Identity crisis?
Jenni Russell writes on the Guardian Comment is Free web site about the recent evidence of turmoil in the government’s ID cards plans:
A couple of weeks ago, leaks from the heart of government suggested that the ID cards scheme was in deep trouble. Those of us opposed to it felt our spirits lift when we read internal emails between senior civil servants describing the chaos surrounding the scheme’s purpose and implementation. One senior manager talked of meltdown; another said “we are setting ourselves up for failure.” It appeared that a new, simpler version of the card was being planned as a fallback, as managers discussed the huge technical difficulties, the political confusion, and the possibility that the entire system could be scrapped. In any event, it was clear that the cards could not possibly be ready for their rollout date of 2008.
She concludes:
What does all this add up to? Your guess is as good as mine. But whatever it is that’s causing the chaos, whether it’s technical over-ambition, confusion over function, political rivalries, financial constraints, or a sudden attack of common sense, I’m grateful for the temporary respite. Perhaps there’s still time to turn public opinion against this intrusive, costly and unnecessary project.
July 27th, 2006 at 11:31
It good that anti-ID sentiment is getting more coverage in mainstream media, but this is a typical example of a piece that does not mention the continued database threats as well as ‘cards’…
Here’s an independent piece that concentrates on the database angle:
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/07/345999.html
July 27th, 2006 at 15:17
Apologies for commenting only on the No2ID newsblog extract rather the whole piece which does mention the database as follows:
‘What this [biometric collection, interviews, enhanced background checks] seems to imply is that even if ID cards themselves are, for technical reasons, to be simpler than first thought, the information the state intends to hold centrally on all of us, on a massive database, may eventually go ahead as planned.’
Indeed. As well as new EU and international agreements coming in for biometrics on passports, in the UK there are other national database initiatives like CORE and Government Connect.