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ID cards "an expensive and dangerous folly"
Info Commissioner and privacy groups up anti-campaign following report

By Tony Hallett

Published: Friday 30 July 2004

The Information Commissioner and privacy campaigners have added their voices to a UK Home Affairs select committee criticising plans for the use of ID cards.

Though the report was published today, yesterday the Guardian newspaper revealed leaked details - and the wider response has been negative.

Information Commissioner Richard Thomas has expressed his concerns over government plans in the recent past and today said in a statement that "the current proposals are far wider than necessary to implement a simple identity scheme".

He added that "many problems need addressing" and emphasised that the draft bill, as it stands now, is "not just about an ID card but an extensive national identity register and the creation of an extensive national identity registration number".

Thomas also holds concerns about why the government thinks it needs such an approach and which other bodies will be privy to information held.

Meanwhile, the Foundation for Information Policy Research, a long-time critic of government policy on information privacy, was clear in its response to the select committee report.

"The committee has raised a whole series of very grave concerns about the scheme. ID cards won't tackle terrorism, won't cut fraud and won't reduce crime. The government's plans are an expensive and dangerous folly," said FIPR director Ian Brown in a statement.

The FIPR warning ended with calls for a rethink by the Home Secretary and also touched on a subject that may make ideological arguments pointless - that such an IT project simply cannot be made to work.