ID Cards
Why do we need ID cards?
A lot of people would say that we don't need ID cards at all and I'd be one of those people. A number of IT experts have said that the whole ID card scheme will be completely ineffective and impossible to manage because of the huge amount of information that will be contained on it. The government obviously argues that ID cards will solve all sorts of social ills from terrorism to illegal immigration to ID fraud, and a huge range of things. I personally have my doubts about that.
What will they be used for?
At its most basic, the ID card scheme, so the ID card and the National Identity Register - the huge data base that backs up those ID cards, will be used to identify people, for a person to prove who they are, and for a person to check up on ID that has been given to them. In reality, the uses of ID cards are incredibly likely to bloom, to blossom, to mushroom and a huge range of new uses will no doubt be found. You saw this with the previous ID card scheme which was in place just after the war, and from three uses, initially within just a few years, it was being used for thirty-nine different things. So what ID cards are used for will grow immensely.
Who will be able to access my information?
A wide number of public bodies will be able to access the information on the National Identity Register, such as schools, health professionals, the tax man, and a wide range of public bodies. Private bodies will also be able to access this information if you give them your consent. That all sounds fine in practice, but in reality the question of when somebody does or doesn't give consent can become quite vague. Over time, we might well find ourselves in the position where if you refuse to give your consent to something like your bank or another private body, it could in itself make you look mysterious or make people think that you're trying to hide something.
Will they be compulsory?
As the ID card scheme was going through parliament, Liberty pushed hard to try and stop entry on the national identity register being compulsory. To some extent we were successful. The government dropped its outward desire or its claims that it wanted to make everybody in the UK part of the national identity register, and dropped its proposal for the power to make types or categories of people register on the database. Unfortunately, by the back door, it's kept the compulsion power, and the way it's done that is as follows. It kept the power to require people to get an ID card and enter themselves on the register. If, for example, they were to get a passport or a driving license, and given that most people in the United Kingdom will at some point want to apply for a passport or a driving license, effectively they will have no choice but to get the ID card and to go on the national identity register, and this is going to kick in in 2009.
What will happen if I refuse to use an ID card?
From 2010, people will no longer be able to opt out of the idea of having an ID card. So, if you are required to register on the database because for example you are getting a passport, you will have to have an ID card. Now the question of whether or not somebody would be required to hand over a card when asked was a very contentious one as the legislation was going through. As a result, the government backed down and there is something in the legislation which says they can't require you to hand over your ID card. Liberty is concerned that despite the fact that the safeguard is in place, in effect, over time, the government will try and remove it. So as soon as the majority of people have ID cards, it's very likely that we will see a proposal to make it compulsory to hand over your card. Also, in practice when more and more people are going to be willing to hand over their ID cards and will be doing so, you will be seen as somehow suspicious or as though you have got something to hide if you refuse to do that. There will be some kind of moral or social compunction to hand over your ID card even if not a legal one.
What will the penalties be for not carrying an ID card?
There won't initially be a legal requirement to carry ID cards, and the reason for that is that was an issue that was very contentious as the ID card legislation was going through Parliament. There's something on the face of the act which says that you can't be required to do that. In practice, the government is likely to try and remove that important privacy safe guard as more people are registered on the National Identity Register.
Why should I worry if I have nothing to hide?
One of the government's favourite arguments when it's infringing personal privacy is to say, “You've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear.” Well, frankly that just doesn't stack up. If privacy were really that unimportant, and if it were only criminals that really got or has something to protect in terms of their personal privacy, then we'd all be entirely happy to have CCTV cameras in our living room. Similarly, we wouldn't draw the curtain before we get changed for bed. Privacy matters to people. Again, if you think about the question of something like free and fair elections, you can't have them without the degree of personal privacy. And similarly, the doctor-client relationship. These are all situations where people understandably value having that personal privacy. It doesn't make them criminals. They don't value it because they're criminals, they value it because it's an important societal and personal benefit.
What are the privacy implications of ID cards?
The ID card scheme will have profound privacy implications. Effectively you could say it is changing the nature of the relationship between the state and the citizen. Historically the government would only collect information about us if it could really prove that it needed that information for a purpose. It hasn't done this in the ID card scheme at all. It hasn't provided the proof that this information is really necessary in the first place, and that it's necessary to hold it for as long as is being proposed. Some complainers have likened this idea to requiring every citizen or every person in the United Kingdom to have a kind of bar code. It's a very different idea of citizen to the one we're used to in the United Kingdom.
Will they help prevent crime?
ID cards won't prevent crime. The government's argued that they will, that this will be a significant benefit of ID cards and of the National Identity Register. But if you think about it, why would a bank robber not go ahead and rob a bank if they'd got an ID card? I mean, it will make no difference whatsoever. And if you think about a concerted, organized criminal for example, if false identity was part of the crime, I think it's pretty naive to think that these people won't be able to fake the ID card. So I don't think there is the evidence to back up claims that ID cards will prevent crime.
Will they help prevent terrorism?
We coined that term "boomerang toxics" to mean the kind of chemicals that we so fairly thoughtlessly threw out into our air plumes, that are from smoke stack that went out in our hazardous waste and oily sludge's, that we let go into our rivers, and eventually these chemicals got into water bodies, got into fish, and then come back to us. They boomerang back to us on our dinner plate, in terms of again, things like beef and dairy that have chemicals that settle unto soil, and get taken up into dairy and meat, by the action of bioaccumulation in these different kinds of animals. So they boomerang out, in terms of our waste, they boomerang back in, in terms of our dinner plate and many of these are globe-trotting chemicals, such that what we throw away here, may end up into a polar bear, may end up in somebody's diet in the far east. It's all one small planet when it comes to these kinds of toxins.
Will they stop identity theft or fraud?
ID cards could provide a useful process of enabling a person to identify themselves. So they could, for example, gain easier access to public service. But I think it is very naive to think that organized criminals, and people who really want to pretend to be someone else won't be able to fake an ID card. I mean we have numerous forms of identification at the moment. We know for a fact that passports and other ones can be faked, so why would it not be possible for ID cards to be faked as well? In fact perhaps there is more of a concern if people are going to start relying on a single identifying document. Whereas at the moment you might have to get fake passports and driving licenses and a number of other documents. If people are relying on a single ID card, and if you could get a fake of that it would be your golden pass; your key to every door.
Will they help prevent illegal immigration?
There's no reason to suspect that ID cards will actually be effective in preventing illegal immigration. In fact, liberties concern is that the ID cards will effectively be used as a form of internal immigration control and that ethnic minorities in the United Kingdom will be disproportionately asked to produce an ID card to prove who they are and to prove their entitlement to be in the United Kingdom. This can have a hugely detrimental impact, not only on their lives, but also on community relations more generally. The government is already rolling out ID cards in the immigration context. There's a piece of legislation going through at the moment that will require all non-EU residents in the United Kingdom to hold a biometric, identifying, registration document, which is effectively an I.D. card, but it will only apply to immigrants.
