UNDER THE MICROSCOPE Ten questions for home secretary David Blunkett about his proposed new biometric identity cards.For the most part, "like what he said".If, as seems likely, fingerprints are the chosen biometric, how will they be read? At airports, fingerprint scanners are feasible; but what about at ferry ports and the channel tunnel? Imagine the queues if every car exiting every ferry has to disgorge its occupants who then have to queue to have their fingers read. And what about Eurostar trains?
How will a UK national biometric ID card scheme protect us against al Qaeda members travelling on, say, legitimate Algerian passports or members of the Real IRA with Irish passports? Biometric ID systems would have stopped neither the Twin Towers attacks nor the bombs in Madrid.
How will the home office establish an applicant's true identity before issuing a new, "foolproof" ID card?
If the answer to question 3) is "by showing an existing form of ID such as a passport", how will the home office avoid falling for existing bogus IDs?
Who is going to pay for this and where does the home office figure of £3.1bn come from? The answer to the first question is "you are" and to the second, "out of thin air".
Who will have access to the data stored on the card and, for that matter, what information will be stored?
What will people with no fingers do at border crossings or, if iris-scanning is used, what will people with glass eyes do?
The government has a pisspoor record on hi-tech forms of ID. Consider the ridiculous, two-part driving license. The only reason we have to have a sheet of paper as well as a card is pecause Whitehall, under previous management, was too stupid and parsimonious to do the job properly and incorporate the information on a magnetic strip. If the government finds the technology of a supermarket loyalty card daunting, what chance has it with complex and sophisticated biometric ID cards?
Will Crapita be involved?
'Boffin'
The 2016 TaG Award: The Final
7 years ago
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