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June 27, 2005
ID Cards
According to Tony Blair, the majority of us just love the idea of having an ID card and that cost is the only factor. BBC - Tony Blair has defended his ID cards plans, saying he is confident that the public back them in principle.Let's - just for the briefest of moments - ignore the civil liberties aspects, and focus on the cost. Remember, we're going to have to pay for ID cards, they won't be handed out gratis by HMG. Now figures such as £80 have been mentioned, but that figure was based on the governments original costings. As experience shows, large government IT projects never run to schedule or budget. In fact the LSE reckons that the latest scheme could cost as much as £19.2bn, or the equivalent of 760 new schools. Given the way costs to the public have been calculated, that would result in the ID card costing up to £300.
The latest spin is to refer to the incremental cost above and beyond the cost of a new biometric passport. But that is being disingeneous to say the least. I have - on point of principle - not held a valid UK passport for nearly 10 years now. So it wouldn't be an incremental cost to myself. Besides which, you have choice regarding whether or not to hold a passport, but the ID card would be compulsory.
Now one of the many alleged benefits of the ID card is to protect us from identity fraud. In exactly the same way that chip-and-pin would aid the fight against credit card fraud. Except, of course, there's a way around that.
The Times -
"You just have to open the interface where the data is stored, copy it and take it home," the manager said. "I have never accessed it, but if I wanted to I could. If the data is stored here the tech guys can get to it too."
And the Government has already made reference to the biometric passport data being checked in Mumbai, India.
The Register - The UK is to outsource visa application checks "wherever there is an outsource partner", following trials in its largest visa posts in Mumbai, Delhi and Islamabad. This process, which will be implemented alongside the introduction of biometrics for all visa applications, is intended to cover at least 60 per cent of an annual total of 2.5 million applications by 2008, saving £3.7 million via a reduction of "46 staff years per year".
So much for reducing fraud. The ID card system as proposed will actually make people more vulnerable, as a biometric ID card will supposedly carry greater credibility.
And guess who's in the line for developing the ID card systems? Yup, that's right, EDS. The very same EDS responsible for the Treasury's absolutely spiffing tax credit systems. Just the sort of incompetant outfit you want on such a critical, sensitive and high profile project. The Telegraph - The US-based company EDS expects to grab a "big slice" of the multibillion-pound contract to produce and supply the high-tech cards to every adult in Britain by 2008 - to the alarm of many MPs.
The Treasury is threatening to take EDS, which supplied the project's original computer system, to court. Altogether, £1.9 billion was sent out in tax credit overpayments, of which about £600 million was caused by computer or clerical errors.
Even without moving in to areas of civil liberties, ID cards are just a bad idea, unnecessary, unreliable and unwanted, in spite of Blair's words. When you then consider the effects on our basic freedoms, things get very frightening. All we can do is encourage and exhort our MPs to vote against this atrocious piece of legislation, and let them know that we support their opposition to the bill. At the same time, we can expect the PLP to use any methods it deems necessary to force through unpopular legislation.
The Independant - Whips seek to control dissident backbenchers by withholding all-expenses-paid official trips to exotic locations (Link courtesy of Bloggerheads
If ever there were a time for a rebellion by Labour MPs it is now. With Labour's majority reduced and the concept of ID cards so unpopular, Blair runs the risk of seeing the government defeated on this issue. So I ask every MP with doubts about ID cards to ignore the Party line, and vote according to their conscience.
UPDATE - Excellent post from the UK Polling Report on the falling popularity of ID cards over at The UK Polling Report (Link courtesy of Leon)
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Posted by Clive on June 27, 2005 4:28 PM in the category Old Stuff