UK ID Card Scheme
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has said that Post offices and pharmacies could act as enrolment centres for the Government’s ID card scheme. These cards will cost £60, £30 being for the card and £30 to cover the cost of collecting the data which is to be stored on a Government database.
The launch of the £5 billion scheme will take place in Greater Manchester this autumn. Anyone who lives in the city, who holds a valid UK passport and wants an ID card, or biometric passport as they are also known, can go to their local post office or pharmacy to have their fingerprints and a scan of their face stored. You can also sign up for information alerts at directgov website.
Ms Smith is meeting with pharmacy trade groups and post office managers to discuss the plans for them to become enrolment centres.
“The companies interested in working with us to deliver the service will play a key role in ensuring the public can apply for an ID card or passport simply and easily,” she said.
“While private companies will clearly benefit from the increased footfall from offering this service, their customers will benefit from being able to quickly provide their biometrics while they are out doing the shopping.
“With an identity card, people will be able to prove their identity quickly and conveniently while helping to protect themselves against identity fraud.
“ID cards will deliver real benefits to everyone, including increased protection against criminals, illegal immigrants and terrorists.”
Opposition parties believe that the scheme should be scrapped, as £5 billion is a lot of money to spend in the current economic climate, when the government’s finances are already being squeezed. The Home Office argues that it will save money in the long term, which is currently being spent on fighting crime, terrorism and fraud.
Our concern would be how are they going to protect the data once they’ve collected it? If past experience is anything to go by, they wouldn’t do a very good job! These ID cards are voluntary at the moment, so when you consider whether to get one, you need to consider whether you want to risk your information potentially getting into the wrong hands?
We have several articles commenting on security issues involving the government. They are Learn your lesson from Revenue and Customs to avoid a security meltdown, Another Security Meltdown and More Data Security Issues.
You can find further information on the proposed ID cards on the directgov website and the Identity and Passport Service website.
Everybody has a different opinion as to whether they think ID cards are a good idea or not. You can have your say on the BBC news website.
This entry was posted on Monday, May 11th, 2009 at 12:32 pm and is filed under Articles, Business Advice, Data Security, IT Advice . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
