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UK: ID card debate starts

01 May 1995

At the end of May the Home Office produced its long-awaited Green Paper on identity cards (ID cards). It proposes either: 1) using the new photocard driving licence or a voluntary ID card for use as a travel document and to "confirm identity" or a combination of the two or 2) moving over to an national ID card system with two options: a) a "multi-function Government card" - a "smart" card for use as an identity card and for other uses such as bank transaction or b) a compulsory identity card - either a simple identity card or a multi-function card. The key questions the Green Paper poses are: should an ID card system be introduced? If it is should it be voluntary or compulsory to have one? Would a "voluntary" really be voluntary if it has to be produced for a multitude of transactions? If compulsory should it be compulsory to carry it at all times? How much information should be held on it? If it uses "smart" card technology should it also carry other information like bank details? Liberty have come out against the introduction of ID cards and argues in the latest issue of its magazine Agenda that threatens the right to privacy, would increase the harassment of black people and young people, and that the arguments for ID cards, for example, it could cut down crime cannot be shown. The "worst case" scenario presented in the Green Paper is: a compulsory ID card (with fines or imprisonment for failure to register) with "smart" technology (allowing police officers to check it by running it through a decoder on the street; and the ability for information to be amended) and new police powers: "The most obvious power would be to allow the police to ask for proof of identity without giving any reason. Such a power might assist as a general deterrent to criminals or illegal immigrants." Identity Cards - A Consultation Document, Green Paper. HMSO, 24.5.95, ?8; "Identity Crisis", Agenda(Liberty), June 1995, pp10-11; Identity Cards Revisited, IPPR/Justice, May 1995, 29 pages; Home Office press release, 21.6.95.