By Nick Heath, 2 December 2009 15:47
NEWS
Picture the scene: the year is 2016 and ID cards have been embraced by the British public, with most UK citizens now carrying their very own card.
This increasingly unlikely scenario is how the government initially envisaged the ID card scheme would turn out way back in 2006.
Since the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) laid out this grand plan three years ago, its vision has withered beneath repeated delays to the cards' rollout, cuts to the cards' capabilities and the Tory pledge to axe the scheme if elected next year. Public support for the cards too is dwindling, down from 79 per cent of the general public in 2002/03 to 56 per cent this year.
silicon.com travels back to the birth of the ID cards scheme in 2002 to chart the seven years of setbacks that have left the scheme in a very different shape to the original vision promised by the government.
The rollout of ID cards to the UK public
- Original vision: In its original consultation paper in 2002 the Home Office said ID cards would be rolled out to the general public in the UK from 2007/08.
- Situation today: ID cards will be rolled out to the general public in the UK from 2012. However, the Tories have pledged to ditch the ID cards scheme if elected next year.
What happened?
- July 2002 - The Home Office produces a timeline projecting ID cards will be rolled out to the general public from 2007/08.
- March 2006 - The deadline for the rollout is moved after the draft ID cards bill is rejected five times by the House of Lords. The date for it being compulsory for certain members of the UK public to get an ID card is pushed back from 2008 to 2010. UK citizens applying for a passport from that date will be forced to also get an ID card.
- October 2006 - The Tories pledge to abandon the ID cards scheme, with Conservative Party leader David Cameron describing the scheme as wrong and a waste of money.
- January 2008 - The launch date for rolling out the cards across the UK general public slips for a second time, this time from 2010 to 2012.
- October 2009 - The Identity and Passport Service misses its October deadline to issue the card to Manchester residents, who were originally supposed to be the first UK nationals to get the cards. The delay means people working or living in Manchester had to wait until 30 November before they could enrol for an ID card.
The plan to make ID cards compulsory for UK nationals
- Original vision: The Home Office initially stated that everyone in the UK would be required to carry an ID card by UK law.
- Situation today: The government now says that it will never be compulsory for UK nationals to carry the card.
What happened?
- November 2003 - The Home Office states that it will be compulsory for all UK residents to carry a card from 2013 but will need a decision by the Cabinet and a vote in Parliament before passing into law.
- October 2004 - The pledge that the cards will be compulsory for UK citizens is repeated by the then Home Secretary David Blunkett. A Home Office press release talks about "a single, universal ID card for all UK nationals, to be issued alongside passports".
- March 2008 - The government ditches plans to force UK citizens to get an ID card when they renew or apply for a passport.
- March 2008 - Then Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announces that a parliamentary vote on making ID cards compulsory for UK citizens will now be delayed until 2015.
- June 2009 - The government drops its commitment to make it compulsory for UK citizens to carry ID cards in a parliamentary announcement by Home Secretary Alan Johnson. ID card critics, such as pressure group No2ID, point out that anyone who applies for a second generation biometric passport will still have biographical and biometric details entered onto the ID cards central database, the National Identity Register.
The biometric information to be held on the ID card
- Original vision: Iris scans were proposed as one of the biometrics that could be stored on the card's microchip.
- Situation today: Iris scans were dropped from inclusion on the card, and the card's chip now stores a digital copy of a facial photo and fingerprint scans.
What happened?
- November 2003 - Iris scans are listed by the Home Office as one of the biometrics that could be used on the card.
- December 2006 - The Home Office drops proposals for the card's microchip to store iris scans, deciding that a scan of fingerprints and a facial photo will be sufficient. The decision prompts criticism from John Daugman, professor of Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition at Cambridge University. Daugman claims that fingerprints and facial photos are not distinctive enough if identity checks need to be made against the 45 million-strong adult population, and that checks against this number of people would result in one billion possible false matches.
Comments
There are 6 comments. Join the discussion
1. Mike
So, that's a cautious welcome to the new ID cards now being issued in Greater Manchester then. Wonder what you'll write about in future now this one's up and running, and people are actually buying cards? Perhaps something about the way the system itself is actually working? What sort of kit they are using? Throughput? System capacity? Encryption? Nah, thought not.
Time to move on a bit mate. This horse has already bolted.
2. Stephen Grist
It is of course interesting to read this tale of delay and loss of overall purpose of the scheme.
What I find particularly telling is your comment about the lack of readers available to read the cards. As an executive in a handheld biometric computer company, who would like to be providing precisely the sorts of readers that would be of use in airports and police stations throughout the UK, naturally I have tried to obtain a card for myself so that we can work on ensuring compatibility of our products with the system.
Regrettably, each time I call the information line, I am told that, as we do not have a current contract with IPS or the Home Office (and as I do not live in Greater Manchester), I cannot obtain a card. No wonder there are few capable readers out there.
3. embarrased techie
@Mike. eerr silicon.com has written an awful lot about the technology behind this project. And I'm amused that you really think that ID cards are going to get rolled out nationwide - because nobody else does!
And even if they do, what are they going to be used for? With any project like this, running late, without clear benefits, surely alarm bells ought to be ringing and all silicon.com is doing is reporting it! Finding it hard to see your problem!
4. karen challinor
lets see
nobody will invest in readers until about 2 million people have enrolled (yes you have to purchase a reader as no one is giving them to you unless you are UKIPS)
further as every other party has promised to dismantle the scheme if they win the election, the election is in the middle of next year and money is still tight then purchasing readers for a scheme that is probably going to be scrapped could be seen as a bad investment, surely better to wait until after the election at least
and until there is a significant number of readers out there the card is essentially an expensive window scraper and of no use whatsoever as a means of proving ID
if you need ID, to go buy drinks in a bar say, which is one of the governments stated reasons for an ID card, you are better off getting a citizencard (www.citizencard.com) which is government approved, a darn sight cheaper and doesn't tie you into maintaining your details on a government database, on pain of huge fines, for the rest of your life
5. Radical Meldrew
The one obvious fact is that this scheme was dreamt up by some bureaucrat who was misinformed on the scale of costs and complexity from day one.
Their once good idea is looking a tad awkward now that the public have voiced a contrary opinion and the vast costs involved have been disclosed.
It will be years before the ID card provides anything beneficial to anyone.
Most people already hold biometric passports so where's the benefit in adding a card scheme with no infrastructure, no budget, no support .its a no brainer!
6. CCL
Seriously, ID cards are a waste of time and money.