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Defence expert undermines Blair on safety of ID cards
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 04:33:49 -0500
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 - -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Defence expert undermines Blair on safety of ID cards Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 08:48:23 +0000 From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell () newcastle ac uk> To: dave () farber net Hi Dave: Ahead of tonight's vote in the House of Commons on the National ID Card bill, the (UK) Guardian has published an interview with Brian Gladman (wrongly named Gladwin in an otherwise competent article). It will be interesting to see if his intervention has any effect. cheers Brian http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,,1708462,00.html
David Hencke and Vikram Dodd Monday February 13, 2006 The Guardian A British Nato and defence specialist today undermines Tony Blair and Charles Clarke's claims that the new identity cards database for 60 million British citizens is safe and secure. The disclosure to the Guardian came as Mr Blair was flying home from South Africa overnight to vote this evening to introduce compulsory ID cards and give ministers powers to order all motorists to replace their driving licence with a new one requiring a biometric ID card. Brian Gladwin, from Worcester, now a security consultant to US government agencies, said Mr Blair and the home secretary had got it wrong when they accused critics of producing "a technically incompetent report" on ID cards. They had accused the report's main author, a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics, Simon Davies, of bias because he is also a director of Privacy International, a human rights group that opposes ID cards. Now Dr Gladwin, who led research into protecting foreign spies from compromising the country's most secure communciations system, has written to Mr Blair saying he was the author of the sections of the report dealing with safety and security. He pointed out that the "technically incompetent" data was subject to review by the LSE before publication by two "independent information security experts, both of whom are internationally recognised for their expertise". He warns the new database will "create safety and security risks for all those whose details are entered on the system". In a damning blow to ministers' claims of bias, he tells Mr Blair "in case you think that I am an opponent of ID cards, I should point out that I support an irrevocably voluntary, self-funded ID card scheme". He reveals he would rather pay fines than join a compulsory scheme, saying "it is shameful that those who are less well-off will be forced to put themselves at serious risk for a system that serves no purpose that cannot be achieved in other, more effective and less costly ways". Ministers had sought to undermine the report's findings because it has been a key issue in fuelling the rebellion among Labour MPs on ID cards, which halved the government's majority and led to a string of defeats in the Lords. Dr Gladwin has an impressive career profile. Between 1980 and 1990, he directed research for the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment, which provides secure communciations and eavesdropping. From 1988 to 1995, he procured secure defence communications and information systems for the ministry. In 1996, he was deputy director at Nato's headquarters in charge of their security systems. He has sent a copy of the letter to Sir Menzies Campbell, acting leader of the Liberal Democrats, and David Cameron, leader of the Tory party. Sir Menzies said last night: "This is a serious blow to the credibility of the government's case for ID cards." He added that the expert appeared to undermine claims by both the prime minister and the home secretary over the security of the new system.
- -- School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK EMAIL = Brian.Randell () ncl ac uk PHONE = +44 191 222 7923 FAX = +44 191 222 8232 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (MingW32) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFD8FJ9h0VyAToQeqERAnrcAKDkY8nBKpxtGlwOaIcTipvVFrpB3QCglO+m E8ZrnkUCqixzDDfJ0m20hAs= =HfaX -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- Defence expert undermines Blair on safety of ID cards Dave Farber (Feb 13)