Daily Archives: May 28, 2005


This article in the New Statesman carries a deadly quote. The Government usually likes to quote unnamed officials from the security forces, as a means of getting second-hand, unchallengeable authority. “Public opinion likes the idea of ID cards because it seems like the ultimate solution to all known problems,” says Brian Gladman, retired director of strategic electronic communications at the Ministry of Defence. “But actually, the way this bill is designed enables a police state. You’re not going to be allowed to opt out of having an ID card, the linked databases make detailed tracking feasible, and a system with this combination of complexity and scale is way beyond the state of the art. It won’t be reliable or safe. Anybody with access to the database will be able to target anybody. It’s horrendous what you’ll be able to do.”

From the horse’s mouth


Online computer industry magazine silicon.com has a “Chief Information Officer Jury pool” of senior IT leaders from both the public and private sectors. Twelve of these jurors were asked to pass judgement on the technical feasibility of the government’s ID cards plan: We asked silicon.com’s CIO Jury user panel of leading UK IT chiefs to put aside any civil liberties and privacy issues and judge the technological aspects of the government’s plans. The result was an overwhelming panning for the ID card scheme with 10 of the 12 CIOs saying they had concerns about the robustness of the technology to be used on that scale and the ability of the government to execute the scheme successfully. Individual comments left no room for doubt: John Odell, group IT director at the BBA Group, described it as a “20-year fee-fest” for many IT suppliers while Chris Broad, head of information systems and […]

CIO Jury: IT leaders slam national ID card plans