Roll up, roll up, get your voluntary ID cards here
Forget the politics for a moment, forget the challenges of making biometrics and a national identity register work for a little while, and please someone tell the government to employ someone who knows about selling to come up with a reason people will accept ID cards.
With today's announcement of the latest stage in the prolonged rollout of the controversial scheme, once more the biggest element lacking is a coherent and convincing reason why the cards are necessary in the first place.
ID cards will not stop terrorism - they might, in some cases, make it harder to obtain false or multiple identities, but that didn't stop the 7/7 London bombers, fully identified UK citizens all.
Voluntary passports will not work - who would suddenly decide to have a card, having happily gone through their life without one so far?
And perhaps my favourite example of daft politics is the idea that students will be the first to be offered the cards on a voluntary basis because, according to home secretary Jacqui Smith's reported comments on the BBC News web site, "they will be the most willing to accept them as they could help students do
things such as open bank accounts."
Pity all those thousands of students unable to open a bank account so far. Where must they keep their student loan? Hope the boxes under their beds are secure.
Let's not forget, students are not exactly renowned for their right-wing tendencies. If one bank decides to mandate ID cards for opening a student account, it is bound to see floods of eager students queueing up - outside its rivals.
There is a case to be made for ID cards - in an increasingly connected world some form of electronic personal identity and authorisation mechanism is going to be inevitable - but the government's ham-fisted attempts to sell its proposals to a sceptical public will not get us any nearer that goal.
You wrote: "Forget the politics for a moment, forget the challenges of making biometrics and a national identity register work for a little while, and please someone tell the government to employ someone who knows about selling to come up with a reason people will accept ID cards."
The government has spent 6 years trying to come up with a plausible reason to force everyone to have an ID card. It can't. There are no good reasons. This is a piece of control-freakery by Whitehall civil servants who want to compile a national population register because it would be convenient for them, with no regard for the monetary or constitutional costs to the country. They're hypnotised by the prospect of the Home Office becoming the preeminent government department (eclipsing even the Treasury! What joy!) by interposing itself in every transaction between the citizen and government, and many transactions between the citizen and private industry. It's every Home Office Mandarin's dream - we'd all have to get Civil Service permission to access health-care, banking services or even pick up a parcel at the post office. Think I'm exaggerating? Read the Use-Cases on the Home Office web site:
http://www.identitycards.gov.uk/how-idcard-daily-collecting.asp
http://www.identitycards.gov.uk/how-idcard-daily-transferring.asp
Now picture the other part of the Use-Case that they didn't document:
"Just slide your ID card in here Sir & type your PIN. Oh dear, for some reason your ID card has been declined. I'm afraid you're not allowed to withdraw money from your account today. No, I'm afraid I've no idea why. Yes, I know it's your money. No, there's nothing I can do about it - the computer says 'No'. Well, I'm sorry, but it's nothing to do with me. Look, if you don't mind, Sir, I do have other people to attend to. Next!"
Centralising this this level of control over our everyday lives is pure folly. The ID scheme must be scrapped, immediately.
Posted by: Andrew Watson | Friday, 07 March 2008 at 10:18 AM
The biggest privacy problem I have - and I've seen precious little debate on this detail, is the AUDIT TRAIL.
Who has access to the Audit Trail and under what circumstances? There's massive scope for the ID card to turn into a collective 'people tracker' device by the Government increasingly mandating circumstances for which ID card usage would be manadtory.....
Perhaps, in the future you'll be forced to use your card when:
1) Spending more than £50 ???
2) Buying petrol ???
3) Visiting your local club or gym ???
4) Any sort of electronic transaction ???
to the point where it's impossible to live day-by-day without leaving a trail.
What's needed NOW is a serious debate on:
a) WHO will have access to the Audit Trai and under what circumstances, and
b) What circumstances/criteria the Government will ever mandate i.e. force the use of the a person's ID card.
Posted by: Mike Byrne | Friday, 07 March 2008 at 11:04 AM
I think that the comment on students is spot on. Forget the usual fears over audit trails etc... What we know is that the government plans to roll out the ID cards to students first. Cue London 2008 looking like Paris 40 years ago?
Posted by: Mark Kobayashi-Hillary | Tuesday, 11 March 2008 at 09:31 AM
Here's an up date to the post by Andrew Watson, it seems that the government has moved the links during the revamp of the Home Office/Justice Ministry.
http://www.ips.gov.uk/identity/how-idcard-daily-collecting.asp
http://www.ips.gov.uk/identity/how-idcard-daily-transferring.asp
Mike
Posted by: Mike McNamara | Friday, 21 March 2008 at 04:42 PM