Inbox: Chip and PIN latest big IDea - and still no readers

The weekly Inbox column collects the best and most thought-provoking of the reader comments silicon.com receives each week.
ID cards: still with unreadable chips but with added chip and PIN? The latest on this controversial government IT project spurred some strong responses.

Also getting readers writing were the Naked CIO on open source and Ask the Experts on the cloud, with both columns receiving some mixed reactions.

Don't forget to post your own response to any of these stories or comments below.

Chip and PIN for ID cards: Not such a sharp idea?
The government has proposed adding chip and PIN capabilities to ID cards but questions remain over whether such a move would be beneficial - or even possible - at this late stage in the £4.7bn project.

What's wrong with all the other data?
So 49 items of personal information, your life history and your biometric data are not judged to be secure methods of verifying your identity anymore?

And this is mainly because no one outside government can access either the chip on the card or the central database, so these details cannot be used to verify your identity and are a completely useless invasion of privacy.

So they are thinking of throwing chip and PIN on there too but still want the other details as well despite the minor detail that they are useless to anyone except perhaps the government.
Karen Challinor, UK

PINs aren't much of a deterrent
Credit cards are compromised every single day - even PIN numbers do not present much of a challenge to a determined crook. Why should ID cards be any different?
Radical Meldrew, Suburbs

Chip and PIN is cheap
A bit late in the day to be making fundamental changes now isn't it?

Can only increase costs.

On the lighter side, as chip and PIN is well established, little development required. Indeed the cost of the technology is so low, that the banks just give the cards away, even if you lose them.
Anonymous, Birmingham

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ID cards to remain unreadable until next year
The UK will have no way of reading the data stored on ID cards until next year - more than a year after the first cards were issued.

Ask the fraudsters
I'm sure counterfeiters already have readers... Maybe they should bid for the contract...
Roy Corneloues, East Anglia

Gov't on its way out?
By 2011 this snooping Labour government will be a thing of the past and both other main parties have already promised to get rid of ID cards and the database.
Ask Jacky, Brown

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Naked CIO: Open source ain't cheap
The recession has led many IT leaders to search for ways to save money. But open source isn't one of them, says the Naked CIO.

Afraid to step out of the comfort zone
I agree with much of what the CIO has said here because it seems that her/his experience has been in a large enterprise environment with OSS vendors providing support services on terms that are competitive with close sourced software vendors.

For me though, the conclusion is too much of a generalisation about open source software and how an organisation can use it and benefit from it.

Many large organisations are well out of their comfort zones when even discussing open source software. That's their loss as I see it.

It's something that can give the more agile businesses a head start in these difficult times. For many a SME, free software is free, if you want it.
Austin Holdsworth, Midlands

It all costs the same
I admit that we are not a large enterprise, but it costs the same whether I am supporting Microsoft or open source. Integration costs are not going to vary much - it takes the same amount of time to get a Windows computer talking to a server whichever OS it is using. Licensing and keeping check on legal licences are the big expenses.
Anonymous, Cheshire

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Ask the Experts: Should I embrace the cloud?
silicon.com's panel of experts explains what factors to consider before you move any services into the cloud.

Missing the boat
Again these so-called experts are missing the boat here. User beware - and check out the interview posted on silicon.com with Barbara Liskov from MIT. There are serious privacy and confidentiality issues with the cloud as it stands today.
Henry, Chicago

'Dinosaurs R Us'
You should rename this website 'dinosaurs R Us'. How could you even question the logic of cloud computing?

The only people against cloud computing are the traditional IT departments and their bloated IT services and packaged software suppliers.

But hey, this is a UK website with the usual British backward thinking.

Eventually, cloud computing will replace the CIO and their army of IT people who do everything they can to stop business people and consumers taking control of the IT spend.
Ian Smith, Birmingham

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