ID cards: no data security fears – and no chance we'll pay for them

Brits are not just overwhelmingly in favour of ID cards; they want them biometric, they want to carry them at all times and, most importantly, they don't want to pay a thing to get them, according to a survey of UK citizens published today.

A Mori poll commissioned by IT consultancy Detica has, like silicon.com's own reader survey into ID cards, revealed that public opinion is overwhelmingly in favour of adopting them. Eighty per cent of those quizzed said they'd be happy to have an identity card and a similar tsunami of 73 per cent said they had little or no fear of their civil liberties being damaged.

However, it's self-interest not government propaganda that may be convincing Joe Public he needs an ID card in his wallet. Very few of the 1,000 people surveyed and found to be in favour of cards – just 16 per cent – were persuaded that the cards would be a way of preventing terrorism.

More were convinced that the cards would be used to prevent illegal immigration, at about 33 per cent, with other favourite uses being making finding criminals easier and making proving your identity to get a credit card.

An outcry from civil liberties groups after Home Secretary David Blunkett announced a biometric ID card bill will be introduced next month seems to have been largely ignored by the biometric-loving man on the street, with 42 per cent happy with iris scanning and a further 35 per cent more than content to have even DNA on their card.

But no one could say the Brits aren't a contrary lot. Despite the kid-on-Christmas-Day level of enthusiasm for the cards and the conviction that their civil liberties were impenetrable, the majority of the UK viewed the likelihood of the government making the scheme a success and still keeping their personal data secure as scarcely credible.

About six in ten said they had little or no confidence that the introduction of such a scheme would be smooth, while only five per cent said they thought it would go well. Similarly, the issue of data security drew heavy scepticism. Only one in ten were confident Whitehall could be trusted to safeguard their data.

And it's on just such issues that the project will succeed or fail, according to David Porter, head of security and risk at Detica.

"ID cards will stand or fall on the registration process that underpins the scheme. You can have the best, most expensive biometrics in the world, but if your registration process is sloppy, you will end up with an extremely expensive, useless failure," he said.

But while those surveyed don't seem to be kept awake at night by the threat of insecure data, the possibility of actually paying for the cards is a far more worrying prospect for the Great British public.

Around half said they wouldn't consider paying anything towards the cost of the card and only one in five were willing to shell out £25 for the privilege; Blunkett may have a harder time getting the required payment out of British wallets than actually getting ID cards into them.