According to the proposed scheme, data on all British residents over the age of 16 will be held in a national database, and everyone will be issued with an "entitlement card" required for access to social security benefits, education and health services.
The entitlement cards will contain the holders' personal data such as employment status, signature and nationality. The ID cards might also take the form of smartcards containing biometric data such as digital photographs, fingerprints and iris imprints.
The Home Office has claimed that, if adopted, the scheme will improve the delivery of public services and tackle illegal immigration and identity fraud. It also claims that only basic details of UK residents – name, address and date of birth – will be stored centrally, and that the scheme will pose no threats to privacy.
Privacy advocates, on the other hand, have expressed strong opposition to the proposals, arguing that the ID cards will only introduce additional problems such as criminal false identity, and create administrative chaos.
In December 2002, the Home Office released figures emerging from a public consultation on the issue, indicating a 2-1 majority of the public supporting the scheme. The Home Office also claimed that 81% of the 450 individuals who volunteered to try the proposed iris scanning technology were "in favour" of the measure.
Simon Davis, Privacy International's director, said:
"The government has failed to establish a convincing case for the card. The consultation has been a sham from the word go. An ID card is costly, dangerous and unecessary. Many of the responses reflect this view."
Privacy International, which has launched its own public consultation in co-operation with campaign group STAND, claims that it has received more than 2,700 responses since last Friday afternoon, nearly all of which were in opposition to the scheme.
Based on these figures, the group said, the current support rate is less than 25%. Privacy International also claims that the Home Office's statistics are outdated, because they were drawn from the 1,500 responses it had received by 11th December, 2002.
The group further claims that public support for the ID card scheme is dropping at a rate of more than 1% per hour, and that opposition will surge further following yesterday's launch of a "phone to e-mail service."
The service, Privacy International said, enables UK residents to call two local rate numbers and vote for or against the scheme. The group intends to convert the messages to audio files and e-mail them to the Home Office. It claims that these files will be regarded by the Government as "legitimate consultation responses."
The issue of ID cards is being discussed today, in a conference organised by the Information Commissioner's Office.
