National Identity Cards Coming Soon to UK

Kevin McCandless

As the British government moves ahead with a controversial identity card scheme, a civil liberties group this week warned that ordinary citizens might soon face hundreds of dollars in fines.

Starting at the end of 2009, the British government hopes to have a national identity card scheme up and running, with the personal information of millions of citizens included on a computer database, along with biometric details such as fingerprints and facial characteristics.

Although British citizens will not be required to have a card, anyone who wants to get (or renew) a passport will have to submit their details.

Most foreign nationals living in Britain will have to carry a card, and the government has said it wants the cards to eventually become compulsory in order to fight terrorism and identity fraud.

This month, as the government begins setting up a network of offices to interview identity card applicants, a civil liberties group predicted that the government will aggressively pursue and fine people who have accidentally provided erroneous information for entry into the database.

Under the 2004 legislation that created the scheme, identity card holders are required to inform the government of any change in their details – if they move or get married, for example — or face a civil penalty of $1,960.

Guy Herbert, the head of NO2ID, a group that opposes the cards, said Thursday he thinks the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) will continually check other government databases to discover possible errors.

As a result, someone who forgot to change their details or forgot to return the card of a deceased family member might face a hefty penalty.

“What will happen, in all likelihood, is that the databases will be steadily compared to each other and if they’re found to be inconsistent, you’ll be invited to correct it,” Herbert said. “And if you fail to correct it, than you face the civil penalty.”

On Wednesday, a Home Office spokeswoman confirmed the IPS is setting up a section devoted to ensuring that the database remains accurate but said that penalties wouldn’t be imposed unless there was a “blatant” misuse of the card.

This month, it was also revealed that David Blunkett, the former home secretary who pushed heavily for ID cards while in office, has taken up an advisory position with an American security company, which might bid for work on the British scheme.

According to the House of Commons Register of Members’ Interests, Blunkett became the chair of the international advisory committee for the Dallas-based Entrust on March 1.

In 2005, Entrust was among several companies that won a contract to work on the Spanish national electronic identity card system.

On Tuesday, a Blunkett spokeswoman said the MP would advise Entrust only on matters outside the United Kingdom and would steer clear of domestic matters.

She added that his hours with the company would vary greatly from week to week and that he intended to remain in the House of Commons.

Entrust did not respond to requests for comments this week, and the spokeswoman said that Blunkett would release his salary and compensation in the register when appropriate.

In addition to being a strong advocate of ID cards, Blunkett was also generated controversy as a government minister.

He resigned as home secretary in December 2004, after allegations surfaced that he’d improperly helped the Filipina nanny of his lover with her attempt to get a visa.

In November 2005, after returning to government as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, he once again resigned after failing to declare a directorship in a company called DNA Bioscience.

On Thursday, Herbert said that he had no problem with Blunkett taking up a position but noted that most of his career had been spent as a politician.

He said it had often appeared that Blunkett had trouble grasping the technical complexity of his proposed ID card system.

Judging by his pronouncements over the benefits of ID cards, Herbert said the former Home Secretary had felt “the scheme was magic.”

“He’s entitled to get a job like anyone else but I don’t know what Entrust gets out of it,” Herbert said.