From the Telegraph:

“The British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa), which represents most of the country’s commercial pilots, said the Government’s “early warning system should be flashing” over its opposition to plans to force aviation workers be the first Britons to carry ID cards.

“Jim McAuslan, Balpa’s general secretary, said his members resented being treated as guinea pigs and added: “It may come to an industrial dispute.

“We would want to avoid that. We would want the Government to think again about the whole scheme,” he told The Independent.

“The Government insists that the cards must be fast-tracked to airport staff due to the importance of high security in their workplaces. The Home Office is preparing to unveil a plan to make staff at Manchester and London City airports sign up for an ID card before they can apply for security accreditation necessary for workers at the sites. Under the plans, ID cards will be issued to staff from next autumn.

“Mr McAuslan said: “The Government has said previously that ID cards will be voluntary, but the indications are that if you choose not to have a card, you will not get an airside pass.”

The Independent quotes Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary Chris Huhne:

“It is no surprise that pilots are up in arms since they are one of the few groups selected as guinea pigs for this benighted experiment.”

You can sign the Liberal Democrats’ petition against ID cards here.

In a new twist on the National Lottery, Jacqui Smith announced earlier this month that the Home Office would be approaching outlets such as supermarkets and Post Offices to help issue ID Cards.

Guy Herbert, from No2ID said: “It sounds like a mad fantasy of setting up something like a Photo-Me kiosk to collect fingerprints. Leaving aside the technical and security issues, both would be risky from the point of view of the reputation of the organisations involved, and financially terrifying.”

Today, znet.co.uk reports that the public have rejected such a scheme:

“Only 25 percent of more than 2,000 people questioned for the government’s Central Office of Information would consider having their fingerprints, photo and signature recorded for an ID card in a supermarket, according to research commissioned by the Identity and Passport Service (IPS). This increased to just 26 percent for a petrol station, 28 percent for a department store and 29 percent for a local shop.”

Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Tom Brake said:

“Signing up for an ID card isn’t like buying a lottery ticket. It’s clear ministers are desperate to find any means to get people to sign up for an ID card. This is just their latest half-baked attempt.”

Jacqui Smith wants to make signing up for an ID card as convenient as buying a scratchcard - but the odds of the Government “redistributing” your private information must be significantly better than winning the jackpot!

A top Government security consultant seems to think so.

Both the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary have insisted that the ID card scheme will reduce the risk of terrorism and improve national security.

However, GCHQ advisor Harvey Mattinson told an IT security conference this week that “Those claims are absolute bunkum.”

Gordon Brown said earlier this year that ID cards would “help inside our borders in the fight against crime, illegal working, benefit fraud and terrorism.”

Chris Huhne, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson said, “The money for this costly and useless ID card scheme should go on more police on our streets, a measure that would help to cut crime and fight terrorism.”

Martin Horwood, Liberal Democrat MP for Cheltenham said, “I can’t see how ID cards could have stopped any of the major terrorist attacks we have seen in recent years.

“The 9/11 terrorists had valid US passports and documents, while the Madrid and London bombers were all identified and possessed appropriate paperwork and ID.”

From the Telegraph
From thisisgloucestershire

You can sign the Liberal Democrats’ petition against ID cards here.

Research by the Liberal Democrats has revealed a 300% increase in the number of lost staff security passes at the Home Office and Ministry of Justice over six years.

The Government departments responsible for the internal security of the nation are so hopeless at their own internal security that they’ve been losing passes at the rate of more than one per day. total of 3,492 staff security passes have been lost or stolen since 2001.  (The departments split in 2007.)

Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary Chris Huhne said:

Everyone understands that things can go missing, but these figures suggest a culture of carelessness among the people responsible for our safety and security.

On average, one of their employees loses their security pass every day.

This Government wants powers to build a database of every phone call and email, but the evidence of lost security passes suggests they could not be trusted to run a nightclub door.

They must scrap ID cards before they are allowed to treat our most sensitive data in the same slapdash manner.”

The Press Association has this report.

Today’s Observer brings news that the Government’s own security experts have many concerns about Labour’s plans to introduce mandatory ID cards:

In a potentially damaging revelation, which undermines claims that the scheme will enhance national security, the group has concluded that [ID cards] will be prone to corruption…

The Isap report goes on to warn that the scheme may not be embraced by government departments, suggesting the cards are not being well received in some Whitehall departments.

The panel also warns the initiative is struggling to fulfil its remit. It states that the scheme lacks a ‘robust and transparent operational data governance regime and clear data architecture’, suggesting there is confusion over its roll-out.

Released two months late, conveniently after the local elections, the Home Office has produced its latest ten year cost estimate for the ID scheme.

Campaigners NO2ID have pointed out that the report actually admits to an overall increase in costs but then dumps almost a billion pounds off its headline figure by creative accounting. This is done by delaying the rollout of the scheme to 2012, enabling ministers to omit a number of high volume costs that will occur after 2017/18, and dropping plans to check every applicant individually and take their fingerprints.

The Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne, says, “Minor changes in cost estimates cannot disguise the fact that nearly £5bn of taxpayers’ money will be squandered on a scheme that will fail to combat identify fraud, illegal working, crime or terrorism. This colossal waste of money should go on putting 10,000 more police on our streets instead.”

Today’s Guardian brings news of the latest poll asking the public for their views on ID cards. Overall, the public oppose them by 50% - 47%, which continues the recent trend of polls showing a majority against. (Looking at the state of the Home Office, would you trust the government to run ID cards successfully or sensibly?)

The proportion of people who strongly oppose ID cards has grown noticeably - from 17% to 25%, whilst only 12% strongly support them.

For more details, see The Guardian website, but don’t forget also, if you haven’t yet, to pop over to the Liberal Democrat ID cards petition and add your name.

1. Did you know there was a minister Responsible for Identity (seriously - that’s what they’re calling her these days).

2. Did you know she’s not just going to be running ID cards, which you’ll register for at 16, but the whole “check in” to “check out” system, as the Home Office is taking over the General Records Office, registrars of birth, deaths and marriage. Essentially they’ll be tracking you from cradle to grave.

The wonderful John Lettice dissects the decision so brilliantly I can only quote:

The uncontentious register that previously existed will, as of next April, be run by an organisation which proposes to make money out of compiling and continually updating the “biographical footprint” of every live individual in the UK.

Don’t forget, they’re going to be merrily selling all that information to government agencies and private companies alike through the planned identity verification service. As John concludes:

If you’re thinking of getting born any time after Q1 2008, you might like to consider doing it somewhere else.

A feasibility study of ID cards. As the government’s going ahead with ID cards, it must have been positive, right? (well, assuming logic prevails in government…)

So why has it been 1000 days since a Freedom of Information request was submitted for the so-called “gateway review” of the scheme?

Spyblog and former Lib Dem Shadow Home Secretary Mark Oaten both asked for these documents - and our requests, complaints, appeals, yada yada have been handled together.

So far the legal costs have been £60,000 but with a QC on board, expect them to spiral.

And all this to cover up what - surely - must have been a glowing report encouraging the government to plunge ahead into spending the £100,000 a day they’re now pouring into the project.

Or could it be it wasn’t such a positive report?

Hopefully the Information Commissioner will prevail in the ongoing appeals and some day we’ll know…

A Freedom of Information request by Computing magazine reveals:

The government has spent £53m on consultants for the national biometric identity card scheme, and continues to use 83 external contractors at a cost of nearly £50,000 per day.

The figures are more than double the value of the original £19m pre-procurement consultancy contract signed in 2004.

Read the rest here.