Identity cards (feature)
01 September 1994
At the Conservative Party Annual Conference Home Secretary Michael Howard announced that the government would be publishing a Green Paper putting forward the introduction of a national identity card. Although he thought it would initially be "voluntary" he foresaw that everyone would want to carry one very quickly. It would be a multi-purpose "smart" card acting as a driving licence, with social security details, be a credit and bank card, and hold medical donor details, for a start.
On 8 August Dr Brian Mawhinney, the Transport Secretary, had announced that credit card style driving licences bearing the holder's photograph will be introduced in July 1996. The licence will initially be issued to learner drivers and eventually extended to the 32 million qualified motorists. The arguments put forward included convenience: "the current version is not popular with motorists to carry around" and the fight against vehicle licence fraud. In addition it is claimed that it would prevent the impersonation of driving test candidates, an offence for which nine people were convicted last year.
Dr Mawhinney made it clear that this was not intended as a precursor of a compulsory identity card. Yet in a TV news broadcast he was very careful with his words: "I am not talking about a national identity card system
today". He said they would hold "fairly straightforward information
initially" (italics added). A range of evidence suggests, however, that these new cards are the precursor to a compulsory identification scheme. First, computer companies have been consulted extensively on the practical implications. Second, Liberty has received inside information from Conservative Central Office that senior Conservative politicians have been discussing for sometime how best to introduce a national identity card. Third, the police are strongly in favour particularly in the context of a "borderless" Europe.
In Europe there have been significant increases in the introduction and use of identify cards in recent years. Ireland is introducing a universal benefit card, Portugal's system is becoming compulsory and the Netherlands is introducing legalisation requiring people to identify themselves in certain circumstances. Of the twelve countries in the EU, six currently have compulsory and 3 voluntary schemes. At the same time there has been a move towards the introduction of machine readable cards.
Machine readable cards
Developments in technology of the storage of information and identification further increases the likelihood of the introduction of compulsory cards. These pose new threats to civil liberties. The standard method in current identification schemes is to build in a machine readable magnet strip to a form or card. The amount of information which can be held is fairly limited, but it can be quickly read by a scanner and the information checked against police or other computerised databases. Over thirty countries are currently using this method on machine readable passports including the UK version of the EC passport. It is also used on the new National Insurance card introduced in 1984. Moreover, it will be the method for storing information on the new driving licences.
This technology is already obsolete. It is now possible to produce smart cards carrying chips which can store vast amounts of data. The Government has made it clear that it would like to add a micro-chip at some stage to the new driving licence to hold details like driving endorsements or organ donor information. The information on a micro-chip can be updated or changed every time it is passed through a machine. The individual holder will, however, have no control over the type of information entered or its accuracy. The technical capacity already exists for the information on a smart card to be accessed by a range of government officials via the Government Data Network. This is a dedicated computer network which links together four major Go