ID card scheme �2,500 fine threat

R. A. Hettinga rah at shipwright.com
Tue Apr 27 14:27:11 PDT 2004


<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/uk_news/politics/3659355.stm>

The BBC

Monday, 26 April, 2004, 18:41 GMT 19:41 UK

 ID card scheme #2,500 fine threat People who refuse to register for the
government's planned ID card scheme could face a "civil financial penalty"
of up to #2,500, it has emerged.

 David Blunkett said not making registering a criminal issue would avoid
"clever people" becoming martyrs.

 And he promised strict limits on the type of information stored on ID cards.

 Under Monday's draft bill, carrying false papers will be a criminal
offence but MPs have until 2013 to decide if registration should be
compulsory.

 'Soft touch'

Details of card holders kept on the National Identity Register will include
name, address and previous addresses as well as nationality and immigration
status.

 Mr Blunkett also confirmed that people will have the right to see their
entry on the register.

 He said ID cards were needed to prevent the UK becoming a "soft touch" for
terrorists.

 But DNA and other health information would not be included on the cards
and there would be an independent regulator to control the type of
information they contain.

 Royal family

Legislation is expected to be introduced to Parliament in the autumn, with
the first biometric passports, which store fingerprint or iris scan
information, issued in 2005 and the first cards carrying fingerprint
details in 2007.

 HOW SCHEME WILL WORK

 Passport price hike of #35 to meet #3.1bn cost of ID card scheme
 Postal passport applications would no longer be possible
 2008: 80% of economically active population will carry some form of
biometric identity document
 2013: MPs to vote on whether registration should be compulsory
 New ID would require people to sit in a "biometric enrolment pod" which
photographs them and scans the face and iris
 Information is recorded on a microchip and in a central database  Source:
Home Office

 Ministers will make the final decision on compulsory registration by 2013,
as detailed in the government's original timetable published in November.

 By that time, Mr Blunkett expects 80% of the population to hold biometric
identification either in the form of a passport, a driving licence or a
voluntary ID card.

 Asked whether members of the Royal Family would be required to apply for a
card if compulsion is introduced, Mr Blunkett said: "We are all subjects
and citizens."

 Illegal working

A trial of identity card technology was launched on Monday involving 10,000
volunteers.

 Ministers believe that as well as fighting terrorism, the cards will help
to crack down on ID fraud, human trafficking and illegal working, as well
as stopping people exploiting health and welfare services.

 Mr Blunkett claimed the biometric system would make UK ID cards impossible
to forge - unlike cards used elsewhere in Europe.

 Safeguards

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Mark Oaten said: "I would much
rather see the #3bn that's going to be incurred in looking at better
intelligence".


 Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said the Tories backed the idea of ID
cards but said safeguards had to be put in place to prevent the misuse of
personal information.

 The draft Bill sets out proposals for a national identity register to hold
details of all 60 million people in the UK. This will enable a person's
identity to be authenticated when they produce their card.

 The legislation also sets out safeguards to prevent government officials
from misusing the data.

 As part of a large-scale test of the equipment, volunteers are having
biometric details recorded, involving facial scans, iris scans and
fingerprints.

 Trials are beginning at the UK Passport Service's London HQ on Monday,
with further trials to be held in Leicester, Newcastle and Glasgow

 The biometric checks will become compulsory for anyone applying for, or
renewing, passports from 2007.

 Biometrics will also be introduced into driving licences later.

 If cards are made compulsory, they will have to be produced to access a
range of public services including the NHS and benefits.

 The estimated #3.1bn cost of introducing the scheme will be met by
increasing the cost of passports.

 Civil rights campaign group Liberty said the government was effectively
introducing an identity tax.

 Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti said there were privacy implications,
while no government had yet shown itself competent to manage such databases.

 The Home Affairs select committee said it would be placing the draft bill
under close scrutiny.

 As part of the inquiry, the committee will take evidence from the Home
Secretary David Blunkett MP on 4 May and will also be calling for written
submissions on the draft bill as part of the process of pre-legislative
scrutiny.

 People who want to take part in the trial should send an email to
trial at mori.com.

 BIOMETRICS OPTIONS

Facial scanning: A camera with appropriate software records face contours
and converts them into code. A computer processes the data and checks
against stored record.
 Iris imaging: Software scans a digital image of the iris to compare its
unique pattern with all those stored.
 Fingerprinting: A scanner reads the ridge patterns and compares the
converted code with those on a database.

-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'





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