The Home Office has been accused of 'blatant creative accounting' over the ID card
UK ID card costs rise 37 per cent
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08 May 2008, Iain Thomson , V3
The cost of implementing ID cards in the UK has risen by 37 per cent in the past six months, but the government claims that it is reducing overall costs.
Outsourcing biometric collection data, and cutting other costs, can reduce the overall cost of the system from £5.43bn to £4.57bn, according to the Identity Cards Scheme Cost Report May 2008.
"In order to enrol fingerprint and photograph biometrics in the most convenient and cost-effective way, we now plan to provide this through the open market," the report said. "This will result in a cost reduction."
The move will mean that government passport offices will no longer collect biometrics and that private contractors will bid to do the job instead. The report does not say what will happen in areas where no private bid is made.
Phil Booth, national coordinator at campaign group NO2ID, said: "We are used to the Home Office's blatant creative accounting, but this is staggering. It now appears to have junked the primary pretext for the scheme. So what is it for?
"Ministers repeatedly asserted that ID registration would involve checking everyone individually and taking their fingerprints.
"Dropping interrogations and fingerprinting for all may knock £1bn off the latest fantasy figures, but it scraps even this fairy-tale notion of security. They are rushing round and round in circles. It is a farce."
A committee of academics from the LSE examined the proposed ID card plans three years ago and found they would cost four times the government's estimates. The cards would cost over £300 each if the full cost was passed on.
Papers released with the government report paint a grim picture of the overall state of the project.
A report by the government-appointed Independent Scheme Assurance Panel, comprising senior information managers from organisations like Nokia and Cranfield University, suggests that the scheme is in dire straits.
The Panel concluded that the scheme still lacks a "robust and transparent operational data governance regime and clear data architecture".
In addition they express fears of unauthorised accessing of data by staff, following the revelation that over 600 HM Revenue & Customs staff had been disciplined for precisely this offence.
"No specification, no departmental buy-in, no rationale for key design decisions and no ministerial control. This is official confirmation that the Identity and Passport Service is a runaway train," said Booth.
"As we pointed out back in January, Gordon Brown should pay attention to the detail. Ministers are rubber-stamping a consultant-driven scheme of epic proportions."
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Do you agree?
What is the point of ID cards
For many years, harsh regimes around the world have tried to use identity cards and other related documents as a means of controlling terrorist and criminal activities. The one thing that is common to all of the systems used is that they failed entirely in their supposed purpose. The author E. E. (Doc) Smith once wrote 'whatever science can produce, science can duplicate'. Whatever security features are built into a biometric card it will not be long before the criminal elements are able to replicate them. It is a fact that the Department for Work and Pensions has lready been compomised as live National Insurance Numbers have been obtained and appeared in documents presented by illegal immigrants. When an individual has what appears to be a valid form of ID it gives them legitimacy and luuls the suspicions of those who need to remain alert to intruders. The system is supposed to increase security but what is the cost/benefit ratio? Is it really going to save the police and security services enough in terms of time and money to justify the enormous expense which incidentally never mentions year on year running costs. The security of government (non -military) IT systems in this country is not adequate to protect personal data; this system should be abandonned immediately!
Posted by Paul Vine, 17 May 2008
Why don't we personalise our signatures with ID stickers to deter fraud?
Massive increase in fraud crimes should make the government and banks realise that their data protection and Chip and PIN systems are diverting rather than deterring fraud crimes.
This shows that fraud will continue to grow until they exploit KEY and PIN system which will deter BOTH identity and card fraud by making signature and PIN systems reliable and foolproof.
Fake documents have made our signature system unreliable while skimmers and pin-hole cameras etc. have made PIN system unreliable. We have option to make signatures reliable by personalising them with ID stickers and option to use Card Key Code to make PIN system reliable to make use of stolen and skimmed cards meaningless. By ignoring to exploit this system banks are only letting fraud crimes grow.
ID KEY system will eliminate the need for us to protect our personal and card details since fraudsters will be deterred from misusing these stolen details.
Proposed ID KEY can be treated as a reliable international ID card because it will personalise signature and PIN number to only the right individuals in any country.
We hope that the government and banks will appreciate these details and exploit KEY and PIN system before it is too late to stop a fraud boom
Posted by Roger, 09 May 2008