The True Cost of ID Cards

By Mick Meaney
RINF Alternative News 

The true cost of ID cards are not just to the taxpayer’s purse but go much deeper and have a truly disturbing impact, threatening our way of life forever. You will not only pay financially but it will also cost you personal privacy and possibility your  identity.

The privacy eroding ID card scheme has suffered another set back as the government internally worry over procurement, costs and program management.

The controversial scheme costs £5.3bn and 50 million UK citizens are set to receive the cards over the next 10 years. Costs have risen by £400m since just October.

James Hall, chief executive of the U.K. Identity and Passport Service, which is in charge of the ID card project said a “major” procurement process was set to begin, although “we’re not quite ready yet,” but did not state when this would begin.

It amounts to nothing more than the “numbering of the population” as the plan not only stops with ID cards, as all information will be passed into the NIR (National Identity Register) creating one central database containing our private information and the widespread use of biometric technology for mass fingerprinting and iris scanning.

ID cards are being sold to the British public as a precaution to terrorism, although no evidence exists to suggest they act as an effective deterrent and ministers have already stated ID cards will not be able to prevent future attacks.

In fact, experts state ID cards diminishes security, as the central database opens new opportunities for identity thieves and data fraudsters.

Privacy advocates have listed over 20 problems with the scheme including

• Discrimination
• Lifelong surveillance
• Identity fraud
• Benefit fraud and abuse of public services
• Spiralling costs
• Untested technologies
• Unsecured and costly technologies
• Severe punishments may be inflicted without judicial process
• Any person can be added to the Register without their consent
• No duty to ensure that such data is accurate, or criterion of accuracy

The technology used is riddled with errors, open to attacks and the chance that you or I could become an ‘un-person’ is fast becoming a reality.

The Conservative Party are also making noise about the plans, with Shadow Home Secretary David Davis recently writing to Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell.

“I urge you to consider very carefully the government’s position, in advance of the roll-out of the scheme later this year,” the letter said. “As a matter of financial prudence, it is incumbent upon you to ensure that public money is not wasted, and contractual obligations are not incurred, investing in a scheme with such a high risk of not being implemented.”

For more information and to find out what you can do to prevent national ID cards being enforced go to http://www.no2id.net and http://www.defy-id.org.uk

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