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U-Turn On UK ID Cards

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the from-bad-to-worse dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The UK appears to be watering down its national ID card system, with the revelation by the government that it will now only check the cards against a central biometric database in a minority of cases. Critics are saying it not only renders the whole scheme pointless, but will pose a security risk by making it far easier to use copied or cloned cards. 'But an Identity and Passport Service spokesman denied the system would be vulnerable to fraud: 'The majority of instances where people use their identity cards will be day-to-day situations where the cards offer a convenient method of proving identity such as a young person proving their age to buy alcohol,' he said.'"

5 of 143 comments (clear)

  1. What a waste by tripdizzle · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Ha, it said this system cost 150 million pounds to the gov't, and now their purpose is for a

    convenient method of proving identity such as a young person proving their age to buy alcohol

    --
    "A claim for equality of material position can be met only by a government with totalitarian powers." Hayek
  2. Are copied cards really that much of a concern? by viking099 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Personally I'd be more worried about some junior level government worker losing my data along with that of everyone else in the country when he goes digging through his pocket for enough change to buy lunch at the pub down the street.

  3. Obvious tactics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They feel the resistance so now they roll the IDs out as an inferior version of the original proposal. As soon as they push them through, they will turn around and make them mandatory in every possible situation, blaming it on worsening terror and crime situation.

  4. Don't worry guys! by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Our Spiffy, Shiny, Radically New(tm) system that is horribly vulnerable to fraud isn't vulnerable to fraud because we will only be using it to do what the old and busted system was perfectly capable of doing! (Is there some aspect of this that isn't completely insane that I've missed out on?)

  5. Re:But, I thought "People 'can't wait for ID cards by Skuldo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Reprehensible woman. Put her in the stocks.