The Sunday Times July 23, 2006

Leak reveals ID card ‘risks’ David Leppard

FRESH evidence that Tony Blairs flagship identity cards scheme is in crisis is disclosed in a confidential Home Office report which has been leaked to The Sunday Times. The 32-page restricted document says that the security system protecting the card and the national database could be infiltrated by criminal gangs involved in identity theft and highlights shrinking public support for the scheme. It also says British firms have no current manufacturing capacity to produce the card.

The report, entitled Market Soundings, flatly contradicts recent public reassurances to MPs by Joan Ryan, the minister responsible for ID cards, that the scheme is not facing any problems […]

It cites one manufacturer saying: “In New Zealand the lifetime of the card and chip was reduced from 10 to five years, since holding information for 10 years on a card could be dangerous as criminal activities may be able to defeat chip security within these time scales.”

Ryan’s claim to MPs that the document revealed “widespread public support for the scheme” is also contradicted. Summarising the “main risks” given by the 15 surveyed firms as to why they might not bid to develop the cards and national identity database, the report says: “Recent indications show that the British public’s appetite for the ID card is declining. Association with the resulting programme may compromise a company’s public image.”

Clegg said: “This suggests that government ministers are increasingly living in a parallel universe on ID cards. They claim there’s public support when we know it’s dwindling.

“They claim it’s insulated from fraud when its own analysis suggests it’s much more susceptible to access by criminals. Ministers are displaying King Canute-like powers of self- delusion.” […]

One of the most damning remarks in the new report is the disclosure by some manufacturers that they are in no position to make ID cards. They also said it might not be possible to produce enough iris cameras that will match the user’s “eyeprint” to their digital record on the national database.

The companies asked by the Home Office to give their confidential views on the project included BT, IBM, Motorola, Royal Mail and Siemens. They were also asked if they intended to bid for contracts to develop the system. […]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-2281600,00.html

Some people somewhere have understood what the ID card scheme really means, and together, they are working from the inside to bring it down.

Firstly they are writing these damning documents, and then they are leaking them.

Hear the lion roar!

HEAR the companies shy away as they understand that THEY will also bear the brunt of the swelling HATE that will swirl around the ID Card / NIR.

This bad business is dying…now all we have to do is twist the serrated knife so that it ‘bleeds out’ swiftly.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 23rd, 2006 at 10:00 am and is filed under NIR.