7th March 2006

 
Our MP, David Drew was applaud last year when he spoke of his reservations about ID cards at the Green party-organised cafe discussions in Stroud. He said: "Until someone can prove to me that the biometric tests are reliable I cannot justify spending the money."

I challenge him to reveal what he knows in the light of his recent vote supporting ID cards. The former head of MI5 has already branded the cards ‘useless’ (i) and the head of the ID programme itself, admits that further testing is needed and says that a biometric register won’t prevent criminals from getting multiple identities (ii).

No one has proven the technology on anything like the scale required by the card - and I for one, am not reassured by the Government’s track record on large scale technology projects. Over 70 Whitehall computer projects have been reported to be having difficulties: plus fiascos regarding tax credits, the passport office, the Criminal Records Bureau and the new £6bn NHS national system for booking operations.

ID cards will cost billions. How can this be a good use of money?

 
Ivi Szaboova-Baxendale


Notes:
(i) ‘Ex-MI5 chief sparks ID card row’, BBC News, 17/11/05:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4444512.stm
(ii) ‘If biometrics isn't foolproof, what is the point of using it?’, Guardian, 15/9/05:
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/online/insideit/story/0,,1569857,00.html