The LSE Report on the proposed UK ID Card schem

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell () newcastle ac uk>
Date: July 5, 2005 11:10:22 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: The LSE Report on the proposed UK ID Card schem


Dave:

The parliamentary committee stage of UK Government's Identity Card  
Bill starts today, so there has been a lot more on radio and TV and  
in the newspapers about it, though the general consensus is that the  
Government's plans will be much more at risk when the debate reaches  
the House of Lords.

Much of the public debate has been fuelled by the report that has  
been very recently-released by the London School of Economics, but  
the main focus has been on cost estimates. What has not been evident  
to me before is how detailed the LSE Report is, and in particular,  
that it is not just a critique of the Government's scheme, but that  
it also "considers alternative models for an identity card scheme  
that may achieve the goals of the legislation more effectively."

I don't recall seeing anything on IP which pointed to the actual  
detailed report.

Anyway, here is the (318-page) full report:

http://is.lse.ac.uk/idcard/identityreport.pdf

and here is a (10-page) Exec Summary:

http://is.lse.ac.uk/idcard/identitysummary.pdf

in which one can find the following one page Summary of Conclusions:

The Report concludes that the establishment of a secure national  
identity system has the
potential to create significant, though limited, benefits for  
society. However, the
proposals currently being considered by Parliament are neither safe  
nor appropriate.
There was an overwhelming view expressed by stakeholders involved in  
this Report that
the proposals are too complex, technically unsafe, overly  
prescriptive and lack a
foundation of public trust and confidence. The current proposals miss  
key opportunities
to establish a secure, trusted and cost-effective identity system and  
the Report therefore
considers alternative models for an identity card scheme that may  
achieve the goals of
the legislation more effectively. The concept of a national identity  
system is
supportable, but the current proposals are not feasible.
Many of the public interest objectives of the Bill would be more  
effectively achieved by
other means. For example, preventing identity theft may be better  
addressed by giving
individuals greater control over the disclosure of their own personal  
information, while
prevention of terrorism may be more effectively managed through  
strengthened border
patrols and increased presence at borders, or allocating adequate  
resources for
conventional police intelligence work.
The technology envisioned for this scheme is, to a large extent,  
untested and unreliable.
No scheme on this scale has been undertaken anywhere in the world.  
Smaller and less
ambitious systems have encountered substantial technological and  
operational problems
that are likely to be amplified in a large-scale, national system.  
The use of biometrics
gives rise to particular concern because this technology has never  
been used at such a
scale.
We estimate the likely cost of the ten-year rollout of the proposed  
identity cards scheme
will be between £10.6 billion and £19.2 billion, with a median of  
£14.5 billion. This
figure does not include public or private sector integration costs,  
nor does it take into
account possible cost overruns.
Any system that supports critical security functions must be robust  
and resilient to
malicious attacks. Because of its size and complexity, the identity  
system would require
security measures at a scale that will result in substantially higher  
implementation and
operational costs than has been estimated. The proposed use of the  
system for a variety
of purposes, and access to it from a large number of private and  
public sector
organisations will require unprecedented attention to security.
All identity systems carry consequential dangers as well as potential  
benefits.
Depending on the model used, identity systems may create a range of  
new and
unforeseen problems. These include the failure of systems, unforeseen  
financial costs,
increased security threats and unacceptable imposition on citizens.  
The success of a
national identity system depends on a sensitive, cautious and  
cooperative approach
involving all key stakeholder groups including an independent and  
rolling risk
assessment and a regular review of management practices. We are not  
confident that
these conditions have been satisfied in the development of the  
Identity Cards Bill. The
risk of failure in the current proposals is therefore magnified to  
the point where the
scheme should be regarded as a potential danger to the public  
interest and to the legal
rights of individuals.

cheers

Brian


--
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/


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