ID card plan secretive, expensive and inconsistent, government told
Plenty of coverage of today’s publication of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee report on ID card Technologies; Oliver King’s piece in the Guardian is representative:
Tony Blair’s determination to press ahead with plans to introduce identity cards received a double blow today when two reports accused the government of confusion and of keeping the public in the dark.
First, a Commons committee reported that plans for ID cards were “inconsistent” and “lacking clarity” and questioned the Home Office’s claim that the overall cost would be half the £19bn estimate of analysts.
And, second, Richard Thomas, the information commissioner, found that the Treasury analysis of the scheme was being unfairly kept secret and ordered details to be made public.
NO2ID is quoted:
Phil Booth from the NO2ID campaign group said the MPs’ report revealed that the “political” nature of the project was distorting its implementation.
“Driven by a political agenda all along, the Home Office’s utter failure to engage properly with the public, experts and industry and its culture of secrecy and bullying means that it now doesn’t even have the basic level of trust required to proceed.
“Despite all the committee’s recommendations, this scheme can’t be fixed, so it should be dropped and the act repealed before even more damage is done.”
The Science and Technology Committee report can be downloaded here.
