Do we trust government on ID cards?

Identity cards will have to be “reassessed” in the wake of the child benefits fiasco, a Government minister has said. (Really).

The data protection minister, said the loss of the personal details of 25million was “deplorable”.

He said a review will be carried out into the way officials store and use data - putting the future of the £5.6billion ID cards scheme under review.

The plans call for a database storing 49 pieces of personal information on every citizen.

Leading academics have rounded on the Government’s “fairytale view” of the technology needed to make the scheme work.

In a letter to MPs, Professor Ross Anderson and Dr Richard Clayton warned lives would be ruined if information from the ID database went missing.

“Once lost, it would be impossible to issue a person with new fingerprints. One cannot change one’s fingers as one can a bank account. Adding more data, like fingerprints, will make records even more valuable to fraudsters and thieves when - not if - they are lost and leaked.”

Can we trust the Government to look after the data?

And I’d like to ask, who will they be sharing this data with?

DANNY STOWELL

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