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UK Compulsory ID Plan Shelved

Posted by kdawson on from the keep-your-papers-in-your-pocket-please dept.

e9th writes "Despite a bump or two along the way, it seemed that compulsory ID cards were a done deal in the UK. Now, the Financial Times is reporting that the scheme has been shelved. Unfortunately, it seems that this was more a matter of convenience than of concern for citizens' privacy."

1 of 201 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I don't get it by infolation · · Score: 5, Informative

    Anyone applying for a UK passport from 2011 onwards will have their information stored on the National ID database.

    If you don't keep your address and personal information up to date you have committed a criminal offence and you can be fined GBP1,000.

    80% of the UK population own passports. In essence, anyone who wants to leave the UK must register with the ID database.

    The ID database is primarily a scheme that enables the government to identify you, and that is made clear in a dubious little paper called Safeguarding Identity, produced by the Home Office last week, which describes how the ID database and the transformational government scheme mesh together in one glorious structure where data about the individual passes between departments. That is the prize and why they will use any argument and spend any amount to achieve it.