[Hi folks, there are a couple of slip ups on the CSL list today. One or =two
repeat messages. Apologies to all. Meanwhile, here is some info on the
debate over the introduction of identity cards in the UK. Where is David
Lyon when we need him I ask myself? ... John.]
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Identity cards

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/attacks/story/0,1320,557630,00.html

Un-British or vital? The ID debate

THE GUARDIAN
 
As introduction becomes more likely, opinions differ on both ethical and
practical grounds

Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Tuesday September 25, 2001
The Guardian

David Blunkett's suggestion that the introduction of compulsory identity
cards in Britain could be necessary as part of the fight
against terrorism yesterday stirred a range of criticism - from rightwing
libertarians who claimed it would be "un-British", to
those who warned the move would be ineffective and expensive. 

However, an opinion poll at the weekend showed that 86% of people supported
some form of ID card. The government was
seriously considering their introduction, Mr Blunkett said. 

Until now the official government position had always been that Britain had
a tradition of personal liberty which meant that its
citizens were not subject to internal checks or identity cards. "The
government is not convinced that identity cards would be
beneficial in terms of effectiveness, or of community relations," the Home
Office told MPs earlier this year. 

It was in 1953 that Sir Winston Churchill abolished wartime identity cards,
after Lord Goddard, the lord chief justice, ruled in
the case of Wilcock v Muckle that giving police the power to demand an ID
card "from all and sundry, for instance, from a lady
who may leave her car outside a shop longer than she should", made people
resentful of the police and "inclines them to
obstruct the police instead of to assist them." 

While the Police Federation now backs introduction of ID cards, the policy
of the Association of Chief Police Officers echoes
those words of Lord Goddard that giving officers the power to ask for "your
papers, please" could lead to greater damage to
community relations than the long arguments over abuse of stop and search
powers. 

Faked

The last time ID cards were seriously proposed was by John Major in 1995
when the Tory cabinet was so split over the idea
that he could not even get agreement for a pilot scheme involving compulsory
plastic cards being issued to social security
claimants in one town. The issue died amid Whitehall arguments over cost and
fears that even hi-tech plastic cards could be
faked. 

What has changed since then? As Mr Blunkett has pointed out, advances in
technology mean that it is now possible to
produce a card which incorporates a thermal image of a fingerprint, or iris
recognition, which would be much harder to forge. 

New fingerprint technology means it is now feasible for a police officer on
patrol to carry some kind of "livescan" machine which
would enable them to verify a suspect's identity on the spot and check their
background with the police national computer. But
this would need a change in the law, as at present an individual can refuse
to give their fingerprints except at a police station. 

Those who back introduction of identity cards argue that they would help the
police enormously in tracing suspects, dealing
with people behaving suspiciously, and in combating credit card fraud and
other crimes involving stolen identities. 

Michael Levi, professor of criminology at the University of Wales, says that
a national scheme is likely to be much cheaper
now than an official estimate, made in 1995, of £475m to set up and £50m to
£100m a year to keep updated. But even though
it would now be cheaper, Professor Levi questions whether cards would
provide value for money as a tool against crime, illegal
immigration or terrorism. Obviously, an identity card is not going to
prevent a suicide bomber committing an atrocity, but it
might provide the public with a degree of reassurance at a time of high
anxiety. 

Prof Levi said that this would only work if it were possible to demonstrate
that ID cards could prove effective in curbing
terrorists. He conceded, however, that such a scheme might have an impact on
those working in the black economy but
warned that it would depend on the way the scheme was enforced. "You run the
risk of producing the same kind of backlash
that individuals face under the police operation of stop and search powers.
In the immediate situation, the people most likely to
be stopped will be Asians or those who look Islamic and black people." 

The matter is complicated by the fact that the police national computer is
said to have significant errors in between 20% and
30% of its entries. 

Sarah Spencer of the Institute of Public Policy Research agreed that ID
cards were not likely to prove even an effective source
of public ressurance as it was the terrorist who was most likely to be able
to forge it. She said it would not be practical to
confirm the identities of the 80m people who pass through British airports
every year. 

Labour ministers have never in the past argued in favour of compulsory
identity cards but there have been those who have
backed a voluntary card in the form of a "citizen's access card" or a
"voluntary entitlement card". 

The Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, Menzies Campbell, said he
was "not convinced" about identity cards. But he
told BBC Radio 4's Today: "If a case could be made for identification cards
which demonstrates that they will make a
substantial contribution towards seeking out and preventing the sort of
terrorist activity which took place in the United States
here in the United Kingdom, then I will most certainly consider that case on
its merits." 

The organisation Movement For Justice said yesterday it would campaign
against introduction of identity cards. Spokesperson
Alex Owolade said: "We will not tolerate government using the attack in New
York as a cover to undermine what little civil
rights we have. 

"We will be campaigning against introduction of identity cards, including
non-cooperation similar to the struggle in South
Africa, where pass books were burnt." 

In the mid-1990s Australia launched a national identity card on a wave of
public support but the opinion polls quickly turned
hostile after the scheme was up and running. 

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