After the terror bombings in London, the government has returned to its ID card bill with fresh vigour, even though false identity played no part in the events.
When first proposed by then Home Secretary David Blunkett we were told the card would cost us £25, very soon it became £40 and then £90. A recent London School of Economics study estimates that the realistic price will be more than £300. It will need to be renewed at least every ten years and every time your details change. As the average UK citizen moves address every seven years (more often in the cities), ID cards are going to be costly.
An IT outsourcing company which will probably tender to run the scheme is EDS. It is in charge of Israel’s smart card system which is used for the control of Palestinians. EDS is also famous for its IT failures at the Inland Revenue which have cost the taxpayer a fortune.
ID cards will have your name, address, date of birth, gender, immigration status and biometric information like finger print, iris image and a digital photo. Not much to worry about you may think. But in some parts of the UK where you live can be a matter of life or death.
It’s not just the card, alongside it there will be a centralised database, which will store personal information, such as criminal record, NHS records, benefit and state pension details, etc. Under Blunkett’s notorious Crime and Security Act 2001, ‘Gateways’ are permitted between government departments and even other European governments to access your private data. There are few safeguards and no penalties for abuse of the system.
The spurious excuses given by the government for introducing the cards do not get close to the truth. ID cards do not combat terrorism, nor do they prevent identity fraud. In a letter dated 4 July 2003 from then Home Secretary Blunkett to Deputy Prime Minister Prescott it was confirmed that anyone claiming NHS treatment or state benefits would have to produce an ID card. No card, no treatment or benefit. Also, anyone applying for documents like a passport or driving licence will be forced to buy an ID card.
It is claimed that ID cards will cut out benefit fraud. According to the Department of Work and Pensions only 2.5% of fraud involves false identity.
The flaw with any identity document is that it has to use another document to prove the person actually exists. In the BBC television documentary Kenyon Confronts, Kenyon managed to obtain a provisional driving licence with Blunkett’s details but his own photo. This was despite the fact that Blunkett is registered blind and uses a guide dog. All he needed was a copy of Blunkett’s birth certificate. The system will not stop people fraudulently using your identity.
This is an example of the lies and spin from the government over the issue. In an interview on Breakfast with Frost on 25 April 2004, Blunkett said ‘…35% of terrorists, I’m told by the Security Service, use multiple identities’. There is nothing about the government’s ID card proposals that will prevent them from continuing to do so. He also claimed that biometrics are not forgeable. Even the manufacturers of the equipment don’t make that claim.
ID cards are not about cutting crime or stopping terrorism. They are about control and intimidation. Primarily this Labour government wants to use them to ration social services and medical treatment. The gulf between the haves and have-nots will inevitably widen.
Jimmy German
FRFI 186 August / September 2005
