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ID Cards on Trial: Will ID cards have RFID tags?
Government refuses to rule it out...

By Andy McCue

Published: Wednesday 29 June 2005

The UK government has refused to rule out the inclusion of RFID tracking tags on the proposed biometric national ID card.

In line with International Civil Aviation Organisation guidelines, the UK Passport Service has already said it will include a paper-thin RFID-style contactless chip which can be read without being swiped through a reader on the new biometric passports from next year.

Home Office Minister Tony McNulty has now refused to rule out the possibility that tracking tags will be included on the ID card chip along with biometric data.

In response to a parliamentary question he said: "No final decisions have been taken yet on the chip technology for ID cards."

The admission is likely to increase privacy concerns on the back of a warning from data protection watchdog the Information Commission (IC) this week that the government's ID card plans are another component in the infrastructure of a "surveillance society".

Among the IC's concerns are the creation of a detailed audit trail of citizens' activities and the requirements for citizens to give the government details of all their previous addresses, which it claims has no relevance to the stated aims of the ID card scheme.

The ID card bill is currently undergoing its second reading in parliament with MPs due to vote on it on Tuesday evening. The bill is expected to go through although the government is likely to face tougher obstacles further down the line.

Follow silicon.com's ID Cards on Trial campaign for all the latest developments on the controversial plan.