Who are you ?

Someone at HM Governments press office has dragged the centuries old issue of ID cards from the back burner to the front of the hob again this morning, its at times like this that we cynics ignore the issue that they want us to see and look for the news that they are trying to hide - maybe a 50% hike in income tax or the abolishment of the NHS next week ?

Anyway, Home Secretary John Reid has apparently scrapped the idea of a super-computer (whatever one of those is, do PC World stock them, do they have good games graphics ?) to control the proposed UK ID Card system and will instead use three seperate databases which already exist somewhere inside HM Governments IT infrastructure.

So thats alright then.

Apart from the £35 million spent on IT consultancy since 2004 on reaching the decision, still, that just loose change, and its public money so who cares ?

For those not holding a British citizen status - and incidently that means all of us for we are not citizens with rights and things in the UK, we are subjects of Her Majesty hence the lack of a Bill of Rights in this country - for those abroad who may not understand the fuss about ID Cards, we do not have them in the UK.

Yes thats right, we have no means of identifying who we are if requested, the nearest thing we come to an ID card is a driving licence and if you need to be identified in any way, like for instance when opening a bank account or applying for credit, then the most common form of identifying that you are who you say you are is by production of two utility bills.

So I'm applying for a £10,000 loan and I don't want it to be in my name or my address - what do I do ? Pick an address at random and search through their bins until you find a gas or electricity bill, or even better, get a job at the waste handling site and you'll get thousands of bills every day. Use the bills to apply at the Post Office for the mail to be redirected to your own home for a month (they need proof of ID to do that, yes, the utility bills), then apply for your loan using, yes, the utility bills as proof of ID.

Sounds far fetched ?

It happens all the time, identity fraud is massive in the UK simply because we have no means of identifying ourselves.

So the idea of a biometric ID Card sounds like a good one doesn't it ?

It does until you read that HM Government have decided that a "super computer" couldn't cope with the amount of data required (or more likely they couldn't deliver such a system in the first place), and so they'll use existing non-super computers to do the job instead - that bit of news is so full of holes and self doubt that you have to just stop right there, put a quizical look on your face , hold one finger to the corner of your mouth and say out loud, "hang on a minute..."

And it does until you read John Read's pronouncement that the new ID Card "would help tackle illegal immigration, identity fraud, fight organised crime and terrorism, help protect vulnerable children by allowing better background checks and improve public services. They would not stop people having a fake identity, but would prevent people having multiple identities, which he said were most often used by crooks, terrorists and fraudsters".

Lets take a long pause and read that statement again.

"would help tackle illegal immigration, identity fraud, fight organised crime and terrorism, help protect vulnerable children by allowing better background checks and improve public services. They would not stop people having a fake identity, but would prevent people having multiple identities, which he said were most often used by crooks, terrorists and fraudsters".

Its a classic 180 degree about turn in two sentences.

We are going to prevent illegal immigration and identity fraud by not stopping people from having fake ID Cards ?

And just how does HM Government think that an ID Card will prevent multiple indentities ?

Maybe by not allowing ID Cards to be sent to 20 people at the same address ?

Maybe crooks, terrorists and fraudsters will apply in different names from different addresses ?

After all, how would you prove who you are when you apply for the card ?

Two recent utility bills from an address ?

Which may or may not be yours ?

£20 billion will be spent on the ID Card system when fully introduced.

It sounds like they are inventing the systems and proposals on the back of a beer coaster in the pub of a friday night.