ID-cards and Databases
transmitter | 30.04.2004 13:59 | European Social Forum | London
Privacy International invites for a public meeting on ID cards in London, 19th May, while the economist warns that the real threat to privacy comes from government databases.
From the privacy international website:
The government has introduced draft legislation for a national identity card. The card system will cost at least £3 billion and is likely to become an essential part of life for everyone residing in the UK.
If the draft legislation is accepted by Parliament, everyone will be required to register for a card. Biometric scans of the face, fingers and eye will be taken. Personal details will be stored in a central database. A unique number will be issued that will become the basis for the matching of computer systems.
The proposed card may be required to access vital public services and to receive benefits. The government proposes to enforce the programme through numerous new criminal and civil offenses, including provision for unlimited financial penalty and up to ten years' imprisonment.
For details about a public meeting in London on May 19th see
http://www.privacyinternational.org/conference/missingid/
Meanwhile, the Economist warns on Apr 29th that "Databases are more worrying than ID cards". The paper states:
"ID cards are the wrong focus for worries about threats to privacy. They
have been in use for years in most European countries without leading to
any notable abuses. What's more, ID cards are just a small but visible
manifestation of a wider and more troubling trend..."
It continues with a darf vision for an orwellian future:
"The wider trend that needs watching is the computerisation of the state.
The government is building huge electronic databases containing
information about people's tax payments, employment status, educational
record, benefit claims, health, criminal activities and family
relationships, not to mention the suspicions that intelligence agencies
may have about them. It has access to CCTV film of them. If road-pricing
comes in, it will track their movements in cars..."
Finally, it expresses the need for more "data rights" for citizens:
The best way to deal with the increasing power that databases give the
government is to balance it with commensurate power for citizens. The
Data Protection Act goes some way towards doing that, but not far
enough: the government still has too much power to withhold information,
and there is no clear regime for determining which bits of government
have access to information held by other ministries and agencies...
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2628978. Unfortunately, this article is not free to view.
The government has introduced draft legislation for a national identity card. The card system will cost at least £3 billion and is likely to become an essential part of life for everyone residing in the UK.
If the draft legislation is accepted by Parliament, everyone will be required to register for a card. Biometric scans of the face, fingers and eye will be taken. Personal details will be stored in a central database. A unique number will be issued that will become the basis for the matching of computer systems.
The proposed card may be required to access vital public services and to receive benefits. The government proposes to enforce the programme through numerous new criminal and civil offenses, including provision for unlimited financial penalty and up to ten years' imprisonment.
For details about a public meeting in London on May 19th see
http://www.privacyinternational.org/conference/missingid/ Meanwhile, the Economist warns on Apr 29th that "Databases are more worrying than ID cards". The paper states:
"ID cards are the wrong focus for worries about threats to privacy. They
have been in use for years in most European countries without leading to
any notable abuses. What's more, ID cards are just a small but visible
manifestation of a wider and more troubling trend..."
It continues with a darf vision for an orwellian future:
"The wider trend that needs watching is the computerisation of the state.
The government is building huge electronic databases containing
information about people's tax payments, employment status, educational
record, benefit claims, health, criminal activities and family
relationships, not to mention the suspicions that intelligence agencies
may have about them. It has access to CCTV film of them. If road-pricing
comes in, it will track their movements in cars..."
Finally, it expresses the need for more "data rights" for citizens:
The best way to deal with the increasing power that databases give the
government is to balance it with commensurate power for citizens. The
Data Protection Act goes some way towards doing that, but not far
enough: the government still has too much power to withhold information,
and there is no clear regime for determining which bits of government
have access to information held by other ministries and agencies...
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2628978. Unfortunately, this article is not free to view.
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