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UK Can't Read Its Own ID Cards
An anonymous reader writes "Despite the introduction of ID cards last November, it has emerged that Britain has no readers that are able to read the cards' microchips, which contain the person's fingerprints and other biometric information. With cops and border guards unable to use the cards to check a person's identity, critics are calling the £4.7bn scheme 'farcical' and a 'waste of time.'"
While I won't go as far as being paranoid about "it was always the governments plan and they just want the data on everyone", it doesn't surprise me that our government isn't even capable of introducing both halves of an ID scheme at the same time.
Until they fix it they've basically just introduced an over-expensive photo ID. Well done, Labour!
It is a security measure
Stop making fun at Belgium and follow in their food steps. The readers are available and the source is open Dutch: http://eid.belgium.be/nl/Achtergrondinfo/De_eID_technisch/
Main thing is that you see there are Linux drivers for it.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
The cards dont exist yet and wont until 2011 or 2012.
Still, dont let truth get in the way of a good rant.
Is anyone really surprised? There are people out there who still don't believe that Dad's Army was an early example of reality TV. Government competence levels have not improved in the ensuing years.
Will you PLEASE F off with the Fing beta now?
Right now most bookmakers will give you very good odds on the current government actually being in power by the end of 2010. Since the other lot are supposedly going to get rid of the scheme, and there's been no large-scale rollout of the cards to the general population, it probably doesn't make a lot of sense to buy all the readers just now. Not that 'sense' really comes into this, of course.
Britain has no readers that are able to the cards' microchip
Hey, we all know how hard it can be to a card's microchip.
What if I do the same thing, and I do get different results?
Yesterday you rant about giving up too much piracy, today you rant about them not being readable? I pity those cluelessnesses' failure in appreciating the beauty of unbreakable security with Write-Only-Memory(WOM) technology from Sygnetics in 1972.
Enough about it. Get off my lawn.
Britain has no readers that are able to the cards' microchip,
No problem, can't we just take them round to the Russian embassy? I'm sure that they are quite capable of reading all our microchips.
About 9 years ago.
It is offtopic. "Dad's Army" was at best tangentially related to the government.
What you want is "Yes, Minister". Down the corridor, third on the left.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
It was about biometric databases, computer-recognizable photographs and humongous amounts of fingerprints.
It's easy, and quite tempting, to react to this news with patronizing contempt - and think, "Well, at least we're fairly safe - such a bunch of bunglers couldn't do any real harm".
Unfortunately, a look back at history reveals that appalling inefficiency and incompetence have usually gone hand-in-hand with authoritarian government. But whereas we can still laugh about it, the time may come when doing so is distinctly unwise. People made fun of Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini throughout their careers, and some got away with it. Others were arrested, beaten up, imprisoned, tortured, shot, or hanged with piano wire.
I am sure that there are many other solipsists out there.
They've only just started finalising and using these cards. Why is it surprising that there are no readers around?
It's akin to saying that Blu-Ray or DVDs were a waste of time because initially there were no players for them - Hello, you need to wait for people to catch up, especially if the equipment is expensive (and although they're not consumer products, the same rules apply - places need to wait for grants or work out their budgets before buying or using said machines).
Besides, practically no-one has these cards yet - and I doubt anyone will for a while, especially since they cost cash to get (It was ~£50 last I heard)
Freedom of Information Act 2000 Only exceptions to this in government is the Official secrets act. which means the information comes out in 50 years. this is better than the US where 90% of it never comes out at all. The Act
the uk has a FOIA? srsly, when did this happen?
I can't disclose that. It's a state secret.
I am sure that there are many other solipsists out there.
About 9 years ago.
It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying "Beware of The Leopard.
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it.
I'm sorry, this is abuse. You want "Yes, Minister". Down the corridor, third on the left.
Stupid git.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
Exceptions include information other that that covered by the Official Secrets Act.
There are also a whole lot of exemptions, such as data that is commercially sensitive, related to criminal investigations or where disclosure would contravene the Data Protection Act etc. When a request is refused the reason for the exemption must be given to the requester.
In practise the Act has meant a lot of information is now public where it wouldn't have been before.
Her Royal Highness? Did Her Majesty abdicate?
On the other hand, there isn't much point having the readers unless there's a reason to suspect the bearer's identity. As the scheme is voluntary, those with suspect identities won't be the first in the queue for the cards. As law-enforcement will only interested in those without cards, then there's not much point buying in them buying readers. That doesn't, on the other hand, invalidate the cards, which do still serve a purpose.
At present, the standard identification document is the gas bill which, naturally, discriminates against tenants, people without a gas supply and people who have pre-pay meters (usually the poor). The cards therefore improve the ability of poor people to pay for the privilege of 'interacting with government', and thus improve both 'social mobility' and 'engagement'. In addition, a card with a picture on it has to be arguably more reliable than a piece of paper that can be borrowed out of a dustbin by anyone with a mind to.
I'm sure someone found a way to read them and the data will be uploaded to the net soon like a lot of government data.
The thing that worries me is that the downturn means that people now working at Google, Microsoft etc. will be released into the community and will then get Government jobs. One thing worse than pervasive Govt paranoia and spying is efficient pervasive government paranoia and spying.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
The Act is really good, and you can tell that because it is annoying the fuck out of the present government.
"It doesn't cost enough, and it makes too much sense."