UK passport holders could be issued with a biometric identity card within four years to improve security and prevent fraud.

The UK Passport Service (UKPS) wants to introduce biometric ID encoded with personal details such as iris scans or fingerprint by 2006.

When individuals apply for a passport, they might have to visit a Post Office for their details to be recorded.

The card would supplement the paper passport, which would still be needed for entry into countries that use stamps.

The plans - which would need government approval and public consultation - were revealed exclusively to Computing by UKPS chief executive Bernard Herdan.

'This would enable us to link an individual identity to a biometric like an iris scan or facial recognition or a fingerprint. That would be quite a big step but a number of countries are considering it,' he said.

Herdan says the public will accept the card as it would vastly improve security.

'This is about allowing people to assert their own identity and preventing fraud and stopping identity theft. This is not about big brother.'

The UKPS has not decided whether to go straight for the biometric card or to start with a card which mirrors the paper version.

'We've been working on a passport card for a couple of years. It will be great as a customer service. You can see a migration path from the passport and card arrangement to something carrying a biometric. Whether we get there in stages is something that we are considering,' Herdan said.

Civil liberties watchdog Liberty is concerned about recording such intimate personal details.

'We've got no objection to making passports harder to fake. But it's unclear what threat this is tackling. Can the UKPS guarantee that this vast database of people's intimate identities will be adequately protected and not misused?' said spokesman Roger Bingham:

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steve_ranger@vnu.co.uk