Daily Archives: April 16, 2005


Sir Ian Blair, Metropolitan Police Commissioner, has been speaking about ID cards on BBC One’s Breakfast With Frost: Asked whether ID cards should be introduced after the election, he said: “I think there has to be further consideration of that.” As BBC political correspondent Shaun Ley observes: “However, comments on the ID card scheme were “highly political” and “very potentially controversial”. Shami Chakrabarti, director of civil rights group Liberty, noted: “Liberty remains clear that the case for compulsory ID cards has not been made. “Law enforcement and other vital services must remain politically neutral – especially during an election campaign.”

Politician or policeman?


The Inquirer reports US is not pressuring UK for biometric data British folks, who’ve been listening to Blair and Blunkett defend the ID card proposal for months on the basis that the ICAO and the US will require us to have biometrics in our passports anyway, so the costs of the ID card itself are smaller than we think, will be intrigued to hear that this is not true. Moss* said categorically that the US is not pressuring the UK to include biometrics beyond the ICAO-mandated digital photograph. The fingerprints and iris scans are all Blair’s and Blunkett’s. The basis of everything is still the face. The other bit of good news in all this is that if you dislike the chips the passport remains a valid travel document even if you cook it dead. * Frank Moss, deputy assistant secretary for passport services at the US State Department, their […]

What US requirements?


The Guardian reportsTwo national newspapers paid to receive confidential information from the police national computer which makes it sound like the newspapers are what we should be worrying about, rather than the security of our data. But if newspapers are getting secret police material, who else is? Riel Karmy-Jones, prosecuting, told Blackfriars crown court in central London that Mr Whittamore [an investigator] had received the information “through a chain” made up of the three other defendants: the private investigator John Boyall, 52; Alan King, a 59-year-old retired police officer; and Paul Marshall, 39, a former civilian communications officer who was based at Tooting police station in London. There’ll be much more information on everyone of the NIR than on current police computers. And many more people would have access.

Police data sold to newspapers