By Andy McCue, 19 April 2006 14:35
NEWS
The government says the ID card database will become a national population register of basic personal information for the public sector to verify identity and has called for the development of a children's register as well.
The Treasury confirmed this week that the newly created Identity and Passport Service (IPS) will take over the work being done by the Office for National Statistics on the Citizen Information Project to create an adult population register containing a person's name, address, date of birth and a unique ID reference number.
Des Browne, chief secretary to the Treasury, said in a statement to parliament: "The IPS should be responsible for developing the national identity register (NIR) as an adult population database. Over time public sector systems, business processes and culture should be adapted to use the NIR as the definitive source of contact details in the longer term."The NIR will only contain details of adults over the age of 16 but a national child population database could also be on the cards.
Browne said: "The Department for Education and Skills should also consider whether there is scope to realise further efficiency and effectiveness benefits through a child population register."
Until the NIR is up and running the Treasury said it should be a priority for HM Revenue and Customs and the Department for Work and Pensions to look at short-term arrangements for wider use of the National Insurance number and ways to better share personal information.
Browne said: "There is significant value to both citizens and the public sector in greater sharing of contact details - name, address, date of birth, reference numbers - in a secure way across the public sector."
Comments
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1. Guy Reynolds
And the slippery slope begins.....
......this was never going to be just an identity card system.
2. Jon Pennycook
So all Irish, EU, Commonwealth and other citizens who have the right to live here, vote here and use services here will also be registered? If not, then the "ID" card cannot be used to keep track of the things the Government now want to use it for.
3. anonymous
At long last common sense has prevailed!
4. anonymous
Cannot help thinking of the line "I am not a number, I am a free man" from "The Prisoner" - looks like none of us will be free men!
5. anonymous
But surely, as the Government insists that the ID Card will be _voluntary_, it won't be a complete register.
Or am I missing something perhaps??
6. Richard Davies
the trouble is, the government don't seem to do secure and well thought out IT systems. All you have to do is look at their previous projects.
All this makes me feel very un-easy.
7. Mike
In 1945, NI numbers were only issued to those of school leaving age, on the basis that infant mortality would result in a lot of redundant numbers.
That this was a stupid decision was immediately apparent, because they then had to issue NHS numbers to children. (But when do the mandarins ever do anything that isn't stupid?).
The sensible thing is to issue NI numbers on registration of birth or naturalisation, which would be de-activated on registration of death (or emigration). It is probably also necessary to have a register of resident aliens, who have rights to benefits.
Why the combined brains of "double-firsts" from Oxbridge running the country can't work this out defies belief!
8. Karen Challinor
just imagine ... soon it could be used to control our access to public services instead of just logging our access
our right to travel freely would also be a distant memory as this would be controlled instead of monitored
our right to spend the money we earn would be controlled too as the card would be required to withdraw anything over £200 from our own bank
it wouldn't be an overt form of control, no one would actually say "no you can't" so there would be no one to appeal to, but your card will inexplicably fail when you tried to use it for certain things, it wouldn't fail all the time, just often enough to make life difficult
any problems you have would eventually be traced back to you doing something silly like zapping the card with static because you had it in your pocket instead of your wallet...
and this could be made completely automatic for behaviour the system sees as falling outside preset limits
it's a political wet dream, the population end up doing what the politicians want and the politicians no longer have to tell them to do anything
prove to me that it couldn't happen, please
9. Roger Huffadine
Time to invest in a tattoo parlor - once everyone is on the database the first check will be to use inexpensive bar code scanning to identify individuals. RFID will always be prone to problems from poor reliability and failures and cards can be lost. But, hey, barcodes tattooed on your arse [to ensure that there is no environmental degradation] now that will be useful. Or maybe the government will use OCR technology and just tattoo a number on ones forearm.
10. Grassy Knollington
The NIR will be compulsory for everyone. These cards were originally touted as "entitlement" cards. This is exactly what they will become. We're a capitalist country - like all our capitalist friends we run on energy.
Unfortunately our democratic socialist government (ha! ha!) are pushing us towards capitalist globalisation. We cannot support our energy demands and need to import fuel at costs we have no control over (unlike some of our capitalist friends). We have a staggering public sector employment workforce and welfare system to support and we're outsourcing our employment to low wage economies.
A kind of rationing is inevitable... how many times you use the NHS before you start paying... how much fuel you will be "entitled" to regardless of how much money you have... public services set at a level before you pay extra...
Cash is being phased out to be replaced electronically. The benefits of this are evident - muggings and cash thefts will cease, hospital emergency admissions would fall, insurance premiums lowered, income tax/national debt lowered due to previously unpaid revenues being collected electronically.
Debit cards are being marketed as "cash" cards. We've overtaken cash spending with plastic for the first time this year. Mastercard and Visa will tow the line once a "Bill" has been forced through parliament to allow the Inland Revenue access to our spending habits and data in order to tax us directly. RFID printed into packaging will levy "lifestyle" taxes to whatever you buy. All the big supermarkets are trialing cash free shopping. People on benefits will use their ID cards directly and will not be allowed to buy more than they're "entitled" to. Fiddling the dole and moonlighting will become a thing of the past. The black economy was a huge problem for government during the rationing years after the 2nd World War - it will not be allowed to happen again.
Incentives will be given in order to kick-start all this. Eventually life would be very difficult even impossible if you choose not to comply. Have you noticed how the Post Offfices are being whittled away and pensioners are being "persuaded" to open bank accounts? Have you wondered why?
ID theft, fraud, terrorism?? Does anyone really think everyone in the country will have their ID stolen? Of course there'll be fraud and stolen ID's but not on a massive scale and technology will improve security over time.
I can't think of any other reason for the ID (er.. entitlement) card scheme.
11. Phil Parry
The more I hear about this, the more I hear about plans to control our speed (and monitor our travel) by electronic means, the more I fear freedom is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. And the thing is, I just don;t trust politicians enough to belive that they have our best interests in mind.
Time to leave - before they stop us being able to do that too...
12. vic
Why not just tatoo our rumps at birth! but hold on a minute didn't somone called Adolf try something similar.
I suppose 60 years on we would be getting a bar code or even a smart chip.
DON'T LAUGH! or you could be at the head of the queue.
13. anonymous
All regimes become totalitarian and centralist in time - check your history! Democracy - unfortunately - is not immune.
(By the way that was just chapter 1 - the next 5 chapters are headed "apres moi la deluge")
14. anonymous
Home Office should do its "day job":
The recent reports of widespread chaos show that the Home Office should be concentrating on its routine work rather than promoting this crazy ID Cards scheme.
If it cannot "remember" the names or nationalities of convicted prisoners, what chance of running a huge ID system.
Staff morale is rock bottom.
Like any failing organisation, the Home Office must give up its grandiose ideas and concentrate on its core role.