I don't wish to be governed electronically (e-governed) or to be
assigned a telephone number, email address or other identifiers
"for life". I get quite enough junk from spammers, scammers,
telemarketers and the like as it is, without opening the floodgates
to politicians & government departments, who do not consider their
spam to be spam. :)

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ID projects to flourish
27 September 2005

Citizens and governments are on the brink of a 'new electronic era'
for ID technologies, says new research

Governments are likely to face "cost overrun and system failure" in
setting up new identification systems but ID projects will still
proliferate, providing business for IT suppliers over the next 10
years, according to a report issued on 27 September 2005.

The latest research from public sector IT analyst Kable says that over
the coming decade, government departments are likely to set up a range
of "medium sized" identity projects.

Similar schemes to the [UKP]72m DWP customer information system and the
[UKP]200m Every Child Matters child protection identity system are likely
to be initiated, says the report titled Identity markets in the UK
public sector.

Also, by 2008 governments across Europe will have rolled out key
components of major ID card projects. The UK ID card initiative is by
far the most expensive at [UKP]5.8bn according to official estimates,
compared to France, which costs its scheme at [UKP]700m and Spain ([UKP]300m).

Over the next few years, some key schemes will focus on facilitating
citizens' interaction and access to government information, the report
says. These systems include e-job seekers portals, e-learning portals
and a telephone number for life.

Kable foresees that the virtual phone number could become part of a
personal identification code on an identity card or passport. The
number would be stored on public sector records for organisations to
use when contacting citizens. Additional digits could be encrypted 
and used for digital signatures and access to personal data online.

Other initiatives will target niche markets such as smart cards for
students, teachers and transport staff.

The UK and other countries are facing a "new electronic era" in
identity technologies, where a "multitude of services will be
created".

"We are already seeing some interesting developments in the use of
identification systems in countries such as Finland with the mobile
phone certificate, Belgium with Portable Document Format (PDF)
authentication allowing citizens to sign contracts electronically,
Estonia with an authentication certificate containing a unique email
address allocated to the holder," the report says.

Due to the limitations of IT used in many ID schemes, suppliers 
will be called upon to develop alternatives to fingerprint and 
iris scanning technology.

"Biometric technologies can be intrusive and are not user friendly.
This leads to an opportunity for the supplier community to develop 
and promote the use of other biometrics technologies such as the palm
reader or the ear reader."

The report predicts there will be "numerous hurdles" which "may lead
to the withdrawal or modification of requirements".

However, overall "the difficulties will eventually be overcome,
projects and concepts will flourish and new business will be generated
for IT vendors," the report concludes.

                                -==-

Source: Kable's Government Computing
Publication date: 27/09/2005

http://www.kablenet.com/kd.nsf/Frontpage/
1827B5A024020B1080257088003F603B?OpenDocument

Cheers, Steve..

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