By 2013 everyone over 16 will have to own ID card

Improved technology allows physical details to be linked to central
database

Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Thursday May 26, 2005
The Guardian

The identity cards bill published yesterday will give the government
the legal powers to set up the scheme and charge the fees it needs to
recover the costs of enrolment, issuing and maintaining the cards and
providing verification services.

ID cards are to be introduced on a staged basis. First it will become
compulsory for foreign nationals to register under the scheme, then it
will be voluntary for UK nationals to register when they renew their
passports.

About 80% of the adult population have a passport and new applicants
from next year will be given a biometric passport. From 2008 the 3-4
million who renew their passport each year will get a combined ID
card/passport valid for 10 years.

It is expected that the scheme will become compulsory in 2013 when
about 80% of those who have passports will have registered under the
scheme. It is expected that only about 13% of the UK resident
population will not have a passport by then and they will be issued
with a standalone ID card. Foreign nationals, including those from
inside the European Union, will also have to register.

Parliament will then vote before it becomes compulsory to have an ID
card but not to carry it at all times. It may then become compulsory
to have the card to access various public services.

(snip)

The ID card scheme is more than about just issuing a piece of plastic.
The key element is the central database holding basic personal
information on every citizen over 16, including name, date of birth
and address. This data is linked to biometric information such as
facial image, iris scan and electronic fingerprint to ensure security.

(snip)

A new system of readers and scanners will be needed in order to access
the data held on the card's computer chip. The Home Office says it is
not possible to establish the cost of these beyond the fact that they
may be somewhere between u250 and u750 a machine. Officials hope that
the network of 705,000 commercial chip and pin tills being installed
could also become ID card readers when they are replaced and upgraded.

Telephone and online checks will also be possible for a wide variety
of purposes against the information held on the database. The bill
also gives powers to public sector organisations, such as the police,
to access information on the database without the consent of the
individual but new amendments to the bill limit direct access for
private organisations.

Penalties and sanctions

A range of new criminal offences will be created to safeguard the
security of the database. They include a u2,500 civil penalty for
failing to register and u1,000 fines for failing to renew your card or
notify a change of address or other details.

(snip)

The government says ID cards will help to cut identity theft which it
is estimated to cost Britain u1.3bn a year. It will also provide a far
more effective and secure way of proving identity to access public
services, including those online, since it will contain an electronic
signature.

This legislation will not make it compulsory to produce an ID card to
access particular public services. That decision is to be taken later.
It is estimated that ID cards could help curb u20-u50m a year of
benefit fraud.

It could also help to tackle illegal migration and illegal working, 
so-called health tourism and could be an important tool in counter-
terrorism work where people often shield themselves behind false
identities.

                        -==-

Full article at Guardian Unlimited ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1492289,00.html

Cheers, Steve..

---