By Nick Heath, 6 February 2008 16:30
NEWS
Support for the UK's national ID card programme continues to plummet as one quarter of people say they are strongly opposed to the scheme.
According to the ICM poll, 25 per cent of those surveyed thought it was a "very bad" idea - up from 17 per cent in September last year.
Opponents of the ID card scheme said the survey of just over 1,000 people, commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, showed the government would be "unable to impose" the cards on the population.
But while 50 per cent said the cards were a bad idea in the ICM poll, 47 per cent of those questioned still thought they were a good idea. And 12 per cent of that group thought they were a 'very good' idea.
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
Phil Booth, national co-ordinator with pressure group NO2ID, said: "It shows that more people don't want ID cards than do, as is clearly the case across the population."
He said: "The number of people who look like they will refuse to have one has gone up massively, a quarter of the population are vehemently against them."
The idea of the government taking data submitted for one use and sharing it between departments also made 52 per cent of respondents uncomfortable.
The poll found the majority support creating a separate database about every child in the UK, creating a central identity register and collecting personal travel details on everyone coming in and out of the UK.
The first ID cards will be introduced for foreign nationals by the end of this year.
The widespread rollout to UK citizens, known as 'Borders phase II', is now slated to begin in 2012 - two years later than indicated in an earlier government action plan.
Comments
There are 13 comments. Join the discussion
1. Karen Challinor
how do you eat an elephant ?
the problem with saying the government will not be able to impose ID cards on the population is that it is wrong, they can, they will and they are
the government is adopting a "divide and conquer" approach
they target relatively small (compared to the total population) groups and apply significant pressure on that group to adopt the ID card, then when that group succumbs the move on to the next group
the targetted group generally does not have enough political clout on it's own to resist and few if any other groups will stand by them because of the "well it doesn't affect us" mentality
they are currently attemping this with students, proposing to bring in the ID card to allow them to open bank accounts, many students starting university are under the voting age and have no MP to complain to so it's likely they will submit rather than give up their education
next will probably be people on benefits followed by people needing CRB checks for their work after all we need to be sure who these people are don't we, all perfectly reasonable and logical reasons
then once a significant percentage have "enrolled" HMG will bring in the compulsory registration legislation in order to "protect the investment" of those who have already enrolled, ignoring the fact they did not enrol willingly
and lo the ID card will be a resounding success with 100% take up and hmg can busily monitor our lives and sell the information gathered to third parties
so how do you eat an elephant ? - apparently it's one mouthful at a time and if you are careful you can eat most of it before it reacts
2. Richard Davies
Responding to Karens comments....hopefully there are not too many elephants in the UK!
People do need to pull together though if they are to stop the government and their sneaky ways!
3. Secret Squirrel
I don't oppose the principle of ID cards; I have major issues though.
First, why do I need a biometric passport, photo driving license AND an ID card, EACH of which I have to pay for separately? Why not combine them all and achieve economies thereby.
However, my biggest issue is that given it's appalling IT track record, I have NO confidence that this government can implement such a scheme on time and/or budget. Neither do I have any faith that they would be able to operate and maintain such a system effectively. Just look at the ongoing mess HMRC's IT systems are in for example. Every 31st Jan, their E-filing web servers crash. It will be the same on 5th April this year for company filing.
The thought fills me with horror and dread.
4. Ian
I couldn't agree more with Karen's comments.
Cheap credit has been used to subdue an otherwise hostile population. When in debt and worried, people are far more likely to keep their heads down than raise their profile. Divide and conquer has never been so obvious if you look at the high profile of immigration and terrorism in the media. Divert the blame onto minority groups who cannot retaliate effectively with social unrest, this in turn divides majority groups who view the blame as persecution or valid. Social engineering at it's worst.
Stealth introduction of ID cards will happen whether we object or not. Blunkett is a firm supporter of ID cards but he is on retainer witht he company that would be producing them. No conflict of interest there at all.
Time to emigrate.
5. Nick Cole
ID cards are a good idea. The problem is that as usual anybody pointing out the pitfalls, such as proof, data protection, misuse and so on are ignored. People in general are concerned at the side effects and unwanted consequences not the idea per se.
As with any large scale project the drive politically inspired or whatever to implement, overrules common-sense and gets in the way of resolving the concerns which are dismissed as being to difficult to deal with. What the proposers don't have the wit to realise is that is it the underlying concerns and subsequent failures that end up destroying either or both the project and civil liberties.
And a major factor also ignored is the enormous cost to implement and burden on every individual who has to pay over and above this!
6. Edward Leigh
ID cards would be a great convenience for people if it were possible to choose what information was stored (which could include blood group, gym membership ID, bank account numbers, etc.), for what purpose, and how each piece of information was secured (by password, PIN, bio-signature, or a combination). All information could be stored on the card (and backed up privately), not in a remote database. Each item of information could be secured separately, and retrieved only in the presence of the holder.
This would be possible with an open standard specification determined centrally by ISO in consultation with government and leading security experts.
Instead we are going to have a proprietary card for government use only, linked to a hideously risky (in terms of security and cost) national identity database.
For more see:
http://www.reformist.org/blog/4/national-identity-cards/
7. Edward Leigh
ID cards would be a great convenience for people if it were possible to choose what information was stored (which could include blood group, gym membership ID, bank account numbers, etc.), for what purpose, and how each piece of information was secured (by password, PIN, bio-signature, or a combination). All information could be stored on the card (and backed up privately), not in a remote database. Each item of information could be secured separately, and retrieved only in the presence of the holder.
This would be possible with an open standard specification determined centrally by ISO in consultation with government and leading security experts.
Instead we are going to have a proprietary card for government use only, linked to a hideously risky (in terms of security and cost) national identity database.
For more see:
http://www.reformist.org/blog/4/national-identity-cards/
8. Mark Hosey
I believe that by withholding education or vital services from those that refuse to carry an id card the government will be in breach of their European human rights. I look forward to hearing their lame defence.
I also believe that the Scottish population will react to any curtailment in their freedoms as a result of refusing to carry an id card in the same way they did to the poll tax. I look forward to their reaction.
And finally, I'll bet the government have not budgeted for the legal costs incurred in defending/impossing their illconceived project on a significant percentage of the population. I look forward to seeing the true cost!
9. Kevin Lewis
"and lo the ID card will be a resounding success with 100% take up and hmg can busily monitor our lives and sell the information gathered to third parties "
..or simply loose a CD \ DVD \ Laptop \ Server containing everyones personal data. Then identity theft will be able to go through the roof.
Even if they manage not to loose or giveaway any information who says the system will work? The Tax Credit system doesn't:
"HMRC admitted to PAC the computer system, now looked after by Capgemini, remains "fragile", making it difficult to improve tax credit processing - with software errors still affecting some payments."
The NHS admits thousands of smartcards have gone walkies...
With a 12 year high fraud in ID Theft the "Government was the primary target, suffering £833m..."
I'd rather trust a two year old not to open a jar of their favourite sweets...
And they are from news stories in the last three days...
10. anonymous
Many of those who "don't object" take that stance on the ill advised basis that "only those with something to hide have anything to fear".
The flaw in that argument, is that once universal ID cards and the DBs behind them are in place, it becomes VERY easy to change what you might want to "hide". For example, the fact that you are travelling to take part in a perfectly reasonable and legitimate protest about forthcoming legislation, the position the government takes on building masses of new houses near you etc etc.
"Excuse me sir, could I see your identity card? Ah ha, Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss X, we feel it is not in the interests of 'national security' for you to take this train to London because we have cause to believe you are planning to take part in a large demonstration about ...... (fill in your choice here).'
If you want to live in a country where that sort of thing becomes normal - accept identity card without a murmur of complaint!
I, for one, would rather live with the (exaggerated!) risks of "threats from terrorism" than in a police state.
11. Radical Meldrew
Only 25% totally against? Maybe we should take note of the old war movies where the Gestapo walk up and curtly say "papers please". I'll wager there will be a modern-day recurrence of this scene once ID cards have become a widespread phenomenon.
12. GALLEY SLAVE#41
It seems to me that the government is fast becoming the very enemy that they are trying to protect us from.
13. Ruth
If you have any doubts about ID cards,take a look at no2ID.com