not forget that the core of this government were all hard-nosed Marxists when they were students. They're beginning to live their dream.
14. anonymous
Thank you for a most interesting article on the proposed European I.D. card.
Anytime government gets the chance to gather more information on citizens, it will do it and then use it in any way they can. We have to be vigilant and let our representatives know that we won't accept government interference in our private lives. In the U.S., since 2001, it seems that anything goes in the name of security and protection from terrorists (the Patriot Act).
You might like to read the recent American novel "Cybercash" that deals with this problem. Let's hope it's just a writer's imagination...
15. anonymous
Is Mr. Huss in full possession of the facts ? All the "arguments" in favour of ID cards can be shown to be red herrings- e.g. the management of illegal immigration, countering terrorism, etc. the net result of their introduction would be the creation of a single source of information on the individual which would be irrisistable to criminals and government or quasi-governmental organisations alike, and, far from managing exisitng levels of, for example, benefit fraud, will simply create new opportunities for identity theft.
The fact that Labour are so keen on the idea should tell us something staight away - it is profoundly anti-democratic !
16. Janos Horvath
There is no such thing as a temper-proof ID card. The identity thiefs and illegal ID card workshops will be only months behind the government latest security technology.
Such card gives a false sense of security to the masses and politicians in "fortress Europe or fortress America/Australia, etc.," and keeps only the law obiding majority of citizens and the non-organised petty criminals checked. The high profile criminals, terrorists and of course government secret agents still will have false identity card any time they want it.
The thiefs either will break the technical barriers or buy the electronic information through corrupt government officials just like many times in the past.
It is good business though for a lot of security agencies, ID card manufacturers and IT companies as - in order to keep up with the hackers -newer and more temper-proof cards will be needed to develop and manufacture until the end of times :-)
Can we spend public money on something more useful?
17. Mr.Y.K.Raja
ID cards are now outdated because a) forgers can fake them and b) equipment dependent ID cards will not be effective where equipment is not present. The best way to restore honesty is to use small ID stickers, which will have person’s photo and name printed on them. When concluding any transaction person would apply ID sticker and countersign. These personalised signatures will eliminate the need to rely on CCTV images, equipment and even ID documents because in the event of crime the police will have option to expose person’s photo in “Wanted for questioning” page in national papers. This system will be foolproof because
*Even if the name and signature is bogus, photo will increase the risk of getting prosecuted from next to none to virtually 100%.
*Disguises will not work either because using right software police will be able to remove them.
*No one would get tempted to use other people's ID stickers since these stickers would be personalised to individuals via their photos.
*No one will get tempted to misuse other people's ID sticker to fake crime because police will be able to establish that the crime was faked by proving that the person in question was not at that point of transaction at that moment in time.
This is the best way to stop fake documents from killing signature system, which we have relied for generations to conclude transactions.
18. Stewart Bishop
How does the "Tracking Card" threaten privacy?
Read the LSE report (pp.58-75):
http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/pressAndInformationOffice/PDF/IDreport.pdf