Andy Burnham comes clean on the ID cards according to this PA story:
Identity cards will effectively be compulsory for large numbers of British citizens, Home Office Minister Andy Burnham said.
Labour's manifesto for last year's General Election said ID cards would be introduced "initially on a voluntary basis".
The Bill introducing the cards returns to Parliament as part of a "ping-pong" between Commons and Lords, because peers insist that plans to link them to the issue of passports means they will not be voluntary. [...]
"During the parliamentary process that the Bill went through before the General Election, we were absolutely clear on this point.
"There was no doubt about the link with the passport. We said all along that the right way to proceed would be at the time when we introduced the biometric passport, when fingerprints were introduced into the passport, that would be the right time to introduce the clean National Identity Register."
There are also indications that ID cards will be linked to driving license renewals too. So the ID card is volutary only if you don't drive a car and never leave the country. The House of Lords thinks ID cards are bad for much the same reason I do - it will increase the likelihood of identity theft:
Lady Park, a Tory peer and former senior MI6 officer, told Today should could not see a reason why the scheme should be compulsory.
She feared it would "cause a marvellous opportunity for identity theft", financially, commercially, but also for unfriendly groups and foreign services who "will find every bit of information they need about somebody to create identity theft".
Meanwhile our mate Andy thinks that:
A National Identity Register with biometric details, such as fingerprints, would make people "more able to control access to their identities", he said.
It would also ensure that the British passport does not become "a second class document".
"I take the view that it is part of being a good citizen, proving who you are, day in day out," said Mr Burnham.
Ooops I don't think he should have said that last bit. The states that require their citizens to prove who they are day-in day-out are bastions of democracy like Cuba, the People's Republic of China, Iran and the Stalinist Soviet Union. The Nazis were very keen on ID cards too if I recall correctly. He also does his best to gloss over the ID theft fears but the BBC kindly shows us what information is to be stored and I can't actually think of a more ideal document for a fraudster to steal and read to perform ID theft:
Personal information
full name
other names by which person is or has been known
date of birth
place of birth
gender
address of principal place of residence in the United Kingdom
the address of every other place in the United Kingdom where person has a place of residence.
Identifying information
a photograph of head and shoulders
signature
fingerprints
other biometric information
Residential status
nationality
entitlement to remain in the United Kingdom where that entitlement derives from a grant of leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom, the terms and conditions of that leave
Personal reference numbers
National Identity Registration Number
the number of any ID card issued
allocated national insurance number
the number of any relevant immigration document
the number of their United Kingdom passport
the number of any passport issued to the individual by or on behalf of the authorities of a country or territory outside the United Kingdom or by or on behalf of an international organisation
the number of any document that can be used by them (in some or all circumstances) instead of a passport;
the number of any identity card issued to him/her by the authorities of a country or territory outside the United Kingdom
any reference number allocated to him/her by the secretary of state in connection with an application made by him for permission to enter or to remain in the United Kingdom
the number of any work permit relating to him/her;
any driver number given to him/her by a driving licence;
the number of any designated document which is held by him/her and is a document the number of which does not fall within any of the preceding sub-paragraphs
the date of expiry or period of validity of a document the number of which is recorded by virtue of this paragraph.
Record history
information falling within the preceding paragraphs that has previously been recorded about him/her in the Register
particulars of changes affecting that information and of changes made to his/her entry in the Register
date of death.
Registration and ID card history
the date of every application for registration made by him/her
the date of every application by him/her for a modification of the contents of his entry
the date of every application by him/her confirming the contents of his entry (with or without changes)
the reason for any omission from the information recorded in his/her entry
particulars (in addition to its number) of every ID card issued to him/her
whether each such card is in force and, if not, why not
particulars of every person who has countersigned an application by him/her for an ID card or a designated document, so far as those particulars were included on the application
particulars of every notification given about lost, stolen and damaged ID cards
particulars of every requirement by the secretary of state for the individual to surrender an ID card issued to him.
(and there's more) So you have all your addresses and all your passport, NI and driving license numbers. And this is not considered a security risk? I giuess these people get their security advice from Microsoft. Since we have to carry the thing around all day and "prove our identity day-in day-out" clearly there will be readers for them all over the place. Does anyone realy think that each and every reader will be stored in a secure location and used solely by trustworthy personnel? Even assuming no one manages to break into where ever the readers are made and given their final programming the opportunity for ID reader theft is going to be pretty simple. I'm guessing that the average cop car will have one in a few years so the smart crimnal is going to steal a police car and take the ID card reader, or if that turns out to be a little tough the local DSS benefits office, job centre or local council office will probably be well-equipped with them, and with underpaid bureaucrats who will appreciate a little honorarium every now an again to run a newly nicked card through the system and print off the details.
Oh and apparently (see the section in red) even corpses will need an ID card. Talk about cradle to grave government!!!
If I am ever forced to get one of these things the first thing I'm going to do is destroy it. I would rather pay the fine for not having one that risk having all my private information be stored in one easy to steal location.