Steve Asher wrote to All:

SA> UK Cabinet ministers are considering plans to charge [UKP]39 
SA> for a biometric ID card  

The price is pretty steep, considering the fact that this is mandatory. A new
tax?
 
SA> card would contain biometric data u likely to be an image of a person's 
SA> iris -- and could also incorporate passport and driving license 
SA> information.  

Looks like a central registration to me, so the Brits can find their subjects
easier.
 
SA> According to a report in the Sunday Times, in his leaked letter dated 25 
SA> June, Blunkett hit out at civil rights campaigners and said that people 
SA> favoured ID cards over entitlement cards.   

Did he find this out with a non-faked poll?

SA> access via the card and the central database. Privacy will be protected, 
SA> as it is in other advanced democracies that have identity cards.  

At least down here, our ID does not store anything except the name, the DOB 
and
 the fact that you're a Swiss national.

SA> "Nor will it be compulsory for people to carry a card, though
as now with 
SA> driving licences, the police or other agencies could require its 

I doubt this will stay this way for long. Look at Germany and it's
"Ausweispflicht".
 
SA> Critics have said that the costs of the cards could be much higher, 
SA> however. The Foundation for Information Policy Research has said that 
SA> independent estimates put the cards at around [UKP]100.   

So what the heck do they store on the card? 100 pounds is two thirds of the
money I spend on food for me alone every month. Looks to me like they have to
buy some awful lot of database software licenses.




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