By Gemma Simpson, 13 July 2007 12:32
NEWS
The government has pointed to the successes of its ePassports scheme, claiming 4,000 ineligible visa applications have been blocked due to biometric checks.
Speaking at a Westminster eForum, Stephen Harrison, director of Policy at the Identity and Passport service, said: "Biometric ID is not just about control it's about making life easier for legitimate travellers."
Silicon.com's A to Z of ID Cards
Click on the links below to find out everything you ever needed to know about the government's ID card plans...
A is for Act
B is for Biometrics
C is for Compulsory
D is for Data privacy worries
E is for EDS
F is for Forgery
G is for Government IT
H is for Home Office
I is for Identity and Passport Service
J is for Jury
K is for Hong Kong
L is for London School of Economics
M is for Money
N is for National Identity Register
O is for Other cards
P is for Passports
Q is for Quarter
R is for Refuseniks
S is for Self-destruct
T is for Terrorist
U is for Utility bill
V is for Verification
W is for When
X is for Xenophobia
Y is for Young people
Z is for London Zoo
Biometric checking enabled immigration authorities to catch out more than 4,000 visa applicants who had sought to withhold information regarding a previous immigration matter.
Seven out of 10 of these matches were due to fingerprint data previously collected in the UK from individuals who had attempted to claim asylum before, according to the government.
The government's ID cards scheme has not been popular with silicon.com readers and even Conservative Party leader David Cameron pledged to scrap the scheme - and undertake a full-scale review of the £12.4bn NHS IT upgrade project - if the Tories win the next General Election.
Comments
There are 4 comments. Join the discussion
1. Radical Meldrew
Er, yes; guess where I'd like to stick that trumpet.
ePassports, ID cards -Whatever the government promotes as a good idea usually turns out to be a poorly managed fiasco. Criminal tags are their latest high-tech downfall, when will they wise-up and listen to the public?
2. anonymous
Well for all the money spent you would hope that they would eventually have a certain amount of success with the system!
How do the successes weigh up against the failures? They don't tell you that!
I wouldn't call that a success, especially as we still have terrorists driving car bombs into airports etc.
What about the people that the government aren't even aware are in the country!
3. anonymous
Excuse me - false logic here?
Please explain how issuing UK citizens with biometric passports has any connection at all with NON UK citizens applying for visas to come here?
Do the government spin doctors really think we a dim enough to not notice this false link? Please!!!! Come on silicon.com - challenge this one!
Should we treat visa applicants with care and make sure they are who they claim to be - yes, of course. And if that means taking some biometric when they apply abroad and checking it on arrival, then fine, so be it.
But nothing about that argues in favour of issuing biometric passports, ID cards or any other of that stuff to natural UK citizens!
4. Richard
With the UK increasingly like a poorly run "Cat. E" prison;
Wouldn't it be better to restrict people from leaving rather than from entering?