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UK: Challenges and opportunities in identity assurance

01 March 2008

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Report commissioned by the government to look at: "how the public and private sectors might work together in identity (ID) management for their mutual benefit and that of citizens and consumers." Argues for a state-multinational alliance to bring about a universal ID card system. Amongst its main conclusions is that:

"an ID system will only help fulfil national security goals if it achieves mass take up and usage.If citizens don’t use a system regularly, it will be capable of providing very limited data for national security agencies." and "Provided the universal ID assurance system infrastructure embraces public services, banking, transportation and e-commerce, it will produce an unrivalled amount of data for national security agencies."

The report is full of assertions and assumption and little evidence, for example:

"Provided that a universal ID assurance system infrastructure embraces public services, banking, transportation and e-commerce, it will enhance security by making it more difficult for anyone to operate outside the system. It will ensure that suspect individuals leave trails of transactions that are ultimately traceable back to unique identity records, albeit only for the purposes of national security."

Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, observes:

"We would be utterly naive to believe that mass ID surveillance, "making it difficult for anyone outside the system" and "suspect individuals" would be limited to "national security" purposes - which anyway now extends its tentacles into the everyday life of communities".

See also: National Identity Scheme Delivery Plan 2008 (pdf) Issued by the Home Secretary to try and head-off growing opposition to ID cards. It fails to mention that everyone wanting a new passport from 2009 is going to be compulsorily finger-printed.

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