Stork electronic ID network takes off

Let our European partners beware

To a UK reader, this article of Mr Muncaster's may seem to be about ID cards, the National Identity Scheme and the Identity & Passport Service. But of course, it can't be, because there is no National Identity Scheme, it doesn't exist yet and so it can't be interopearable with the schemes deployed by our European partners. In fact, the UK scheme which is part of STORK is the Government Gateway (http://www.gateway.gov.uk/). A copy of the source code and logon details for the Government Gateway was found on a USB stick in a pub car park in Cannock last year, as reported in the Mail on Sunday, 2 November 2008, 'Tax website shut down as memory stick with secret personal data of 12million is found in a pub car park' (http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-1082402/Tax-website-shut-memory-stick-secret-personal-data-12million-pub-car-park.html). Individuals, companies and government departments in the UK and in the rest of the EU should understand before they use STORK that its security has been impugned. They need to make up their own minds whether to rely on the UK Government Gateway. They cannot assume that the data they entrust to it will remain confidential. As the Prime Minister himself said (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1082467/I-make-promises-keeping-personal-details-safe-admits-Brown-wake-latest-data-blunder.html): "It is important to recognise we cannot promise that every single item of information will always be safe because mistakes are made by human beings. Mistakes are made in the transportation, if you like in the communication, of information." http://dematerialisedid.com/BCSL/Hall.html

Posted by: David Moss 17 Jan 2009