"Technically unsafe" national ID card plans slammed

The UK government's controversial plans to introduce a national biometric ID card are deeply flawed, technically unsafe and likely to run way over budget, according to a new report.

More worryingly the Identity Project research by academics at the London School of Economics (LSE) found serious concerns about the feasibility of the ID card scheme from the very IT suppliers who would be likely to bid for work on it.

The ID card bill is due for its second reading in the House of Lords this week after being approved by MPs last month but the government faces a race against time to get it passed into law before the likely May general election and some MPs believe it will have to be dropped.

A wide variety of stakeholders across government and the private sector were interviewed for the LSE report, which pulls no punches in criticising the rushed and badly-thought-through nature of the proposals contained in the ID card bill.

"There was an overwhelming view expressed by stakeholders involved in this report that the proposals are too complex, technically unsafe, overly prescriptive and lack a foundation of public trust and confidence," the report said.

The LSE also warns that far from aiding the fight against terrorism the current ID card plans actually increase the UK's risk and exposure.

"The proposed system unnecessarily introduces, at a national level, a new tier of technological and organisational infrastructure that will carry associated risks of failure. A fully integrated national system of this complexity and importance will be technologically precarious and could itself become a target for attacks by terrorists or others," it said.

Almost 50 "points of concern" are raised in the report from legal and privacy issues to the cost and the implications of how people will use the cards.

But the one that should set alarm bells ringing is the unease among the IT supplier community about the scheme, despite the fact they would benefit from the huge contracts that are likely to be awarded around it.

Professor Patrick Dunleavy, from the LSE's government department, told silicon.com: "It is troubling contractors and suppliers. There is a chorus of dissent and disquiet about the scheme. We have received input from suppliers that the cost would be considerable and if the process produces a very costly and ultimately failed or only partially successful project this is highly damaging for the firms involved."

The LSE says it is not against the idea of national ID cards, just that the current plans are flawed. The report's authors argue the government should scrap the current bill and start again from scratch to develop an ID card that is "a real benefit to the citizen rather than being a costly imposition".

The full report can be read at the LSE website.