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Editor's Blog: ID cards - cock-up and conspiracy...
The real last enemy is…incompetence

By Steve Ranger

Published: Wednesday 20 February 2008

Given the choice, I always prefer conspiracy to cock-up if possible, even though - after reporting on the IT industry for so long - I know cock-up should be the default setting, especially when it come to government projects.

Still, I couldn't resist the BBC's new politico-techno-conspiracy thriller - The Last Enemy - featuring ID cards, pervasive CCTV surveillance and gigantic databases. All things which silicon.com has taken plenty of interest in over the past few years.

The action takes place in a UK where ID cards and biometrics have become a standard method of verifying identity.

ID cards in particular are used for all sorts of routine interactions, like opening the doors to an apartment building, and are routinely checked by mean-looking police (albeit ones equipped with rather cheap-looking card readers, I thought).

And at the heart of the story, at least thus far, is a mathematician working on the Total Information Awareness project. This is a giant government system that seems able to search TV news, automatic number-plate recognition, Afghan minefield maps and a host of other databases and display it all faster than it takes my laptop to open an email. And with an irritating voice interface to boot.

The BBC publicity for the series describes it as "predictive, rather than science fiction", a look at how misused technology can threaten human relationships and destroy trust. So far it seems like an entertaining but not especially believable attempt at tackling an interesting subject.

There was even an amusing scene where civil service types got to debate whether the government was any good at tech projects - perhaps not but the private sector is, apparently, was the conclusion.

It's great that primetime TV wants to tackle subjects such as ID cards, biometrics and surveillance. These are often seen as dry and complex to the general public. But in fact as much debate as possible about the introduction and implications of these developments is vital.

Connecting up these technologies - let alone in real-time - is still way into the future but we need to think about the issues now.

How far-fetched is it? Well, ID cards and biometrics are well on their way. Perhaps the most unlikely element so far is the idea of the government finishing such a major project without it running a fair few billion over budget and a couple of years late - or just getting scrapped.

That really does take us into the realms of science fiction…